Pulley Spacing

peeeot

Well-known member
I am trying to add a second belt for my a/c compressor on my '60 223. I bought a 289 2-sheave water pump pulley that is 5/16" deeper than the stock pulley. My plan was to run a belt from the water pump to the compressor. I know there are shims I can purchase to get the groove spacing right, and I believe there is room between the fan and radiator with the extra 5/16" in there. Thing is, the boss in the center of the pump flange that locates the pulley and fan is short enough that it wouldn't reach the fan after adding shims. Is there a workaround for this? It seems like a bad idea to rely on the bolts to center the fan...
 
I'm not sure how much you need to shim the pulley but if it's more than a couple of shims (sounds like it may be) you might be able to re-purpose a fan spacer. The outer circumference would be too large to fit into the pulley but could probably be reduced. The spacers were built like extensions so there is centering provisions on both ends. I think they were available down to about a 1/4". You might try Summit if you can't find anything in a junk yard where it would probably be scarce.

Lou Manglass
 
Thanks for your suggestion. The shortest spacer I have been able to find is 1/2". I have ordered it and if it's a bit too long I will see about having it shaved down at a machine shop.
 
I ended up buying the 1/2" spacer and having it machined down to 1/4". It aligned the pulleys just right, and the A/C is blowing cold!
 
I just wanted to add that I would not recommend running the compressor off the water pump pulley like I did. Yes, the compressor did run, but I am pretty sure that the belt driving the water pump was slipping on the water pump pulley due to the added load of the compressor. I have sourced a bolt-on 2-sheave crank pulley and now the compressor is crank-driven on its own belt. It's a much safer bet this way.
 
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