A couple of months ago I replaced my water pump. While the car was idling in the driveway after a drive I noticed a swish, swish, swish, belt noise. Upon closer examination, I noticed the AC compressor seemed to be sitting a little too far back, allowing the AC belt to lightly rub against the alternator pulley. Since then, I have tried switching all the AC brackets with another set I have. No change. Tried a different Alt. bracket. No change. Different alternator. Same. The only thing I can think of now is that the boss around the hole on the water pump that the alt. bracket bolts to is standing out too far. I may try filing it down to move that bracket back. But, even so, it seems the real problem is the positioning of the compressor. I'm not sure whether I had this alignment problem before replacing the pump and never noticed. That's why I tried all these other alternatives. Anyone shimmed their AC compressor forward? Looking for ideas. Heres some pics.
First, I leave this set up connected at all attach points, but get everything sloopy loose. Then, I would try to retighten all connections with a bias to get the belt straight and away from the Alt. pulley. I say this because I know you can tightened the attach points in a sequence that will not allign the belt.
belt problems Dale, I got a picture of the alternator in my car and notice how close the alternator fan fits to the alternator case. E-mail me what you find per my reconmendation over the phone, AL.
I have the same problem since we rebuilt the motor. When I look down the AC belt, the AC belt gets so close to the alternator that it rubbed against it when it was on the dyno. I've tried to figure out how to realign the belt but I can't get the brackets to shift enough. At this point, I think the AC belt will wear away enough to clear the alternator blades, but I'd prefer to fix it properly.
BINGO! Al, I took the advice you gave me over the phone, and it looks like that took care of it! Here is a pic of the spacer I removed.
And a shot of the alignment after. It's still just a hair off, but I think it will be fine. Thanks Al! :beer
Dale, What color paint is that on the GS Model? My real car is Tealmist Gray code 16 (a Riv color) and very similar to your model.
Brad, It is from the Testor's line of model car paints. I may still have the can at home to give you the exact name and or stock #. I made the regular GSX. Then that GS model pictured. (From a GSX kit of course) I had planned on doing a convertible, but I've never gotten around to it. Still have 2 GSX kits in the basement. Someday.
