Hey all, I removed the air conditioning from my 71 cutlass S and so now I have nothing on passenger side and alternator and power steering pump on drivers side as well as starter. The air conditioning sort of balanced everything out. Is there any problem with this set-up like this?

 

You haven't driven many older cars, have you?

If you removed 40 pounds from one side of an 18-wheeler, would you notice?

- Eric

 

As Eric said, its a non-issue.

 

Sorry.

- Eric

 

For what?

 

It is better to balance the loads, but the bearings are pretty beasty

 

I re-read my post. I was a bit of a jerk.

Someone accustomed to driving Hondas, where if you put the groceries in wrong it will list like the Lusitania, wouldn't know how unimportant this is.

- Eric

 

Slipping belts is a problem for later engines with air-con removed, because the alternator belt is driven only from the water pump pulley, with slightly worn pulleys or belts the power steering belt alone struggles to cope.
Also the water pump bearings were subjected to loading on one side.
The effective solution in this case is to move the alternator to where the air-con pump was, which means getting (or making) the right brackets.

I don't know if the '71 models had this set up, if not apologies for being irrelevant but I thought it worth raising the point.

Roger.

 

Now that you mention it, on a car in your situation, the alternator, power steering pump, battery, master cylinder & booster, & starter are all on the driver side in addition to the driver & steering column. So if you weighed the car on 4 scales(race car scales?) I'm sure the driver side would be heavier. Maybe that's why they put the spare on the passenger side of the trunk, to help equalize the load?

 

Thanks guys for the responses. I kinda thought I would need to move the alternator to the other side. Now the question is does anybody have one of those brackets?

 

There are 3 parts to mount the alternator on the pass. side & I have them all in good condition. I'd like to get $75.00 shipped for them. I can get pix if needed.

 

Sent PM, will take brackets.

 

Fred wore out the suspension on this ride!