True Serpentine belt install on a BB mopar

[747mopar]

Just received my SD Concepts serpentine kit today, been busting butt on the A/C install along with dual fans and all the wiring that comes with it while waiting on the kit so now it's time to finish it off. I couldn't help but head straight to the garage for a quick test fit to prepare myselffor the agony of trying to make anything fit in front of a BB in a 69 Charger (tight is an understatement).

The pro's

True single belt design with a tensioner.

Side mounted A/C cleaning things up by keeping the plumbing on the correct side of the motor.

Smaller alt also cleaning up more space.

Cons

No pulleys, you can buy the crank and water pump pulley or source them from the salvage yard.

No tensioner but is readily available at most auto parts store.

Reverse rotation water pump means you'll need to get the proper water pump and either get a reverse rotation fan or go electric.

Power steering pump also needs to be swapped but for a smaller unit also easily available.

For me the fitment and design is worth the effort.

Here's what you get with the kit, my kit has a few extra brackets to compensate for the low deck A/C mount and for the 1 wire alt. Very nicely made and comes with all the correct fasteners.



A quick peak at the main brackets loosely bolted on.



1 minor fitment issue that's caused by me running AN fittings for the heater plumbing (a standard nipple would clear) but I'll mill this enough to clear the nut.



Here was my big concern, anybody who's ever worked on a 2nd Gen Charger knows your very limited on space. The arrow points to 1 of my 2 plans on making up the 3/4" of space I need to create, looks like trimming the fan bosses back 1/2" will push the motors in gaining 1/2".



2nd plan is to take a router to the mounting surface of the fans and gain another 1/4"-1/2"?



This weekend I'll tackle the install but for now I need to track down a few more parts.

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For those who haven't seen this kit yet.

 

[furryfrog]

Nice, I am sure you will sort it out, will look good when you do, always something that comes up when changes are made. I like the black alternator on the shiny bracket look. The 180'ish AN fittings off your water pump housing for your heater hoses, Do they end up getting hooked to the hard plumbing I see on the side of your engine bay? I intend to hard plumb a bunch of items, one of them being my heater hoses as well, right now they are over top my engine and kinda in the way.

 

[747mopar]

Nice, I am sure you will sort it out, will look good when you do, always something that comes up when changes are made. I like the black alternator on the shiny bracket look. The 180'ish AN fittings off your water pump housing for your heater hoses, Do they end up getting hooked to the hard plumbing I see on the side of your engine bay? I intend to hard plumb a bunch of items, one of them being my heater hoses as well, right now they are over top my engine and kinda in the way.

The hard lines will get turned down the inner fender shooting the heater hoses under the A/C to keep it as clean as possible. I'll post plenty pics once I get into it.

 

[HYRDGOON]

That looks sexy in there! The modifications you're making to the fan shroud are pretty much exactly what we're doing in mine for the blower/crank pulley

 

[747mopar]

That looks sexy in there! The modifications you're making to the fan shroud are pretty much exactly what we're doing in mine for the blower/crank pulley

This weekend I'm putting it on stands so I can look into the possibility of sliding the whole motor and tranny back a 1/2"? I'm really tired of the lack of space and would really like to free up as much as possible but can't remember how much wiggle room I have with the T56? Just an idea but altering the motor mount and slotting the transmission crossmember are easily done so we'll see. The big problem I've ran into everytime I looked into electric fans is in order to get the cfm's you need space, these fans put out 2,700 cfm so I chose to get the right fan and make it work one way or the other.

 

[HYRDGOON]

That was the biggest reason we haven't committed to any spacing until we could trial fit the MF front end. Now we know where everything has to go and how much room we had to play with backwards. The Charger's are worse than the RR for space up there though!

 

[Derwud]

Have you considered this?

http://www.the-fan-man.com/shop/side-winder-electric-p-176.html?cPath=31&osCsid=5cc66a88901dcbbfc5aa4d2b12452e91

 

[HYRDGOON]

Pics I took just for you,

Post #288

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?65876-Hyrdgoon-s-project-angrybird/page15

 

[747mopar]

Have you considered this?

http://www.the-fan-man.com/shop/side-winder-electric-p-176.html?cPath=31&osCsid=5cc66a88901dcbbfc5aa4d2b12452e91

View attachment 316060

Hmmm, that's a cool idea. Would rather a direct drive but that's an option.

- - - Updated - - -

Pics I took just for you,

Post #288

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?65876-Hyrdgoon-s-project-angrybird/page15

Yeap that pic pretty well sums up why I'm considering the motor shift, ridiculous how little room there is.

 

[ckessel]

Does any of the brackets, hardware etc mount to the heads?

 

[747mopar]

Does any of the brackets, hardware etc mount to the heads?

I haven't installed it all yet but I know there's an A/C rear support bracket that bolts to the head.

 

[ckessel]

When you get it on there, can I score a picture of its mounting in the head area? I have EZ heads on the new engine and would like to compare head mount holes and see if its feasible. I have seen a company thats similar to Eddie Motorsports that does not mount to the head, only on the water pump housing. Like that one too as its nice and clean unlike the Transformers look from March. I like having readily available replacement components which the SDC is the king hands down. The others would be a little tougher but not bad.

 

[747mopar]

Will do.

 

[sdconcepts]

we can custom mod any of the parts in our kit to help them fit your engine. I wouldn't trust cantilevering the ac compressors just on the front bracket alone. its to massive and could cause a problem. we toyed with the idea of a bottom mount for the ac compressor but then you'd lose the mechanical fuel pump.

 

[747mopar]

we can custom mod any of the parts in our kit to help them fit your engine. I wouldn't trust cantilevering the ac compressors just on the front bracket alone. its to massive and could cause a problem. we toyed with the idea of a bottom mount for the ac compressor but then you'd lose the mechanical fuel pump.

Glad to see your chiming in, customer support earns business in my book. You may be misunderstanding what I'm referring to with the milling I'm talking about because none of your mounting will be altered just a minor amount of clearance will be made for a fitting. I just hate hose clamps and nipples so I'm using AN fittings. I'll post it so you can see.

Thanks again for what in my opinion is the cleanest looking kit out there and at a fraction of the cost of the other single belt setups. Love it.

 

[sdconcepts]

actually I was commenting on the other post about the indy EZ heads. we can make the custom brackets to fit our kit to other heads if need be. also if needed I can mod your bracket to clear the AN fitting so it doesn't looked hacked on. let me know.

 

[747mopar]

actually I was commenting on the other post about the indy EZ heads. we can make the custom brackets to fit our kit to other heads if need be. also if needed I can mod your bracket to clear the AN fitting so it doesn't looked hacked on. let me know.

Gotcha, good to have you answering questions. Since your new to the sight I'll help you on this so there's no misunderstandings. When replying to a particular post click on REPLY WITH A QUOTE in the bottom right corner of the one your wanting to address and it will display his question and your answer together like I did in this reply. Should help eliminate misunderstandings.

I can appreciate you not wanting your bracket butchered up and I wouldn't either but rest assured I have a full machine shop so when I say milled it will be milled not hacked up. Thanks

 

[ckessel]

Cool. No need for photos then. Thank you SDC!

 

[SAC]

Great thread! This is one of my next modifications, thanks 747 for posting your experiences! Big advantage is the easily-sourced replacement parts and the fact that it's a TRUE serpentine setup with automatic tensioner. I have always felt that the A/C compressor detracts from the beauty of a classic engine compartment so I like the way the compressor is mounted off to the side with this setup. The alternator is also well-positioned to shorten the charging wire path.

I will be interested to hear about P/S pump, seems like that will be the next hurdle, perhaps needing to have adapter fittings and such, also interested in difference in feel/effort versus the Saginaw-style pump.

I agree with ckessel, never was a fan of the March setup, looks too billet-y, like for the street rod set. "Transformers look" summed it up pretty well, also no automatic tensioner.

 

[sdconcepts]

These kits look really slick black anodized. we've had people question whether its a factory option that was little known about.