Saturday, April 13, 2013

 Jeffrey finally got around to mounting those aluminum pulleys, but not without some modification. When they were installed for the dyno session we took notice the grooves did not line up from the water pump pulley to the crank. At that time we didn't know which one would have to be adjusted until the power steering pump was installed, since that was the only accessory that would be in the stock location. The alternator was modified so that was out. So he cleaned up the steering brackets and painted and mounted the n.o.s. pump that was acquired from a friend that was cleaning out his stash. It was then determined the water pump pulley

would have to be spaced out .105. The crank pulley was bought from http://www.bulltear.com/ and was correct. The water pump pulley was an Ebay item. Money was a bit tight at the time and couldn't afford the Bullear water pump pulley, so in retrospect buy from the same company. Lexan was used as a spacer to eliminate corrosion from dissimilar metals. A steel spacer would have reacted with the aluminum and caused corrosion. Some stainless acorn nuts will be used to finish it off since we will be using electric fans. You know, gotta free up some horse power. He then tackled the alternator. A

switch from a 97 amp 12SI Delco to a 108 amp 17SI Delco alternator was performed. The rebuild was performed with guidance from Jeffreys' grandfather, an experienced G.M. technician who has performed many rebuilds. This also gave them some time together. A 108 amp stator was swapped for the 97 amp only because we had one. The rest of the rebuild was routine with a new diode trio, brush holder and bearings. The pivot hole in the case had to be opened up to accommodate a 7/16" bolt for the 401 head. I ran into this same situation when I swapped the 360 to a 401 in my J10. An alternate

route would have been to install a threaded insert in the head, but it was easier to just drill out the housing. This alternator also has a larger diameter requiring modification to the slide adjusting bracket and rear support bracket. Eye to eye on the pivot hole and adjusting hole are further apart. We just used 2 slide brackets cut and rewelded to lengthen the adjusting slot and welded an offset leg to the rear bracket to clear the "bat" terminal. Belts were another thing that strayed from stock. Since we went with a D.U.I. distributor which has a larger cap the stock size steering pump pulley was too short, the pump hit the cap. A Gates 7535 was a good fit with enough room left for proper tension. Alternator pulleys came in with Gates 7435. We will have to see after the front fenders are on to determine if we have clearance at the inner fender for the alternator, if not just another modification we will have to deal with. Jeffrey also fabbed up a fuel line and filter bracket mounted off the water pump. We are still plugging away, next should be to finish up the brake lines with a new distribution block an proportioning valve.