Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

I modified the crankshaft pulley and the water pump pulley to accept a serpentine belt. Providentially a friend here in S.W. New Mexico is a retired Boeing machinist and he did a marvelous job converting the pulleys.

The brackets were fabricated from flat stock steel and the idler pulley and tensioner puller were ordered from Jegs. We'll run the engine soon for a no-load break-in test but I expect no problems. (Famous last words, along with 'It seemed like a good idea at the time')

M.

Attach file:

---

  (135.15 KB)


  (157.46 KB)

That belt setup is an impressive undertaking and looks good. Would be curious if there is any alternator slip under load conditions though.

Maybe your friend would consider repro'ing or adapting some modern pulleys for those who would like to add AC to their cars. Might be a market since there's no one I've heard of doing anything like that for the inline engines.

I'll ask my machinist...I think he's busier now than when he was actually working for a living, though.

I'll be interested about alternator belt slip, too. My limited experience indicates that the alternator will be o.k. with about 60 degrees of engagement...maybe less. I will re-locate the idler pulley if there's a problem.

Originally I'd planned to put the a/c compressor on one side of the engine and the alternator on the other but after trying several positions putting them both on the driver's side seemed to make the most sense. Even though the passenger side is relatively open the manifolds and fuel pump do cause some problems.

Mike

Mike,

It's very likely you're going to have belt slip on the alternator. The rule of thumb for alternator is 110-120 degree minimum belt wrap and the 60 degrees shown is not nearly enough wrap.

It appears there's sufficient space to move both idler pulleys into the center of the engine and gain considerably more wrap.

On the Packard V8 I just finished a custom PS/AC/alternator setup and it required three belts. No two-belt arrangement I could fit within the available space would do it with two belts and enough wrap to guarantee no squeal.

jack vines

Mike - Looking at post-photo #11, will you have enough fan blast for good crankcase ventilation? Looks like the AC compressor will block most of the air flow. Neat looking set-up. You may have a second career with this equipment.

(o{}o)