400mphpc

Have any of you guys ever swapped out the standard pulleys & V belts for a new style serpentine belt system? I have a 1976 Cutlass Supreme, 350 (not a rocket) with A/C. Any suggestions of a using a late model doner car or truck for this? Trying to keep the cost down.

Thanks

442much

By "Not a Rocket" do you mean it's not an Oldsmobile engine?

400mphpc

It is just a standard Olds 350, nothing special that I'm aware of.

jslabotsky

I believe Olds applied the trademark "Rocket" to all their V8 motors up until the 70s. (1976 might have been the last year, IIRC.) So that moniker doesn't really mean anything.

Anyway...

March, Dick Miller and I think M*ndello all sell serpentine setups, but they are spendy.

As for junkyard alternatives, search here and on realoldspower.com. There have been a couple of threads. The approach I find most interesting is adapting a serpentine setup off an 80s Olds 4.3L diesel using the diesel's reverse rotation water pump. I don't think anybody has actually completed one of these, but it looks like it mainly takes a few spacers. Not sure about the crank pulley though.

A guy on ROP actually abandoned the 4.3 setup and started working on adapting a Chebby setup, but I don't think he finished that one either.

I suspect the feedback you'll get here is that serpentine really isn't worth the trouble. It won't save weight or make accessories perform better. So unless you have some specific reason to convert, or just think it looks cool, it's probably not worth the trouble.

442much

"Rocket" was more of an advertizing gimick than any difference between one 350/455 compared to another.

The Stickman

I am insearch of the same thing. There is another board I post on where a guy has what looks to be a partial setup. Hard getting any info out of him about it. He says he is willing to sell but without knowing what he has or how much needs to be done it is hard to make a real offer on it. What he has looks to be OEM off of something. So I think I will just hit the yards to find what he is using.

svnt442

All I gotta say is look at the Oldsmobile logo on your center caps. It's a rocket. ALL olds v-8s are rockets that I know of. It was a marketing gimmick started in the 50's with the space race in full swing. If it doesn't actually say rocet on it doesn't mean anything. It's still the same engine as another Olds engine.

70 cutlass s

You would have to change all your pullys and make sure everything lines up. Finding a crank pully that would work would be the hardest thing. A chevy pully won't work. I don't know if its worth it. You would have to make longer spacers for the power steering pump. The more I think about it the more I say no. You would have to go with aftermarket.

400mphpc

Everyone, thanks for the feedback. I was willing to try this option to get rid of a problem I'm having with the generator belt. I purchased the car back in April from the original owner and there is not much "mechanical history" that came with it. I have had to replace this belt 2 times now over the summer, approx 2000 miles in total, and for what ever reason, the belt gets "eaten" up. Everything seems to be in line, but now I'm wondering if the pulley on the generator has grooves that are too small. Do you guys know what the "correct" width and depth of the V groves are supposed to be?

70 cutlass s

I would look for a burr on the pulley make sure inside of the grove is smooth. You want to check all the pulleys that the belts uses.

Oldsguy

Double check the alignment of the alternator belt, making sure it isn't off center. I don't know if it is possible to even run the engine without throwing a belt with the wrong water pump on but there is a difference in the length of the snout (therefore the pulley position) between non-AC and AC water pumps. If you have the wrong one, and it is causing a mis-alignment without actually throwing the belt then that could be your trouble. Of course I suppose you would also have trouble with the power steering pump belt. Unless you don't have P.S.
Nice looking Cutlass Supreme by the way...

joe_padavano

There are several aftermarket "serpentine" setups offered. I used "serpentine" in quotes because as far as I can tell, all use the conventional rotation water pump and a bazillion idler pulleys to get the proper tension on the belt. This is NOT a true serpentine arrangement in my opinion and is definitely NOt an upgrade to stock.

As noted, the only reverse rotation water pump for an Olds motor is the one used on the V6 diesel cars (actually there are two, one for FWD applications with a press on pulley and one for RWD applications with a conventional bolt-on pulley). You will need to fabricate brackets and pulleys to make this work.

There are a couple of true serpentine kits available for the Olds motors in the GMC motorhomes. Both kits that I have seen use custom brackets that space the accessories far out from the block, apparently to better fit the motorhome engine compartment. Both are VERY expensive (several thousand bucks each) and both use the diesel water pump. One of the vendors thinks he is being very clever and will not tell you that this is the diesel pump, so he charges about four times what you can buy the pump for on RockAuto.

joe_padavano

Since the V-belt arrangement worked on millions of cars that Olds built, wouldn't it be easier to just figure out what's wrong with yours rather than making a wholesale change that will bring it's own problems?

400mphpc

Dan & Joe,
Thanks again for the advise. I will focus my efforts on fixing the current problem instead of adding something new to the mix.

It does not seem to be an alignment issue since the belt stays in place and has never been tossed off the pulleys. The belt actually shrinks in width & the sides become frayed. In most cases I get several warnings along the way. The belt becomes loose & starts to squeal. After I re-tighten, it usually takes another month or so before that same process happens and usually after the 3rd or 4th time, the belt has become so narrow, in certain places, it will break. I will have a very close look at the pulleys and see if there is a burr or something else.

Thanks again,
Chris

70 cutlass s

If everything checks out with the pulley and the alignment is good then you need to check out if the alt. bearing is going bad that could cause your belts to fail.

400mphpc

Thanks again !