Hey There! I have a 72' Cutlass non A/C car that I put Vintage Air in last year. Long story short.....My crank pulley was fatigued and came off the car and took the AC belt with it. I need some help with what size I need to replace it with. I should have written down the belt numbers...but I didn't.

It's a two groove set up. The belt I still have runs the water pump and alternator. The belt for the AC runs the AC and power steering pump. The AC compressor is on the drivers side of the engine and the alternator is on the passenger side.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was thinking of taking some string to get an idea of the length. The problem is when you go to O'reilly or Auto Zone they only go by the year, make, model...

Thank you for your help!

 

The auto parts store can match up a belt by size. Measure with the string.

 

Thanks! I'll do that. I appreciate the help very much.

 

Just be sure to put the compressor in about the middle of the adjustment range. A string might be too small and sit too far down in the groove. A better choice would be a piece of rope. Even better is an old V-belt that is longer than the one needed. Cut the belt and fit it to the pulleys. A neat trick is to use a piece of heat shrink tubing to join the cut ends, making it easy for the parts store to measure the belt on one of those belt gauges.

 

Thanks Joe! That's a great idea!