Looking for what might be a "non-standard" serpentine belt size

[deckeda]

Here's the plugs I used and a wrench that helped remove the air piping from the manifolds. When I removed the WORTHLESS smog equipment from my 454 I just measured with a piece of string to get the new belt

plugs on amazon

flare wrench on amazon

String method, ha! And thanks for the links. It's nice to have options. The style that's in the other manifold have hex heads. I figured worse case I could just remove one and take it into a store to verify.

 

[thegawd]

since this is a farm truck I would do whatever it takes to make it as reliable as it can be. if removing the smog pump accomplishes that, Get-r-done. does that make me a hypocrite? I dont think so. My sierra is a farm truck. Burb is a family truck that also does farm things.

neither have a smog pump but are otherwise fully intact with all the emmisions components.

I can understand modifying and customizing vehicles for various reasons. I dont think we should all go out and remove all the emmisions components from our vehicles, a smog pump is early tech and although helpful, if it cant be repaired easily and reliably then I would get rid of it too.

 

[deckeda]

Are new smog pumps available anywhere? I looked on Rockauto earlier and found the valve and piping, but not the pump. My truck doesn't have one because it's Federal emissions. My Saturn doesn't either, but they often do, and they're electric, and also seem to be unavailable.

I don't see what the big fuss is about with removing a smog pump that doesn't do much even when it is working. People on boards take off cats or gut them, without a second thought, and they actually do something the whole time the engine is running. I wouldn't remove cats or EGR just because, but the smog pump and all it's piping, I would have no problem removing, especially if it was worn out or broken.

You say that GM wouln't include it, if it weren't needed..... it's needed alright, it was needed to satisfy some govt. regualtion. The govt. doesn't care if it doesn't do much. That teeny tiny little bit it's supposed to help with something is enough for them, if it became law somehow. The solution doesn't have to make sense, or be effective, it has to satisfy a regulation that the manufacturer has to follow.

This I agree with, and my experience also backs that up. I will note that a '74 Camaro I used to have had the AIR pump. It was a CA car, so its 350 was rated for 160 instead of 185HP for that year. Still had a decent Q-Jet that was easy to tune / swap jets and secondary hangars into and with some other tweaks to the timing I easily got back some missing HP.

But this was still one year away from cats being used, however by then the valve seats were already hardened, so it could take leaded or unleaded gas safely., even though by the time I got it I don't think I ever saw leaded gas still for sale anywhere?

Anyway, years later I removed the AIR pump and went with headers and it never had a problem passing emissions (in Missouri; I wouldn't have tried that in Cali.)

 

[SS Performance]

If you remove the AIR pump you need to look at the belt routing. On my 96 it looks like I wouldn't have enough wrap on the water pump.

Non AIR pump vehicles might use completely different routing or an idler where the pump is.

Some years ago, I can't remember where, I saw large idlers that would bolt in place of the pump so you used the stock belt.

Good luck
Craig

 

[assclown5656]

'89 7.4L with A/C but without air pump. (I want to remove the air pump).

On rockauto.com I see listings for with A/C, without A/C, and with air pump but I haven't come across listing without air pump.

So a question is, in '89 was the air pump standard on the 454, or not? I'm guessing it's standard, because (for example) O'Reilly's site lists only two sizes, depending on whether or not A/C is there (101 5/8" vs 103" , but a difference of less than 2" extra inches there seems weird to me, unless perhaps there are other differences such as idlers, tensioners etc.)

Am I going to have to tie a string around everything, hope to hold the tensioner in an approximate position, and then mark/remove it and measure? And then hope all 6-rib belts are the same width?

'89 7.4L with A/C but without air pump. (I want to remove the air pump).

On rockauto.com I see listings for with A/C, without A/C, and with air pump but I haven't come across listing without air pump.

So a question is, in '89 was the air pump standard on the 454, or not? I'm guessing it's standard, because (for example) O'Reilly's site lists only two sizes, depending on whether or not A/C is there (101 5/8" vs 103" , but a difference of less than 2" extra inches there seems weird to me, unless perhaps there are other differences such as idlers, tensioners etc.)

Am I going to have to tie a string around everything, hope to hold the tensioner in an approximate position, and then mark/remove it and measure? And then hope all 6-rib belts are the same width?

I have an 89 c3500 with 7.4 just had this issue and went through 3 sizes before I found the correct one. Not one place sells the belt w/ out air pump and w/ A/C. But the belt I used is

K060984 , and this worked perfectly. Hope this helps someone out.​

 

[deckeda]

Thank you ******** (seems weird calling someone that). Thats what I had to do because I put it off and the air pump bearing locked up solid.

Unfortunately there were horses in the trailer and you never want to get stuck on the side of the road with horses. Too much danger to the horses.

(Anyway, that issue was solved with a friend who came by to get the horses.)

When the pulley locked up of course the belt shredded and the truck began to overheat and of course there were now no power brakes because the P.S. hydro pump wasn’t turning … at least the driver (my wife) handled it well.

We carefully did the string thing and our measurement wasn’t close enough. Bought 3 belts and I don’t remember which one it was but I put the card wrapper in what’s left of the glove box (door fell off; these trucks are weirdly fragile in strange places.)

I want to say we just used a belt for a non-AC truck, not sure. Meaning, same belt routing and the tensioner has enough movement to compensate for the small difference in diameters of the AC and air pulleys.

I still have one side of the piping intact. A shop had installed brass fittings into the other side exhaust when they replaced that manifold.