Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap?

Posted By: Dos Snails

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 02/27/05 10:44 PM

The two bolt holes on the head are in the same you don't have to mill anything.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 02/28/05 03:55 PM

Does anyone have any pictures?
I have runt into a problem with my LA to 56 Dodge install. The crank pulley is too big and hits the crossmember and the ps pump sits to far out and down from the block also hitting the crossmember.
A few pics may be anble to help me determine if this conversion is something that will work for me.
Scott

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 02/28/05 09:57 PM

349" 318 based stroker (360 crank) or a 4"?

hmm...it'll be tough to say "what cam" to maintain the stock computer....I'd find someone who can flash it, or use a piggyback, or a different EFI controller. for a good cam that makes power and would work good in your relatively heavy truck, look to a comp XE262 or XE265HL

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 03/06/05 04:59 AM

I went and took a look at a friends 1993 Dakota V6. Are they the same as the V8?
If so it won't work on my LA. The PS bracket mounts to the head with 3 bolts adn so does the tensioner. I have Edelbrock heads and they do not have the same mounting holes cast into the head. So unless the V8 is different or unless earlier years are different it will be a no go for me.
Scott

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 03/06/05 06:33 PM

You might want to check out a van application, too. Their accessories are oriented a bit different, I bet. Plus, they're almost universally ignored in the salvage yard...

Clair

Posted By: 68440fish

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 04/23/05 06:46 PM

Jerry,

Where did you get a reverse rotation water pump for a big block?

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/23/05 08:34 PM

Ha, the thread claws it's way back from the grave...

Speaking of vans, though, I found a couple in the 'yard today. I think the van stuff mounts the ALT way high and inboard... not necessarily bad, but they're obviously not worried about packaging from a vertical standpoint. That might be trouble for a "real" car. Anyone have photos of both side by side? I need to go back through the old posts in this thread to see if there's a truck application shown already.

Clair

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/24/05 09:08 PM

For Jerry's reverse rotation big block water pump, and... does anyone have a link that shows how the dodge truck brackets and idlers are arranged? I don't have a good photo in any of my manuals, and have come up dry on the internet so far. Only a bajillion hits for Dodge Magnum Serpentine on google...

Clair

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/25/05 02:58 AM

Again...I need to know about the reverse flow pump too...I already have Jerry's setup, but not a pump!

Posted By: Jerry

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/25/05 03:38 AM

well why doesn't someone PM jerry about the question? i haven't been watching this since its a small block thread.

on the big block and i would assume small block too otherwise the pump wouldn't function at all. if you buy a water pump that has a anti cavitation plate welded or riveted to the impeller then it will work in either direction. mind you this is in regards to LA small blocks. i believe the factory magnum waterpump is reverse rotation as i looked at stealing the impeller of that for my big block setup but it wasn't worth the effort. i run a milodon HV water pump on my car and it work fine cooling my big block.

next time theres a question PM me and ask me to respond to the thread its not like you don't know my user name.

Posted By: Jerry

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/26/05 04:34 AM

bttt, in case people missed it the first time around

Posted By: feets

Re: more LA to magnum questions - 04/27/05 12:24 AM

You're saying that the regular old Milodon water pump works fine spinning backwards?
Seems like an invitation for cavitation.

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 05/26/05 04:05 AM

Going back to the original issues, it doesn't look like you can bolt on the Magnum PS pump & bracket as it sits. I just got done with a rough mock-up of the '92? Ram 2500 Van setup I got over the last couple of weekends, and it looks like there's no place for the PS pump to mount. On the Mag, it apears to mount on the block, and there are 4 bolts that hold it in place. None of these bolt holes are on an LA engine. Now, I will admit to having slept since I took the parts off of the van, so maybe I'm missing something, but RIGHT NOW, it looks like that little tidbit is a no-go on an LA engine. On the other hand, I THINK it ought to be pretty straight forward to use 90% of the LA PS brackets to mount the PS pump in approximately the same LA location.

This SHOULD BE possible because most of the bolt holes on the timing cover are in the same place as the LA bolt holes. However, the bottom two bolt holes on the Magnum water pump are farther apart (pretty sure, brain dump) than the LA, so that MIGHT affect one bracket for the PS. Beyond that, you'd have to make sure the pulley lined up, and, you'd have to have a serpentine pulley on the PS pump, obviously. I think you can accomplish this by swapping the pumps (if they're both Saginaw, this might be plug-n-play), or swapping the pulleys. In either case, you'll have to pull the pulley off of the Magnum pump to get to the bracket bolts which are under the pulley...

I'll attach some pics to show what I've got so far.

Clair

Attached picture 1736163-Mock-up-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 05/26/05 04:10 AM

Block face...

Attached picture 1736181-PS_Pump_Problem-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 05/26/05 04:12 AM

PS Pump and bracket... the extended boss needs to mount on the same level as the machined face of the block for the pulley to line up. I need to look at an engine in the 'yard again...

Attached picture 1736187-PS_Pump_Bracket-01.JPG

Attached picture 1736187-PS_Pump_Bracket-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 05/26/05 04:18 AM

Here's a view from the top. The Mag bracket will ALMOST bolt up to an old-style LA manifold, but there is an AC boss (lower right on manifold) that gets in the way. If you use the Mag AC, just hack the boss off, if you're in love with that manifold. If you're not using AC, just hack the boss off, and...

Also, the LA t-stat will PROBABLY work, but you'll PROBABLY have to hack part of the AC portion of the bracket off on the Mag bracket. This is the part on the upper right part of the Mag bracket, and the AC part is framed by the four square bolt holes that you can see. Note that in the pic, the intake manifold is moved back towards the rear of the engine by about 1.5" so these two issuse will clear. There are also some small brackets that stabilize the ALT and AC on the intake. You'll have to sort that out if using a non-M1 EFI type of manifold.

Clair

Attached picture 1736204-Bracket-LA-Manifold-Top.JPG

Attached picture 1736204-Bracket-LA-Manifold-Top.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 05:35 PM

Update to the PS issue: You can NOT bolt the Magnum PS setup to a non-Magnum engine block... the LA block is missing at least one bolt hole at about the 2:00 position relative to the frost plug on the DS front of the block. See the attachment for "block face" (above) to see where I'm talking about. That's the bolt hole that the extended boss on the PS bracket bolts to, and at least two of the other three bolt to the cylinder head (my best guess, couldn't get to the engine in the salvage yard this weekend).

HOWEVER, all is not lost. It looks like some relatively simple mods to the stock Saginaw mounts will allow the PS pump to bolt up to the Magnum serp. setup. Here's my revised mockup of the LA PS pump with Magnum pulley attached:

The water pump is out of the way on this one because of where the mounting bolt (the pivot bolt on the Saginaw brackets) needs to go on the Magnum water pump. Obviously, the Saginaw bracket would interfere with the WP.

Continued...

Attached picture 1760990-Early_Pump_Mounted-01.JPG

Attached picture 1760990-Early_Pump_Mounted-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 05:38 PM

The Magnum PS pump needs to be tweaked a little bit to work with the LA PS pump brackets. In this photo, you can see the second stud (circled, Magnum - clean - pump) that has already been installed and was robbed from the LA PS pump. The Mag originally comes with a thin-head bolt (circled, LA pump), since none of the mounting points on the Magnum pump bracket are on the back of the pump.

Note: there seems to be something funky about the bolts between the two pumps. Pretty sure that the Mag pump has metric fasteners. However, the stud from the LA pump threads in just fine on the Mag pump, but the bolt from the Mag pump doesn't seem to want to go in to the LA pump. Strange, but it works the way I want it to...

Continued...

Attached picture 1760998-Magnum_Early_Pumps-01.JPG

Attached picture 1760998-Magnum_Early_Pumps-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 05:43 PM

Other Saginaw bracket mods that need to be done are just meatball surgery. The rear "triangular" bracket that bolts to the pump body needs to be flattened out completely EXCEPT for the little dogleg that attaches one end to the lower mounting stud. That stays the same. Also, the main, heavy front bracket needs to get hacked down to size.

This has to be done to fit against the Mag WP, as mentioned before. This photo shows how I'm planning to modify the main bracket to fit:

Basically, making a small triangle out of the large rectangular bracket. This *SHOULD* provide sufficient resistance to twisting, and a small strut from the lower timing chain bolts to the back of the pump *SHOULD* prevent any rotation around the pivot bolt. No adjustment needed any more... Oh, and you'll need a short spacer and a nut on the back of pivot bolt to secure the rear mounting bracket. Easier to see what's going on in the Return Line photo below.

Continued...

Attached picture 1761006-Main_Bracket_Mods-02.JPG

Attached picture 1761006-Main_Bracket_Mods-02.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 05:46 PM

Prior to cutting anything, I torqued everything down and checked the pulley alignment:

Pretty dang good! Still, you don't want your belt walking off any of the pulleys, so may as well make the alignment "right". This means that the outer (main) PS pump bracket needs to go back another 1/16" or so. There's a small boss on the WP where the pivot bolt goes, and it's about the right thickness. I'm going to mill (file) that boss down flush with the main part of the pump, and see if that does the trick. Doing that won't affect the operation of the pump at all, since nothing else bolts up there (AFAIK).

Continued...

Attached picture 1761017-Pulley_Alignment-02.JPG

Attached picture 1761017-Pulley_Alignment-02.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 05:49 PM

Final thing to consider is actually using the Magnum PS pump, or at least the reservoir porion. The return line is situated in a way that provides more clearance to the head than the LA pump does. You can see how the hose runs on the previous photo of the backs of the pumps, and you can see how close the LA return line gets to the head here:

The LA return line is so close to the head you can't have clamps on the line, OR, you can't remove the clamps without pulling the pump. The Mag should solve that.

More to follow...

Clair

Attached picture 1761028-Return_Line_Clearance-02.JPG

Attached picture 1761028-Return_Line_Clearance-02.JPG

Posted By: Snailpower

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 06:25 PM

This is awesome info and your doing all the hard work for me!! How nice!

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/06/05 07:42 PM

Hehe! I'm doing all the hard work for ME, but feel free to use as much/little as you want. We can both fail miserably then...

Clair

Posted By: patrick

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/10/05 10:46 PM

so in the end clair, what you're saying, is just start out with a complete magnum motor?

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/17/05 04:11 AM

OK, I goofed. In my great mock-up of the Saginaw-Magnum interface, I ASSumed that the bolt hole I was using was used to bolt the WP to the TC cover (circled). Not. It's one that attaches the ALT/AC bracket to the TC cover. DOH! What this does is slightly dump on the cool tech I've spouted off so far. Not BAD, but a correction needs to be made, and I'm not sure yet how far it will go. First thing is that the end of the ALT/AC bracket is slightly thicker (by a fat 1/8") than the boss on the WP I thought I was using. That's enough for me to rethink just "milling" a little bit off to make up the difference.

Attached picture 1785004-PS_Pump_Bracket-02.jpg

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/17/05 04:17 AM

The fix will take a tweak of the bracket, or a new bracket all together. Which sucks, since I just carved out the bracket chunk I needed the other day.

That's what hammers and torches are for, so I guess that's no biggie. Here's the modified bracket:

Attached picture 1785017-PS_Pump_Bracket-03.jpg

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 06/17/05 04:21 AM

Another thing that sunk in today is that the slight clocking change that the Magnum pump has versus the earlier pumps IS a big deal. What it does is change the location of the pivot point on my new bracket, a detail that makes my neat new bracket useless. Puts the pivot bolt right through the outer edge of the pump reservoir, which ain't so good. You can see the clocking difference here:

Magnum on the left, LA pumps in the middle and on the right. This also means that the LA pump I'm using now HAS to have the reservoir swapped to the grungy one in the middle to get the return line in close to the right place, AND, I have to ditch my on-pump cooler and go with the B-van grille-mounted cooler. Not as tidy a solution, by a long shot. Crap.

And on those high notes, I called it an evening. Besides, it was dead still 90* air in the garage, lots of mosquitos out, and I kept spilling PS fluid every time I turned around. I swear those pumps MAKE fluid... Hopefully better news to follow soon.

Clair

Attached picture 1785029-PS_Pump_Clocking-01.jpg

Attached picture 1785029-PS_Pump_Clocking-01.jpg

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/03/05 04:33 AM

A couple of weeks later, another update. Got all the PS issues sorted out today. I ended up using the modified bracket I hacked up previously, a couple spacers on the front of the pump to move the pump back slightly, and did the fine tuning on the belt alignment with a pulley puller to move it outward about 1/10". Shouldn't affect the way it runs at all. On the back side of the pump, I used the stock rear bracket, and a short (~1/2" or so) spacer on the engine end. Nut on the back side of the bracket to hold it in place, since the primary mounting bolt threads in to the timing chain cover and doesn't normally need a nut.

I also fabbed up the lower bracket I needed. This is a T-shaped piece that mounts to the two studs on the lower part of the timing chain cover. On a typical LA, these are plain bolts, but the Magnum uses stud/bolt things so that the ATF cooler lines can be attached to a bracket at that point. It's pretty dang convenient to have those studs there, and it meant a nice simple bracket would do what I wanted it to do. Pic 1 of 2...

Attached picture 1819736-New_Rear_Bracket-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/03/05 04:36 AM

...pic 2 of 2...

It's about the simplest bracket in the world, and I welded the snot out of it. Gotta play with the welder more often so I don't have to play with the grinder so much...

Attached picture 1819744-New_Rear_Bracket-02.JPG

Attached picture 1819744-New_Rear_Bracket-02.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/03/05 04:40 AM

Finally, since things went OK to day, I put the other accessories on and see how it all looked. Here's the latest mock-up:

Unfortunately, there's no way at present to mount the tensioner, which is kind of important.

I think a pretty simple plate will do the trick, but it's going to take a bit of fabricating. Again. I hope I'm back on the road this year...

Clair

Attached picture 1819759-Mock-up-02.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/17/05 09:24 PM

A couple of weeks later, another update. It's almost like I'm on some sort of schedule...

This time, it's the belt tensioner. Got that one figured out now, too. Since the LA blocks lack the block bolt holes required to mount the OE Magnum tensioner, I had to fabricate something again. This time it was a bracket to allow a salvaged piece of the original LA PS pump bracket to act as the tensioner pulley swing arm. The bracket I needed to make attaches to the main accessory bracket, and happens to have the same bolt pattern as the mate to the offset bend bracket on the LA PS pump bracket (the one that mounts on the lower two timing cover bolt holes). That worked out well for making a pattern, but I still had to modify it quite a bit to achieve the range of motion I needed. Also, since the two holes I needed to use in the main accessory bracket were AGAIN not in the same plane, I needed to make a spacer to keep it all square. Easy enough with three washers.

Attached picture 1850567-Idler_Bracket-01.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/17/05 09:26 PM

p2
Here it is in place with the washers:

Attached picture 1850573-Idler_Bracket-02.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/17/05 09:31 PM

Unfortunately, adding washers behind the pivot bracket meant that the nice original offset bend bracket I wanted to use had to be "unbent" by the amount of the washers - about 1/4". The "unbent" one is the brown one in the photo. Another unfortunate part is that with the flatter angle on the bracket, I had to use a small spacer (another washer) under the tensioner pulley, AND grind some clearance on the bracket so the pulley would clear. It should all hide under a coat of satin black paint...

Attached picture 1850579-Idler_Bracket-03.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 07/17/05 09:34 PM

A bunch of holes and a few drill bits later, I had the arc I needed, and the basic shape of the bracket sketched on to a piece of 3/16" steel plate. Broke out the Skill saw with the metal cutting blade, whittled down the parts that didn't look like the bracket, and smoothed it off on the grinder. Here's the assembly:

I just need to weld a nut on to the tensioner bracket to make it easier to tighten, re-tack the weld nut on the back of the pivot bracket (just for good BS), fabricate a strut to stabilize the brcket assembly, and it should all be good to go. Now to see if I can bolt this mess up to the M1 EFI intake and have it clear the t-stat housing that's in the LA position...

Clair

Attached picture 1850586-Idler_Bracket-04.JPG

Attached picture 1850586-Idler_Bracket-04.JPG

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 01/23/06 04:01 AM

6 MONTHS LATER... an update.

It's all installed now, just need to sort out final wiring, fix the hose situation, and test run. The run part can't happen until I get the EFI tied down, but I'm at 95% now. Whew... On to the pics...

Here's half of what I was hoping to obtain, more space in front of the engine (the other half was the tiny Mag Van A/C compressor). The Mag serp system is easily an inch shorter than the old LA system. Here's all the new space in front of the water pump. My old LA pump pulley bolts were a fat 1/8" from this same electric fan motor:

Of course having all that space means a bigger fan/radiator combo can fit, and the new Volvo fan is a tad thicker than the old Daytona fan, sooooo... I'm back at about 1/2" clear now. Oh, well... it's all an upgrade, right?

Hose routing is kind of a mess, though. I've got an EFI intake that has the t-stat location the same as the old LA engines, but all my accessories are in the Magnum location. This means the left rear bolt on the A/C compressor is where the t-stat housing wants to be, and you have to do surgery on the accessory bracket AND the A/C compressor to make it fit as-is. I'm going to see how that all works out, and maybe keep my eyes out for another EFI manifold with a relocated t-stat. What a PITA. This MAY not be a problem on late LA manifolds, and is almost definitely not a problem on the Mag manifolds. This is what I get for jacking around with wierd stuff... ANYWAY, the upper hose is a composite of TWO LA/A-body upper hoses, and it's sort of tidy. Just needs a splice in the middle. I'm going to se what a Phord Exploder upper hose looks like, since they're kind of funky.

The lower hose is a stock LA/A-body lower, with a splice to make up some length. Part of this is because I went to a wider radiator. If you get a new lower from the parts store, it probably has enough material prior to trimming to work OK.

So, that's where I'm at now. All in all, I'd say it's a giant PITA to adapt the Mag serpentine system to an LA engine, but it CAN be done. So far, the hardest part has been finding a 7-rib belt that was the right length to work with what I came up with. Next time, I'll start with a belt and work backwards. If you can tolerate a 6-rib belt and an open groove on your accessories, there are LOTS of those out there.

Clair

Posted By: phoenix70charger

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 01/23/06 04:28 AM

Lookin good!

Hope everything else ends up being easier and simpler!

Posted By: Clair_Davis

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 02/06/07 02:38 AM

Can't edit my post to fix the photo links, so a quote will have to do... Thanks for nothing, EV1. It's up and running, so far so good. Hope to get a little road time on it soon.

Clair

Quote:

6 MONTHS LATER... an update.

It's all installed now, just need to sort out final wiring, fix the hose situation, and test run. The run part can't happen until I get the EFI tied down, but I'm at 95% now. Whew... On to the pics...

Here's half of what I was hoping to obtain, more space in front of the engine (the other half was the tiny Mag Van A/C compressor). The Mag serp system is easily an inch shorter than the old LA system. Here's all the new space in front of the water pump. My old LA pump pulley bolts were a fat 1/8" from this same electric fan motor:

Of course having all that space means a bigger fan/radiator combo can fit, and the new Volvo fan is a tad thicker than the old Daytona fan, sooooo... I'm back at about 1/2" clear now. Oh, well... it's all an upgrade, right?

Hose routing is kind of a mess, though. I've got an EFI intake that has the t-stat location the same as the old LA engines, but all my accessories are in the Magnum location. This means the left rear bolt on the A/C compressor is where the t-stat housing wants to be, and you have to do surgery on the accessory bracket AND the A/C compressor to make it fit as-is. I'm going to see how that all works out, and maybe keep my eyes out for another EFI manifold with a relocated t-stat. What a PITA. This MAY not be a problem on late LA manifolds, and is almost definitely not a problem on the Mag manifolds. This is what I get for jacking around with wierd stuff... ANYWAY, the upper hose is a composite of TWO LA/A-body upper hoses, and it's sort of tidy. Just needs a splice in the middle. I'm going to se what a Phord Exploder upper hose looks like, since they're kind of funky.

The lower hose is a stock LA/A-body lower, with a splice to make up some length. Part of this is because I went to a wider radiator. If you get a new lower from the parts store, it probably has enough material prior to trimming to work OK.

So, that's where I'm at now. All in all, I'd say it's a giant PITA to adapt the Mag serpentine system to an LA engine, but it CAN be done. So far, the hardest part has been finding a 7-rib belt that was the right length to work with what I came up with. Next time, I'll start with a belt and work backwards. If you can tolerate a 6-rib belt and an open groove on your accessories, there are LOTS of those out there.

Clair

Posted By: matthewf229

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 05/10/11 03:16 AM

You guys went about this all the wrong way. The LA motors already have a serpentine belt setup. 1991-early 1992 Dakotas are throttle body LAs, with a serpentine belt setup. I am in the process of converting my Satellite. The timing cover has a boss made onto the side of it to mount the p/s pump, nice and close to the block. The only hang-ups so far have been the cam bolt and the tensioner. The alternator, compressor, water pump, crank pulley, and p/s pump bolt right up and line up perfectly, with no clearance issues at all, even with headers. Another bonus is that the Dakota compressor sits at a slight angle, so the compressor outlet ports are almost perfectly in line with the existing a/c hoses. The dipstick has plenty of clearance, too. I had to relocate one heater hose, but the radiator hose won't have to change much. The head of the cam bolt is too tall, so I ordered one for a Dakota from Mopar, but I still had to grind it down. It fits fine now. I also had to take up the extra space on the cam snout so that the sprocket wouldn't walk. A couple of hardware store 1" washers took care of that. I still have to have custom p/s lines and a/c hoses made...no big deal. And on to the tensioner... the Dakota's tensioner is mounted on the air pump bracket. It is big, ugly, and hits the fenderwell anyway. And the tensioner is sprung the wrong way. So what I am in the process of doing is using a Magnum-style tensioner with a six groove pulley (the Dakota stuff is all six groove, instead of seven), which is sprung the opposite way, and a custom made bracket. I am not done, but I will post pictures and part numbers when I'm done. This setup is almost a simple bolt-on, with plenty of clearance, even with my tall valve covers and Hooker super-comp headers...

Posted By: matthewf229

Re: Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap? - 12/04/12 09:41 PM

A very late update on my belt swap: I ended up using the original tensioner bracket, but I ended up cutting off the air pump mounts. It bolted on with no issues. The tensioner ended up being sprung the correct way, just clocked wrong. I rotated it about 180 degrees and swapped the original smooth pulley for a grooved one. The belt had to be a custom length, if memory serves me correctly it was around 101". The thermostat location was a bit of a challenge, but the original location will work, I ended up using an upper hose for a mid-90's Tahoe (I think, I just looked around at the parts store until I found what I wanted). The original dipstick tube and stick both worked, I just tweaked them a little to clear the alternator, and bolted it down with a universal bracket I had lying around. The alternator was overcharging the battery initially, but I got that problem worked out with help from the local starter/alternator shop. I swapped the mechanical fan for a dual electric fan & shroud assembly out of a 2002 Chevy Camaro SS. The size and shape of this fan assembly fits the radiator almost perfectly. I haven't had the A/C lines made yet (no money, a seemingly re-occuring issue with me), but I had a local hydraulic shop make the power steering pressure hose, and the P/S system works fine with the original steering gear. I haven't driven this car much the past year, life got in the way, but the belt swap has worked perfectly, the belt tracks straight, and no noise.

Another Magnum question - serpentine belt swap?