Well, i figured i'd post this because a lot of belt length questions get posted and since pretty much everyone uses them, it's worth looking into.
Last autumn, i swapped on my Windsor heads and X cam. When the swap was done, my belt was WAY too long. At the time i blamed this on the possibility that the holes in those 40 year old heads were drilled in a slightly different location than the '85 heads that i had been using. No big deal, bought a shorter belt.
Now, i just finished my 347 and got it all together....with the SAME heads. I go to put the same belt on that came off (the one i had just bought) and now it's TOO LONG. Ok, are my heads shrinking or what? This time around, i figured that since i had bought a new water pump that maybe the location of the pulley was slightly different and just enough to change the belt path. So, off to buy another belt i go....i get one that's only a half inch shorter because the belt will go on but it rubs at the tensioner/water pump.
So i come home with the shorter belt, go to put it on and i'm shocked because this one is way way way too short. Ok...so lets try the one that was just 1/2 inch too long...nope...too short. Ok...wtf? So we dig out the collection of belts laying around the garage and find one that fits...and it's the one that was originally on my car before i did the Windsor head swap to begin with....i was back at the beginning.
Now...why did this happen? Well, turns out that there's enough slop in the FRPP A/C delete kit's bolt holes that if you loosen the brackets or take it off and put it back on in a slightly different position, it throws off your belt length and could be as much as 2 inches total! So...just something to think about the next time you're playing with your belts. If you find that you're inbetween belt lengths or that your tensioner is "bottoming out", you may wanna loosen your PS bracket and pry it over to the driver's side and tighten it back down and that'll take up a huge amount of slack in your belt. I would suspect that the alt. bracket is the same way.
Last autumn, i swapped on my Windsor heads and X cam. When the swap was done, my belt was WAY too long. At the time i blamed this on the possibility that the holes in those 40 year old heads were drilled in a slightly different location than the '85 heads that i had been using. No big deal, bought a shorter belt.
Now, i just finished my 347 and got it all together....with the SAME heads. I go to put the same belt on that came off (the one i had just bought) and now it's TOO LONG. Ok, are my heads shrinking or what? This time around, i figured that since i had bought a new water pump that maybe the location of the pulley was slightly different and just enough to change the belt path. So, off to buy another belt i go....i get one that's only a half inch shorter because the belt will go on but it rubs at the tensioner/water pump.
So i come home with the shorter belt, go to put it on and i'm shocked because this one is way way way too short. Ok...so lets try the one that was just 1/2 inch too long...nope...too short. Ok...wtf? So we dig out the collection of belts laying around the garage and find one that fits...and it's the one that was originally on my car before i did the Windsor head swap to begin with....i was back at the beginning.
Now...why did this happen? Well, turns out that there's enough slop in the FRPP A/C delete kit's bolt holes that if you loosen the brackets or take it off and put it back on in a slightly different position, it throws off your belt length and could be as much as 2 inches total! So...just something to think about the next time you're playing with your belts. If you find that you're inbetween belt lengths or that your tensioner is "bottoming out", you may wanna loosen your PS bracket and pry it over to the driver's side and tighten it back down and that'll take up a huge amount of slack in your belt. I would suspect that the alt. bracket is the same way.
