Alternator, serpentine belt and tensioner

So... Now that the motor is in the car there are all kinds of challenges to be addressed. Exhaust routing is going to be the biggest one. I'm still working that out and gathering materials to tackle that job soon.

I figured the best place to start sorting things out was getting the hood to close and getting all the engine driven accessories (A/C compressor, power steering, alternator, etc.) installed. The original GMC mounting of the alternator resented a problem. The alternator was about an inch too high to allow the hood to close. After considering a couple of options for relocating it I realized I could just rotate the alternator down on its main mount by modifying the alternator support bracket.

Original alternator mount

Lower mount

Moving the alternator meant screwing up the geometry of the serpentine belt tensioner. I made a relocation bracket to rotate the tensioner over and down to get it in the same position relative to the alternator as it was before.

Success! The tensioner works correctly and the original length belt still fits...

But just barely! Down at the power steering pump there's only about 1/8" clearance between the belt and the upper control arm pivot shaft. Not much, but it's enough!

The finished bracket with power steering pump reservoir.

Is it in yet...?

It's good to have the 6.5 off the engine stand and into the car. Yes, it's a tight fit! I figure at this point I've done almost all of the easy stuff - pulling motors, taking things apart, fooling with the motor on the stand. Now the real work begins.

Frame modification

To ensure plenty of front pulley clearance I Cut the chunk out of the front crossmember with a plasma cutter. Then cut a piece of 1/8" plate and pressed a few small bends into it one inch apart to approximate the curve.

Making individual bends is much easier than trying to form a smoothly curved piece. You can sharpen or flatten each bend until it matches up just right.

A little cleanup

Steam cleaning 30+ years of gunk from the engine bay and undercarriage. Yuck!