Installing alt on passenger side
- Thread starter Bri guy
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Yes, it will be from a 307. Kind of a goofy set up especially when you throw in the air pump set up.
You need a water pump pulley for a 6" pump, not sure why they suggested that one, I did question that one. Does the crank pulley line up? You should only need their 2 groove set for a 6" pump.
They had me measure the water pump again before i purchased. Measured 6". But they said to get that pulley cuz they thought it would offset the grooves to line up. Crank pulley lines up with power steering. But thats it. The alt wants to use the same groove the power steering is on.
The 6" pulley should sit further back on the water pump allowing two grooves to line up. I would hope they would let you exchange for their pulleys to make this work. Hopefully they send you a mildly underdrive crank pulley like the one in the pic, my March is similar to the factory non A/C pulley size. It certainly didn't help my 403 having that tiny crank pulley and charging sucked too. Do they have 3 groove sets? More chances the pulleys will line up. I think when I had my current billet pulleys setup on my G body, I had the same issue with the power steering and alternator taking up the same groove, both on the inner groove. I ended up spacing out the alternator. You could potentially run one very long belt around both accessories but try different pulleys from them, 3 groove is ideal and both should be driven off the crank. Yes, Olds belt setup, is a complicated nightmare with spacers everywhere that must be in place with 4 different length water pumps. Along with breaking dipstick tubes when installing headers, it is a royal pain. These Olds V8's lasted much longer than the sbc in 70's, stayed reliable till the end, just neutered. No flat cams or oil usage like brand "C", almost all of them in the 70's, not as bad as the Ford "M" series. By the 80's, the sbc improved a lot and now modern motors are much more reliable. Hopefully, you get it this time. I went with serpentine setup on my 88 but it has draw backs as well, especially when you forget to tighten the water pump pulley bolts🤬. First thing it does when a belt walks is take out the A/C clutch electrical connector. So much for A/C this year and the clutch on the R4 is a b*tch to change. All these old cars are a challenge at times. My 70S is sitting due to no brakes, I hate cars sitting. Good thing I don't live near a cliff. End rant and good luck.
Im not sure why they sent this combo even tho they know it was a 6in water pump. I could space the alternator up a half inch but then it will block the space to replace belts easier. If i go to far it will hit the pulley. The diameters of the pulleys are almost exactly the same as the old ones. The groove placement is slightly different. This has turned into a nightmare. Nicer weather is here. Full tank of 91 octane and car is just sitting here.....i wish there was an oldsmobile guy around to help figure this sh*t out cuz im so frustrated with this. I wish i could return the pulleys. And then find a 307 without ac and grab the belt system
That is probably hard to find, the same since the 60's and those use the 5.6" water pump, the key is the matching pulleys. I threw belts like crazy on my 403 until I got everything lined up straight, using mid 70's triple pulleys. My 70S had the factory non A/C passenger side alternator brackets but 260 A/C pulleys, same as your 307 pulleys with a nice closed impeller 6" cast iron water pump. It worked like *ss and threw belts until I spaced everything out. I stole these billet pulleys off my 88 and everything lined up, I got lucky for once. I will take a couple of pics of my setup. The power steering is in a different position, otherwise the same. Contact them, personally I would get the triple groove bottom pulley, larger diameter, better cooling and charging and try their 6" water pump pulley, if the pic is right it sits back quite a bit further on the water pump, which should help more than one belt line up.
You don't need "an Olds guy". It's simple pulley alignment. You could have the exact same situation on any make engine accessory drive. It's brackets and spacers to make the pulleys line up= very simple. Get the mental block of "It's an Oldmobile" out of your head. That only comes into play when you're trying to squeeze every last drop of power out.
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