Pulleys wont align • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **turbocal** » 09 Jun 2004 0:01

I have a 1970 challenger with a 440, not sure of the year. It has air conditioning, which i have removed, but now the pulleys wont align. I have managed to get the alternator, a two pulley one, to align with the pulley on the crank. The car has manual steering, but with a power steering pump that is only used for the pulley so that my water pump will work. When i remove this, how can i get my water pump to align with another pulley. Thanks, Calvin

by **dave-r** » 09 Jun 2004 7:41

There were different pulleys and brackets for different combinations of accessories. What you really need is the non-AC alt bracket and water pump pulley. You can then get one belt around the lot.

There is a couple of places making stock-type pulleys. I will try to find out who they are.

Christer was having the same trouble here; http://challenger.mpoli.fi/phpbb/viewto ... 3821#13821

by **insuranceguy** » 09 Jun 2004 15:13

http://www.marchperf.com/pg44.html

expensive but very nice looking.

Todd

by **dave-r** » 09 Jun 2004 15:46

I don't recommend March Performance Pulleys to anyone.

I use their one inch belt drive pulleys but had months of hassle and cost just getting the right bits from them. I think they sent the wrong pulley three times and the wrong fasteners once.

The underdrive alternator pulley is causing my battery to undercharge in traffic jams. Worse when it is dark and I have the lights on. The battery has ran flat like that.
It may be my alternator at fault but I don't think so. Chrysler alternators are not great at low drive speeds. I am going to try a high spec alternator next year plus do some extensive re-wiring to see if I can cure the problem.

by **spitfire9137** » 10 Jun 2004 0:42

Maybe I missed the point the Dave, but you said it is a underdrive pully. So of course it will not be charging the battery enough when sitting in traffic at an idle or close to it, because it takes higher rpms to get the charge up.

by **dave-r** » 10 Jun 2004 7:32

Err. Yeah. That's right. But they claim it WILL still charge the battery at idle and low rpm. Plus they do not make a standard speed pulley for those of us that would prefer to opt out.

They claim that at most you might have to increase idle speed to 900rpm. My voltage does not come up until about 1100rpm so either they are talking out of their backsides or there is something wrong with my set-up.

The only cure at the end of the day might be to go back to stock type pulleys which would be a shame because I like the 1-inch belt system.

by **insuranceguy** » 10 Jun 2004 16:25

I had the same problem until I switched to a 75-amp alternator. Still dims a little during a long idle, but other than that, no worries.

I wish I would have converted to a serpentine set up, and I may still.