Has anyone pieced together or seen a simple 3 pulley ribbed belt system for the 215.... Not serpentine. But just a single belt with crank, water pump, and alternator pulleys?
I have this style system on my Chevelle and really like it...
(http://www.marchperf.com/products/22031-kit-md.jpg)
I had to put this together when I put the Vortech blower on my engine (LT1 Chevy) since the stock position of the alternator would be through the hood. Built everything off a 5/8" thick aluminum plate and spaced the accessories off of that. Requires a lot of measuring to get everything to come out in the same plane. Lines show the belt path.
Vortech014.jpg
Using another belt for the water pump, Jim?
Psssst.....
I think it's electric Carl.
Ah, wish they made one for the 215.
Funny enough they do!
Got one from Summit a while back. Made by Meziere.
Haven't used it yet but it's a good looking part.
Cheers
Fred
Meziere is who made the pump I have on the engine. Seems to work well but haven't taken it on a long drive yet. Two belts - one for the blower and the other for the alt, and p.s., one fixed idler and a tensioner.
JIm.. Was your MG featured in a Petersons publishing book around 1975 called..." The complete book of engine swapping NO 4" ?
In the article they oulined a Olds 215 swap.. but the pictures look more like a Buick 215. This is the same book that gave me the inspitration for my alumium V-8 vega swap.
That was the car and me looking much younger than I do now. The press is notorious for getting things wrong even when you write it out for them like I did. The original swap was a Buick naturally aspirated. After a couple years I came across an Olds Jetfire turbo engine and put that in. With a few mods like lower compression, a different cam and wastegate mods it made 15 lbs boost and went like a striped ape. I drove it as my only car for 10 years. A friend crashed it in 1980 and it sat until 2001 when I began the widening project.
Very cool..
Still wondering about this.. D&D USED to make them but long story short they arent currently making any more and are out of stock.. anyone have a set they'd like to sell?
Olds215ribbedpulleysetup.jpg
What did d&d get for that kit? Did they include the alternator and its mounting bracket?
Last I saw it listed it was $450.. It included all pulleys brackets and chrome plated alternator.. That was 2007 price.
http://www.aluminumv8.com/catalog/D&D2006_2007Catalog.pdf
I would imagine that the alternator pulley is an off the shelf item... But the crank and water pump pulleys are custom. Id be happy with a CAD file or a 3D printing of them at this point.. something I could bring to a CNC shop.
The crank pulley will need six mounting holes. I don't know, but I've got a hunch that some sort of Buick 3800 pulley might work. This page shows a 1986-7 Buick Grand National crank pulley: http://www.jegs.com/i/March-Performance/655/4201/10002/-1?parentProductId=748685 and this page shows a whole billet pulley set for a Grand National http://www.cottonsperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=GN1-APS4&cat=99
To get alignment just right, the four bolt flange on your BOP215 water pump may need to be shifted with a press. Or, you could possibly shim one pulley or the other outward. When I added a trigger wheel between my harmonic balancer and crank pulley (for my electronic ignition installation), I made a simple spacer to move my water pump pulley outward and I also made a new alternator pulley bracket with more offset.
The cottons performance stuff looks nice...
In trying to figure this out I had also thought I could just run the Buick V-6 stuff.. While the crank pulley might work all of the water pump pulleys are smooth since the pumps are reverse rotation the back of the belt runs across the pulley.. No ribs.. from the looks of the drawing the alt pulley in that kit may also be smooth.. Although that pert of the puzzle is simple since I know March makes a grooved alt pulley...
(http://www.greatautohelp.com/images/3800-V6-Belt.gif)
I'm not really clear on what you're trying to accomplish. Is appearance the driving concern, or some aspect of performance? Are you hoping to slow down the water pump or alternator?
Have you thought about rigidly mounting your alternator and adding an idler/tensioner to the mix? Doing so might achieve a more consistent and predictable belt tension over the belt's life.
I like the durability of the ribbed belts... I just cant seem to put anything together with existing parts.. The Buick V-6 pulleys are all for reverse rotation.. Not going to work with my application...
I made all my own pulleys, but used a fluidamper from a Jeep for the crank and cut another groove in it. (My blower already came with an 8 groove pulley which I used, as did the A/C compressor.) That smooth water pump pulley may be thick enough to cut the grooves in it. I'd look at that first.
Jim
Jet makes serpentine style pulleys also. Maybe you can adapt Chevy ones? I think Fiero V6 and late 80s thru 90s GM had pulleys and belts like you are looking for also.
How is the D&D system in the photo above any different than the original V-belts (other than being incredibly expensive)?
It uses a 5 or 6 ribbed belt... Not a V belt.
"It uses a 5 or 6 ribbed belt... Not a V belt."
I'll rephrase my question. Other than the fact that it uses a flat multi-rib belt instead of a V-belt, how is this any different from the factory setup? It isn't a serpentine belt. It doesn't do anything differently from the factory setup except empty your wallet faster.
Personal prefference...I've fragged and thrown many V belts...I have over 100 drag runs on the ribbed setup on my Chevelle with no problems.