With the rousing success of my previous post, I offer up a new challenge... Has anyone put together something like this? I checked with Marsh to see if they offered a complete setup... "Nope. Not interested. Next, please." (Not a literal quote, but I believe it accurately portrays the sentiment of their response.) I need to turn crank, water pump, alternator, and p/s pump... pretty basic stuff. Current setup is a 3-groove crank pulley, utilizing the innermost groove to spin the alternator, and the middle one to spin the water pump and p/s pump. The clearance between the crank and water pump pulleys are so close, that, to replace the alternator belt, I have to loosen the water pump pulley until it's almost all the way off, cant it to one side, then fight the belt off and on through the gap between the pulleys. For some reason, the alternator belt tends to glaze up fairly easily, and then come the squeals. I think I could get rid of all this mess with a single serpentine setup. Any info is appreciated. Pictures of your inline Chevy serpentine setup would be wonderful.
Take a look at the GM 4 cylinder 2.5 used in S10's around 87-91. They used a serp belt and it all looks like a bolt on for a 250. Tom
I have a similar problem with mine, with the additional mess of A/C involved. Going with a slightly smaller waterpump pulley helps with the clearance issues. You buying decent belts, or cheap Autozone stuff?
I'll see what I can find in that ilk. Thanks! Hey, are you stalking me? Current squealy belt is indeed from Autozone. NAPA is the only supplier I have readily available where I currently reside... do you believe that would be a better choice for the v-belt setup?
are you using Autozone's Gatorback or Duralast belts? Gatorbacks are made by Goodyear Napa belts are Gates. O'reilly has Gates and MasterPro....also made by Gates , but i was told directly from a Gates representative the are not of the same quality. there is a big difference in price. have you tried some belt dressing?
Honestly, I don't know... last time I shucked a belt, I went to a then nearby Autozone and asked for a nn inch v-belt. It was cheap, and house brand on the sleeve. I don't want the belt to be a red herring to my central interest in converting to a serpentine system.
I re-engineered a serpentine drive on my Duratec I4 so it would fit into its new home. All in all, no big deal. Just remember the more you wrap around a pulley the better the drive friction and anything that is run off the back side of the belt is running backwards. Another thing to keep in mind. The industry does not have a rational range of belt lengths. It seems an engine manufacturer designs a drive system and the industry produces a belt that is the required length. So you see a bunch of weird sizes. The sizes may progress in 1/4 inch increments, then jump two inches to the next size. This means you should have your belt on hand and build to fit. I did not know this peculiarity and had to redesign my A/C mount to accommodate the available belt size. Another tid bit. The Vee and serpentine pulleys or GM alternators will interchange. Sorry I can't give help specific to the 250. Bill
Question-The crank pulley for an s-10 2.5L looks like it has an integrated pulley. Think they'll interchange?