Hey folks, looking for some ideas. Did some ac work this weekend trying to get it working for the first time in 10 years. If you can’t tell, the ac belt is hitting the lower radiator hose... stalling out my project. A couple ideas... this duralast 15615 is the wrong belt, I have the compressor pretty far away from the alternator to make it tight. Second option would be that I have the wrong radiator hose. I’m playing with my options right now to figure out what to do but was wondering if anybody else had ideas. This belt was the local in stock option for the car but could be wrong. I may also attempt to rotate the hose a little to see if it swings out of the way. .....the roadblocks we run into when fixing things
So even moving the compressor in as close to the alternator as possible causes it to drag. This is a ‘69 350 in a ‘72 GS, I’m willing to bet it’s that lower radiator hose.... probably kept the same 72 hose when the engine was swapped.
Does it still touch after the belt is tightened? Maybe the wrong compressor clutch diameter, maybe wrong radiator hose. There are different diameter clutches based on the engine size/rear gears... if I remember right.
So part of this work I’m doing involved putting on a replacement compressor, but The compressor is identical to the one I pulled off the car.... I guess if the 69 car had a smaller one and the 72 had a bigger one then that could be the issue. I guess the struggle is figuring out what parts they kept from each engine.
Twisting the Lower hose slightly gives me some clearance, it would work now with the ac compressor at the widest setting but it has just mm of space. I think getting a smaller belt would give me the room I need and moving the compressor in a little. The search continues lol
I really suspect this is the hose. I have about 1/16th of a gap now with it twisted a little. This will likely be gone once the hose expands a little. Possibly the original hose was cut down a little.
So test results show the belt wearing into the hose. Now I’m going to test a new hose. The belt appears to be correct. I saw the flex hose... I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Pull the lower hose back from the radiator. Right to the edge of the lip on the lower radiator connection. This should help to give you a bit more clearance.
On mine, the belt is no where near the hose (a couple inches at least). However, when I rebuilt the engine I replaced most of the accessories like hoses, etc. except for the lower radiator hose, which came with the engine I got and was in good shape, so I kept it. Don't think there are any numbers left on it to read. Replacement hoses may not be quite correct.
Looking at the hose where it passes the frame of the car; is it my imagination or is that the idler arm bracket pushing against the side if the hose? If so that could be indicative of a n positioning problem or hose design issue or change in manufacturing process... That bit of interference may be contributing to the hose being too close to the fan?! Just an observation ( I may be seeing this wrong from the angle of the photo).
Looking closer at your picture, it looks like your hose is backwards. Mine comes out of the water pump straight for 7 inches, then hangs a left turn.
Yes it does touch the a part of the suspension about 4 inches out from the lower connect. I’m gonna run through the manual and see if I can determine if it’s backwards. I’d hate to have to dump all the coolant just to try. No new hoses in stock in my immediate area either.
When you look at the lower hose online on a parts website, the long straight end is what I have going into the lower radiator fitting.
I have the stupid Flexi hose too. My car (1968 GS Cal)has an aftermarket Monitor AC setup Not that exact one, but close enough. I am doing my own low rent version of "while I am here..." which includes having the radiator boiled cleaned, rejoined, and I decided to order the "correct" radiator hoses (AC Delco) for my car, only to discover that they most definitely do not fit with the AC I have. Sorry I am no help, but hopefully yours is just backwards. That would be a simple fix...
