I'm trying to put a 94 Caprice LT1 into my 79 vette. Everything is going along fine except for the pulleys. I eliminated the air conditioning and there doesn't seem to be enough room to install another pulley to accomodate the serpentine and the reverse flow water pump. I was wondering if anyone else has done this and how. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (except the one to scrap the idea....too late!)

 

Welcome to the Corvette forum. Could you check a C4 w/ a LT1 engine to see how the factory did it?

 

I have an LT1 in my '79 and after a lot of study,in addition to buying a setup to move the ac to the top driver's side,I scrapped the whole business and built my own mounts. No matter what you do,the stock LT1 brackets hit the A-frames. I could'nt get things to line up until I bought a set of March pulleys,put the crank pulley in front of the stock pulley to move everything forward that much then I managed to get it all in there. The AC is high on the right,the power steering is low on the left with the alternator above it. It was VERY labor intensive and took around 40 hours of welding,grinding,drilling,threading and not a little cussing. There are probably better ways to do it but that's what I game up with.Good Luck!
Ron

 

I knew this wasn't going to just "drop right in" like I was told. I'll keep you updated on the progress. Thanks alot for the advice!

 

Hey Partsman, is there any way you could possibly provide me with a picture the front of your engine? If not, I understand. Thanks!

 

I think I can do that as soon as the camera charges up some. In the meantime,pm me an e-mail address as that's how I'll have to send the pics. It's pretty tight in there,so it'll take more than 1 pic to kinda see what I did.I had the whole LT1 accessory bracket setup(still do for that matter)as well as the aftermarket kit to move the AC and couldn't figure out a way to do it. I even considered the possibility of moving the engine over a couple of inches.
Ron

 

Hey colorado 79, I got lucky and made an album with the pictures in it that you asked for. Look up "partsman's 79" (I wish I could link you to it!) and there are some pics and explanations. Hope it helps!
Ron
ps My daughter is one too!(I checked your profile)

 

Partsman,
The pictures are a great help. I really appreciate them. I think we are going to do something similar, but without the A/C compressor. If it gets too hot, I'll just remove the T's. I'll try to post a pic of my '79 this weekend. Thanks again, it was a great help to see how someone else did it. Tell your daughter to stay safe!