Crash Dummy

Today was one of those days where just about nothing went right. It happens I know so I just walked away tonight and will look at things again tomorrow. The CVR mini-starter is not even close to being shimmed correctly and I am buffaloed on what to do with the March Pulley set I bought. Obviously the March Series 5030 is also an underdrive set as the harmonic balance pulley is smaller and the water pump & alternator pulleys are both oversized. It was not advertised that way. So be it...

The question is.... what is the best way to shim the March harmonic balance pulley to be in line with the water pump pulley? Right now I am about 1/8" off(shallow). Does March make such a spacer? I can have a spacer machined at work and drill matching holes, but I was wondering what others are doing. The puzzling part is that the after-market harmonic balance I now have is 1 9/16" thick compared to the 1 3/16" stock one, so I would have thought it would be the other way around. I haven't really sat down and measured the old water pump to the new one, but the pulleys are exactly the same depth. I'll do that tomorrow.

Given the 2 oversized pulleys(waterpump & alternator) and the undersized harmonic balance pulley, does anyone know if March calculated it out to use the stock v-belts?

Any answers would be appreciated. A good beer is in line after today. :cheers:

79VetteMike

I have the March underdrive pulleys. I put them on when I put in my crate motor, so I can't tell you what you need to know as far as what belts matched. I just measured and guessed and went to Autozone and picked ones that would fit. I am guessing that maybe you are using the wrong type of water pump. Do you have the Corvette short pump which is different from the standard short Chevy water pump? A couple of companies make the shims that go on the water pump to align the water pump pulley with the crank and other accessories. If your crank is actually sticking closer to your block then that is what I would guess. By the way, I have aftermarket Milodon water pump(switching to a Stewart aluminum with the same dimensions) and I have a Fluidamper harmonic balancer. Everything lined up perfect. Hope this helps some....

tshort

Barry - If this helps, I have seen some of those shims at Pep Boys.

Crash Dummy

79VetteMike....

I went out and did a load of measuring this morning and all of the March pulleys are the same depth as the stock steel ones and the Weiand Team-G 8220 water pump also a match to the old pump. Ends up it is the aftermarket harmonic balance that seats deeper on the crank pin, so that's where the difference is. Are you also running the March alternator & power steering pump brackets? If so, do you have the part numbers?

Travis...

Pep Boys handles March stuff? Of course.... there is no Pep Boys in Pearland, but I can easily head down to Clear Lake. Oh well, it wasn't a complete lost weekend as I finished polishing the intake plenium & runners. Will probably go out later this afternoon and see if I can't finish aligning the starter.

tshort

Yeah right, I think the only thing Pep Boys and March have in common is the fact that it is the month of March in the Pep Boys stores :lol:
I meant that I've seen some of those pulley spacers in Pep Boys. I hope you find an easy solution.

79VetteMike

I bought the complete set of March pulleys that included the crank, water pump and the alternator pulleys. I do not have the power steering pully, but Summit Racing Equipment should have whatever you are looking for. Their number is 1-800-230-3030. The customer service is usually pretty good. March's Technical Support number is 734)729-9070- I would call them first. I have their sales brochure in my hands as I type this and it appears that they have several options for power steering and I would not want to give you the wrong number. I hope this helps...

Crash Dummy

Travis....

I'll be darned if can't buy March pulley systems from Pep Boys. About 20% higher, but I browsed through their website and they do handle more high performance stuff than you can find at some of the other parts houses. Odds are they buy from Jegs & Summit, so I'll just let the Big Brown truck deliver it to my doorstep :yesnod: I gotta admit one thing... every time I go into the garage and work on finishing this motor I end up with another list of dinky things that I've got to go pick up next week. At least I'm getting to the low dollar things finally.

79VetteMike...

I'll probably just go back with the stock brackets while I break the engine in and if I am flipping/throwing belts when I wing it up to 5500-6000RPM's(probably will) I'll make the switch.