Conversion to Serpentine Belt - 231 V6

M

mpc

Newbie
Hello,

I've done some searching, but I haven't found much on this topic for my engine.

I'm considering changing my V-belts to a serpentine belt system. My engine is a 1976 Buick V6 231 odd-fire (in a Jeep). My plan was to just check the junkyard for any Buick 3.8 engines I come across and see what I might be able to piece together, since I'm sure there would be no kit for this application. One piece of the puzzle is to find out if a reverse water pump will bolt up to my engine?

Any info on possible donor vehicles, year and make, would be very helpful.

Thanks!
 
Serpentine Belt System

Hi, I attended the Hot August Nights Car show in Reno Nevada last month. There were thousands of beautiful cars there with hundreds of engine applications. I have seen several small block Chevys running a serpentine belt system with the water pump rotating the regular way, which is rotating clockwise. The difference that I saw was, those who had this application, did not install a belt tensioner. They all used a mechanical device to take up the tension on their serpentine belt. If I remember correctly, most use their alternator to take up the tension on the belt. I checked the belt routing to make sure that the water pump was indeed rotating clockwise, and they all were. For you, it will be a matter of finding the correct water pump that will accept a serpentine pulley that will line up with the other pulleys in the system. With that said, I don't see why you can't do the same thing. You may want to ask around to check on this. Hope this helps. Good luck, Tommy.
 
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Serpentine Belt System without a tensioner

This is one example of a serpentine belt system that does not use a belt tensioner. The alternator is used to take up the tension on the belt. Notice that the rotation on the water pump is clockwise. Hope this helps. Good luck, Tommy.

Serpentinebeltroutingwithoutatensioner.jpg
 
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