Admittedly, I am making a mountain out of a mole hill on this. I am on my 1st real frame off build, and I have the major components but the small stuff keeps killing me. I have a 77 351w truck block, with unknown year "newer" heads, which the machine shop. I went with a crown vic drivers side water pump, and 4 bolt balancer. I bought the motor as a pile of parts and had it machined, and the alternator bracket which came with the parts just does not seem to work right. I am running v belt pully for water and crank, no power steering or ac. I need to figure out what to do for an alternator mount to get the right spacing for the other components to line up correctly. I have looked at seemingly 4 styles of setups, ranging from cheap to more than I think I should afford...... This is going in a 52 ford f1 pickup, I will run electric fan. Pictures included for what they are worth..... Would like to mount on passenger side - is it as simple as running a spacer on a long bolt into the block or head and running a universal lower arm? this is the mount I am having trouble with... this is where I am at.... Thanks in advance for helping a newcomer. Once I get this figured out and motor prepped to start I can drop it off at the trans shop to set the kickdown and have driveshaft made/installed.
That bracket is huge. Looks long enough to be a generator bracket. If you are running V belts, maybe get a V belt upper from a wrecking yard. Try a bracket set from the 1980s and before 351W. The 60s/70s stuff works and looks vintage. Vary the cylindrical spacer to dial in the G3 alignment, which is what I did on my 302 and my 460. You may have to space the lower bracket out from one of the lower water pump bolts or get a similar lower bracket that has the correct offset.
I've done a few setups on sbf's and an easy way is like you said with the one bolt and a spacer to locate it out the proper distance for belt alignment. I also add an additional bracket on the same bolt on the outside of the alternator. Basically it's a "y" shaped bracket that I attach on the water pump in two places. This reinforces the bolt through the alternator. For the bottom tensioner I just find an old tensioner and modify it to work, also mounted to a water pump bolt. When I'm done it looks a lot like the one above.
Do you have one of these original Ford brackets that bolt to the right cylinder head to align the alternator mount? Small block Fords are a pain in the ass. I had to convert mine to the old three bolt balancer system and fabricate my own alternator mount to go on the drivers side.
I do not have that adaptor, my neighbor has a "spacer" like the one in the link below on his http://www.mustangsplus.com/xcart/F...nodized.html?gclid=CIGfu5usqb8CFQaJaQodUHwAgQ looks like the only thing I will need to get or make is the upper v-belt mount. Thanks everyone, will give it a shot.
Easy on mixing custom solutions with factory bracket parts. Sometimes that just takes more time and causes more frustration. Just visit the local junkyards and get some brackets from the 351Ws there. The fastener locations on the brackets correspond with fixed and consistent bolt locations that hold the water pump and timing covers on, the only real variable is the distance to the bolt into the head. 302 heads are closer to the water pump than the 351 so don't buy a 302 bracket. Check the size of the bolt holes in the end of the head and get the appropriate long bolt to fit as the 351W bolts were a larger size than the 302 bolts up to a certain point in production. Can't recall when. Soon, this will no longer be a problem.
No need to use any of the factory stuff, the aftermarket has made lots of mounts to do it much easier and cleaner. Here is the setup I am running on the 331 in my roadster. Does the job and with a little shimming in and out you can get perfect belt alignment. Don
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