Thread: Serpentine pulleys/belts

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A few things for me to think about for a couple of updates for the fall (yeah, I know, it's only spring but $$ need to be set aside)

Ever since I "did" my engine with 'V' belt pulleys and that single dinky narrow belt, I've been wondering if I should have opted for a serpentine system.

I have conventional accessories - water pump and alternator and a standard 4 bolt crank pulley. Has anyone tried to use a serp system on a 302/5.0 with standard rotation? Preferably without the tensioner/idler pulley as I really hate to put that kind of tension on those 'regular' water pump and alternator bearings if I don't have to? I've seen the March pulley set - and really don't care for the manufacturing (Chinese?) quality, so any manufacturer recommendations? Nor do I want underdrive - the car is not a race car but a driver and there is ALWAYS a traffic jam on the hottest day of the year.

The serp belt systems are the new technology. IMHO they are miles better than the V belt systems of yesteryear. I wouldn't worry about the idlers or tensioners. The have been designed to work with these systems and are very reliable. If you are old enough to remember back in the day of V belts every time we reved the engine the V belt would climb up the edges of the pully and jump off. And the way we adjusted the belt tension was to take a prybar, place it behind the alternator or generator or power steering pump and just crank down until we thought it was tight enough. I've never done a change over but if I were starting from scratch it's a "no brainer" from my view.

1996-2001 Explorer 5.0L FEAD is the shortest serp for the 5.0L that was used from the factory. water pump is reverse but it's a good solid setup. Tensioner is automatic but it's not too tight.. probably $50 from the junkyard and a day cleaning and painting or prepping for powdercoat..

Originally Posted by Matt167

1996-2001 Explorer 5.0L FEAD is the shortest serp for the 5.0L that was used from the factory. water pump is reverse but it's a good solid setup. Tensioner is automatic but it's not too tight.. probably $50 from the junkyard and a day cleaning and painting or prepping for powdercoat..

Not a bad idea Matt, but the $$$$ Stewart WP, the $$ mechanical fuel pump, and the .02 dip stick already there wont work on that late timing housing that Ford loves to confuse folks with. That's what I originally started with then sold.

The diffrent timing covers is what always confuses me with Fords.. I wouldn't worry about the bearings,I'v had to change pully's from serp to V belt on alternators before, my guess is the bearings are the same.

Gets confusing when you have to order parts for a 1989 when your working on a 1992, and all because Ford continued to use the V belt setup on some engines for a couple years ( Ranger 2.9L ). Then the rebuilt alts that Advance sells have the wrong pully's cause the books on what is correct is wrong....

I've got one on my 351W in the '71 pickup, works great. Bought the crank and water pump pulleys, use an OEM alternator pully, bought the belt at Car Quest.

IC2, I have the March System,not sure it was made in China (5 yrs. old) as the alt,pwr strng, water pump and etc.are working fine.

I would not put that much money in the system again, once the radiator and fan are mounted you can't see all that billet. There are a lot of pulley mfgs. out there.

It do look nice before you mount the radiator and fan.

Originally Posted by Don Dalton

IC2, I have the March System,not sure it was made in China (5 yrs. old) as the alt,pwr strng, water pump and etc.are working fine.

I would not put that much money in the system again, once the radiator and fan are mounted you can't see all that billet. There are a lot of pulley mfgs. out there.

It do look nice before you mount the radiator and fan.

A buddy has a March system - made in China. Possibly some of their items are made there and the rest here.

Last night I spent probably in excess of 2 hours getting 'smarter' about front drive systems and decided that I should have been more choosy when I purchased my Street& Performance front pulleys and brackets and gone the serp route. My final decision - call S&P and buy their $48 2 groove V pulley and try to find a pair of matched belts. It was a good idea, but not now.

As far as the billet, it looks really great before you hang the rest of the front end, afterwards, it IS a PITA to keep clean and shiny

This is before I decided that a/c in a roadster wasn't smart, but it's another story as to why I even have the system. Other changes made as well:

Think my pulleys were like $70.00 for the pair, belt was $20.00 something... It doesn't say "March" but they look good and work fine. When I get the pickup back in the garage might send them out for some red powdercoat......I don't like polishing either.

Originally Posted by IC2

As far as the billet, it looks really great before you hang the rest of the front end, afterwards, it IS a PITA to keep clean and shiny

This is the main reason I dislike shiney stuff, I'm too F'n lazy to keep it all clean...joe

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Think my pulleys were like $70.00 for the pair, belt was $20.00 something... It doesn't say "March" but they look good and work fine. When I get the pickup back in the garage might send them out for some red powdercoat......I don't like polishing either.

Talk about polishing - my car's chassis is the TCI Stage 3 - which means I get to do LOTS of rubbin'. I did it once!! Wont ever do that again.

I just found a Powermaster 343 2 groove pulley on ebay for a fair amount less then the Street & Performance when you factor shipping price and their historical slowness. Now I have to see if I can find a pair of 7473 matched belts somewhere

OK - got it done. Of course it wasn't easy!!! The first roadblock was the nut on the replacement pulley. It's advertised as a 15/16" which the one I removed was - it isn't. It's 1". Supposedly a 12 point thin wall socket will work - yep, as long as you grind it down, it will. I now own a 'special' socket, but it's from a low end set, not one of my good ones. Next, I ordered up matching belts - oh crap, the pully is a half inch smaller in diameter - the belts - too long. Thank golly for NAPA and their understanding countermen. Next - oh crap (again) my adjuster is the wrong length - too short - but I do have another that's correct - but the wrap around bracket (my design) has to be mounted the other way (180*). I was lucky in that the Powermaster alternator I purchased was clocked at 6 and 12. Now, to make that work, I needed to drill the Gr8 7/16 socket head holding the S&P bracket to the head for a Gr8 5/16 bolt. This made for an interesting arrangement that if I ever have to disassemble the engine, I hope I remember what I did. This entire operation ate up the best part of a day, looks pretty good and works just fine. Here are some photos:


And that pointy alternator hub cover - no clue beyond using a big hammer or an 8" C-clamp how to get it on. I haven't given up yet, but it is a challenge. I never reinstalled the other one after gouging up my arm - so no big deal