serpentine belt conversion

[racetowin]

Have 86 c-10 355 ci motor with a/c  want to do serpentine belt conversion with out buying high $ parts.  Junk yards are fun places.  Any help would be great.

[beastie_3]

As long as your heads have the bolt holes on the front side, just grab all the parts from a serpentine engine. Look at different vehicles because each one was designed to fit in the bay differently. I think most people use the kit from a newer truck or camaro.

[VileZambonie]

Pretty much any small chevy serpentine set up will work as well as 4.3 applications but you will need the waterpump from the donor.

[thirdtime]

I just finished this last weekend on an 84 K20.  It was not as simple as I thought.  I got the brackets for mine off a 2003 4.3 Blazer.  The big problem I had was my passenger side head on the motor did not have the 3 accessory holes.  I had read in several places where you can drill the extra hole but when I did it I punched right through a water jacket.  Needless to say, I now have new summit 202 heads with the correct holes and roller rockers.  As far as the water pump goes, the donor pump did not work.  It was missing a water jacket on the bottom of the passenger side.  I ended up using a pump off of an 88 (reverse rotation) K2500 from Napa. I also had to get a water pump pulley and fan assembly from a 1996, the 2003 did not line up correctly. I also upgraded my A/C to the new Delphi system.  Depending on the A/C type and location will determine what bracket style to use.  Hope this helps and saves you some aggravation.

[beastie_3]

After drilling into the water jacket, could you have used sealant on the bolt threads?

I wonder if the truck you got the brackets from was too new?

[thirdtime]

I did tap and repair the water jacket but there was not enough metal for a solid bolt connection.  The factory heads (the truck has been in the family since new) had 3 accessory holes on one end and only one hole on the other so the drives side fit perfect; it was the passenger side that did not work.  I chose the 2000 series brackets so I could use the new style Delphi A/C compressor.  It was a little extra work but it will freeze you out in the Florida summers.  You can use earlier brackets and get different compressor options.  It took me a lot of junk yard cruising to determine what I wanted.