ooohh, a v3 board... I'm jealous

That is from the PCV system. The big hole in the manifold at the #6 runner is where it sucks in from the crank case.






This could work. The tensioner has a stop on it at the end of it's travel. You could cut that little stop off and the tensioner will turn further. But.... The further it turns, the lighter the spring pressure gets, and there is no stop keeping it from pushing the belt together if it gets slack. I think there's enough room there for it to work though so long as you get the shortest belt you can onto the pulleys.

Another consideration. The tensioner is a sealed unit with the back of the center stud swaged over, but you can get it apart. Once apart, you can clock it by drilling a new hole for the end of the spring to sit in. I did this to mine as an experiment (but went the other direction). This would give the tension needed and I'd even swap to a smaller pulley on it so it won't contact the belt on the other side of the alt so soon either.

--Dan

Or just drill the 'anti pivot' pin socket as noted above. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />

Assuming there is one. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

Randii

I researched how easy it is to convert the stock A/C comp to OBA, I had thought before this was only possible with special (York style) compressors. I can get a JY comp for $40 so I'm going to go that route.

(how great it is to see 8 pages of the part you want in car-part.com)

Sounds like the path of least resistance to get an idler... and OBA may be do-able. Take a peek at the inlet/outlet of whatever pump you get, though there are many custom fittings available to adapt hose fittings to stock compressors, you may be able to use the existing hoses cut down, or even just use a pipe tap to thread the inside walls of the fittings (many are aluminum)>

Randii

Spent the last few weekends prepping this frame. Finally finished getting the rust and brackets off. Here it is upsidedown


Here's the drivetrain mocked up. Looking like a nice 48" front and rear driveshaft length. I am mounting up the t-cases using a front range offroad rear mounted crossmember so the drain plug is 1/2" from the bottom of the frame rail. flat skid plate... In order to do that I have to mount the engine a bit higher than I would like to.



Draglink should clear fine with the engine up so high.



Biggest reason engine is so high is the use of these stock camaro manifolds. They are wider than the frame rails. Did not want to build headers. We'll see if it's really top heavy as a result. Crank pulley and the entire block is above the framerails now. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />



Here are the stock camaro engine mounts. I like this style because it is enclosed by metal. I decided to mount them vertical after welding a piece of 1/4" flat sheet to the seam in the frame c-channel. The mount will bolt to the square piece of metal at the top with some 3/8" grade 8 hardware then there is one mouting hole on the bottom of the mount through the frame. This will be a grade 8 3/8"x3.5" bolt with a frame sleeve. I'll add some gussets in the back afterwards.




engine mount bracket. 1/4" steel throughout.





This is the plan. The middle piece will be 3/8" and support pieces, as everything else, will be 1/4". Think it will hold? I'm concerned since the engine is mounted so high the torque will have such a long lever on the mount. Hope fully this week I can finish these and the t-case crossmember.

Hey Chris,


Looking Good so far thats a pretty awsome undertaking you have going there. My only concern would be that the motor mounts you are making dont seem to be pushing the weight of the motor out to the frame rails. They look like they are hanging the motor in its place instead of supporting it. It could be just the way im thinking its going to work you might be correct in what you are doing.

- jason

I'm open to all comments at this point. Not much experience building anything before out of metal, let alone something that I will rely on keeping holding 200 ft/lbs of power for several years.

One thing that I realized is that the motor mounts may not work in the updown configuration like that-- it seems the rubber is only clamping from the top and bottom and not side to side. Might destroy the mount quickly.

This mount is a difficult design because of the mounting pattern...

Chris-

I don't know. Those mounts are really cantalievered out there. I see a lot of stress on a very small amount of welds.

I would suggest looking at getting the frame mounting point lower (i.e. on the inside of the frame) to give more of a "/motor\" arrangement. or build out a platform from each frame rail to give a better angle to the block. |--/motor\--|

Good luck,
Michael