Tempo Accessory Drive Rework

[Frank Lee]

Made a 700 mile trip with the mods with no ill effect, so I jumped feet-first into Phase II and reworked the original 3.8975" water pump pulley to become the new alternator pulley; alternator should now be turning 55% as fast as stock (and 8% faster than crank rpm) if I didn't screw up the math. FYI original alt pulley is 2.13" dia.

I had to do quite a bit of tedious grinding on a motor mount that was now interfering with the path of the belt, and also on the alternator itself so that it would hug the block closer so that I didn't have to pry the belt on and off, but after the required bruising and bleeding, got it done.

So then, went on a 300 mile trip. No battery light = ! Tried to tax the system by cranking the heater blower full blast, headlights on, radio on, and tapping the brake to cause those high-draw brake lights to come on. Never did the battery light come on or any related issue surface.

Come to think of it, I should look into whether alternators are being spun a lot faster than they used to be. I noticed that v-belt driven alternator pulleys are far greater diameter than flat-vee pulleys... if the drive pulleys haven't also shrunk accordingly, modern alternators are being spun a lot faster.

No fuel economy improvements to report yet. It's going to be awhile before I can tell what effects this may have; first trip was through severe blizzard and awful AWFUL cobby rough ice that at times caused me to go 20 mph in 4th gear. Then after Phase II was implemented, that next 300 mile leg was into a 30+mph quartering headwind which, as we all know, really blows.

Also, as on my pickup, the Coupe now sports a fan delete, mainly because the radiator I put in doesn't accomodate the stock fan and I remembered that I've been driving that pickup with no fan whatsoever for quite a few years now. If she gets hot this summer, I guess I'll do something about it then.

[vacationtime247]

Wow! That's awsome. I'll be re-reading this post several times. The alternator on mine is ran off a secondary belt from the power steering : ( Would like to go A/C delete when it comes time for this car to go under the knife again. Been contemplating adding a second battery. Go alternator delete for the ride to work during the day. Put it back on after work at night. Only accessories it would need to run is brake lights during stops and keep the I/P fuel shutoff powered. Shouldn't cycle the batteries to death either (I hope).
VT247

[Frank Lee]

Sorry I didn't take pics when things were all apart. I allowed these pics to be somewhat larger than I usually post because the detail is hard to see.


Here we can see the lack of a fan behind the radiator. Oil filter is now out in the open! Yes, that is the GROUND you see underneath! Alternator used to sit up high just like in vacationtime's shot above. Now it sits low on a welded angle-iron bracket. A/C compressor gone; power steering pump laying on the bottom of the engine bay.


Here's the view down the black hole that is the "front" of the engine. Hard to see what's going on down there... you can imagine how fun it is trying to jam your hands in there and work wrenches and whatnot. This is when those "dentist's mirrors" come in handy. Anyway, that is the water pump pulley, 33% larger diameter than stock, and the backside flange has been cut off. That cast iron chunk that is obstructing our view of the good stuff is the motor mount... the one that needed clearancing on the bottom side after Phase II.


Here's my lovely Chevy Orange alternator adjustment bracket. It seems to be making nice with all the Ford stuff that surrounds it. Note that the alternator is wearing the old stock water pump pulley- nice 'n' ginormous!

The top run of the belt goes off the left of the pic straight to the water pump and the bottom run goes straight to the crank pulley. Neat, simple, clean... and with any luck, more efficient. The need for a spring tensioner has been eliminated as well.

Total damage to the wallet still stands at $23.70.

HA! Found a good pic of the stock mess:


Now the belt drive is more like this:

[vacationtime247]

Incredible! Went way beyond the typical delete and re-route of the belt system. Completely changed the ratio of the alternator and power steering drive pulleys too.

Feel your pain with the area between the engine and the body. Replaced the timing belt on mine. Made at least 100 up and downs to get that crank pulley and cover off.
VT247

[Frank Lee]

Yeah, to get the 4 bolts off the stock water pump pulley, I FINALLY figured out that it wasn't going to happen by turning the wrench... I had to get the wrench on each bolt and spin the bolts out by turning the pulley via the belt, with the wrench oscillating against the motor mount just like a connecting rod on a crank!

You have a nice situation with that diesel in that your electrical use while running can be dropped to near zero.

I see you are all clamoring for more information on that alternator pulley... I turned a hub on the lathe and welded it on the pulley in order to mount it. I was meticulous with measuring so that it would all line up in the end, and it did. Guess I didn't have to design in lateral adjustment in my bracketry... I did so, so that it could be easily shimmed for belt alignment but it was dead nuts on the first time.

[Frank Lee]

Seeing as how the teeming masses are hungry for data- any data...

Got about 34 mpg on E66 over the course of 272 miles. That would be a good number for that trip on E10. Yeah, it's only one data point, and not a super precise one at that. No claims about the efficacy of this mod will be made at this time.

Removed 35lbs of stuff. Since I don't drive every day, any ride and handling response changes from the weight loss aren't noticeable to me; there might be a difference but it would be very subtle. Then again, the car was loaded to the gills and it was dragging butt. That couldn't have been good for aero and r.r. so that makes the 34mpg even nicer.

Am used to the Armstrong steering already. It doesn't take long to adapt.

No glitches at all related to the accessory drive rework: battery charges, lights and everything still work, alternator hasn't gotten hot, engine hasn't either.

I note that right after starting it at night, the headlights dim a bit between shifts/when it falls to idle, until the battery charges up again after a bit of driving.

[skyking]

Funny how getting something exposed so you can see what is wrong, can lead down a long path.
good luck with your mod, Frank.

[Frank Lee]

Pile of stuff I no longer drive around with. 35lbs without fan and radiator... need to weigh that too. Also mile-long belt escaped this pic.

[Frank Lee]

All the changes individually probably got fractional hp savings.

Many figures online (hard to find good ones at all) only show peak loads- 6000+ rpm. Super Chevy did a water pump dyno test and didn't even report results from below 3000, because they couldn't measure it.

So by slowing water pump down I might have gained .1-.3 hp?
Alternator @ -45% speed... more efficient and less cooling fan losses... <1 hp?
Power steering- some reports showing 5 hp @ peak rpm, others about 9 hp... similar to water pump, so at 2000rpm and less, probably <1hp.
More efficient belt routing: no idler, no tensioner, no backbending, shorter belt... <1 hp.

Probably reduced load by at least 1HP but less than 2 or 3... sounds fruitless right? But if the car is only using 12hp to cruise, power accessories could be taking 10-25% of the power.

[slowmover]

That looks good to me. Ought to be noticeable at some transition where power demand comes on.