ArdWrknTrk Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 Never a dull moment, eh? What's that idler to the left (right in pic) of your alternator? Jim, good question on the idler. That was a lesson I learned the hard way, I guess lol. It is the factory idler wheel when the belt was in the stock location. See below from when I hauled this old 302 home. It's a belt routing that I believe is specific to the 1994-1996 pickups with SBF. Problem was...I deleted the smog pump below the alternator with no provisions for ever being able to reinstall it...in other words, I cut the mounting tabs off and smoothed them out on the big aluminum bracket. Lots of people have eliminated factory smog pumps, I didn't think a thing of it at the time. Unfortunately, it rendered the belt tensioner useless...it just rotated to the full stop. After buying several belts to try and make it work (it still didn't work), I scrounged a new aluminum mounting bracket from a junked F150 out in the woods here, and I was just about ready to order an idler pulley to replace the smog pump when I found a thread on FTE with the same issue I had. A guy posted up a picture of how he had been running his 351w for the past decade, and I gave it a try with my little 302, picture below: It seems like it will work just fine, but I haven't run the engine yet so the jury is still out. If it works on a 351w, it should surely work on a 302, but we will see. I'm now stuck with the factory idler wheel just sitting out in the open. If everything works OK, I will probably remove it and just stick a stainless button head bolt in it's place. I didn't realize deleting the A.I.R. pump had made the tensioner inoperable. Might be a good idea to keep that belt sleeve in the glovebox so the next owner can figure it out (because back side contact is going to wipe those numbers right off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 4, 2023 Author Share Posted March 4, 2023 I didn't realize deleting the A.I.R. pump had made the tensioner inoperable. Might be a good idea to keep that belt sleeve in the glovebox so the next owner can figure it out (because back side contact is going to wipe those numbers right off. Yes, I save everything in a big file for that reason. I think the back side of the belt contacts the tensioner regardless, so those numbers will be gone quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat in tn Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 I didn't realize deleting the A.I.R. pump had made the tensioner inoperable. Might be a good idea to keep that belt sleeve in the glovebox so the next owner can figure it out (because back side contact is going to wipe those numbers right off. Yes, I save everything in a big file for that reason. I think the back side of the belt contacts the tensioner regardless, so those numbers will be gone quickly. a friend of mine deleted his on a 5.8 and wound up putting it back due the lowered belt tension applied to the belt in this routing. The 93-96 belt tensioner for the 3g alt. system has a very limited swing and leverage compared to the previous top mounted design. with this routing the swing of the tensioner goes more "along" with the belt instead of pressing against it meaning the range of tension is lost. belts will squeak much sooner and accessory drives less positive especially if wet. the best solution would be an idler like the ac compressor delete assembly. but who would dare manufacture an emission delete device under the watchful eye of the world police? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 a friend of mine deleted his on a 5.8 and wound up putting it back due the lowered belt tension applied to the belt in this routing. The 93-96 belt tensioner for the 3g alt. system has a very limited swing and leverage compared to the previous top mounted design. with this routing the swing of the tensioner goes more "along" with the belt instead of pressing against it meaning the range of tension is lost. belts will squeak much sooner and accessory drives less positive especially if wet. the best solution would be an idler like the ac compressor delete assembly. but who would dare manufacture an emission delete device under the watchful eye of the world police? Old trick from the early days of "smoke grinders" (what we called air pumps in the 60s and 70s), take the pump apart and pull the vanes out. reassemble it with just the shaft, but make sure the bearings are good. It you plug the lines and reconnect them, it passes a visual inspection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat in tn Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Old trick from the early days of "smoke grinders" (what we called air pumps in the 60s and 70s), take the pump apart and pull the vanes out. reassemble it with just the shaft, but make sure the bearings are good. It you plug the lines and reconnect them, it passes a visual inspection. I have "seen" that done before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 12, 2023 Author Share Posted March 12, 2023 a friend of mine deleted his on a 5.8 and wound up putting it back due the lowered belt tension applied to the belt in this routing. The 93-96 belt tensioner for the 3g alt. system has a very limited swing and leverage compared to the previous top mounted design. with this routing the swing of the tensioner goes more "along" with the belt instead of pressing against it meaning the range of tension is lost. belts will squeak much sooner and accessory drives less positive especially if wet. the best solution would be an idler like the ac compressor delete assembly. but who would dare manufacture an emission delete device under the watchful eye of the world police? Yes sir, you're right. If you try to run the belt in the stock routing without the smog pump (like pictured below) the tensioner barely works at all...it moves through it's whole arc without being able to really tension the belt properly. The way I have it now, in the non-stock routing, the tensioner is pushing down on the belt and is at less than half of it's full travel, so it should be good here. There's actually more belt wrap on the alternator, and maybe a tiny bit less on the crank pulley. Either way, it should be getting the same tension now as in the original position with the smog pump. Even if it is less than perfect, it will likely be fine for a truck that will only see a couple thousand miles per year on the sunny days. I'll report back after I've had a chance to run it, which will hopefully be soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flareside Jeff Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 I Love It!!!! Crazy bout a Mercury! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 I Love It!!!! Crazy bout a Mercury! Thanks Jeff! If you didn't read through it all, it's a '52 Mercury M1 pickup. I swapped in a 1996 roller block 302 with 4R70W 4spd auto and an 8.8 3.55 diff from a 2001 Explorer. I'm just rewiring it now...couple weekends away from finishing and being able to turn the key to see how many things are wrong LOL. I'm sticking with the original look and nothing different other than the chrome wheels and wider tires. I'm not into all the current trends with classic trucks. I like the old school look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 Thanks Jeff! If you didn't read through it all, it's a '52 Mercury M1 pickup. I swapped in a 1996 roller block 302 with 4R70W 4spd auto and an 8.8 3.55 diff from a 2001 Explorer. I'm just rewiring it now...couple weekends away from finishing and being able to turn the key to see how many things are wrong LOL. I'm sticking with the original look and nothing different other than the chrome wheels and wider tires. I'm not into all the current trends with classic trucks. I like the old school look. I had another small victory this week! This truck has an old clamp-on style metal housing signal light switch. Picture of it below, clamped to a piece of pipe in my bench vise: I couldn't find a wiring diagram for it for the life of me. There are 25 different companies making duplicates of this...most of them plastic, with cheap levers and knobs. I really wanted to make this old metal one work, and after umpteen Google searches over the winter, I happened to find that Truck-Lite makes a replacement that is the same as mine, and they have a wiring diagram for it! https://www.truck-lite.com/amfile/file/download/file/770/product/25753/ I wired it up on the bench and tested it and it works perfectly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 I had another small victory this week! [...] I wired it up on the bench and tested it and it works perfectly! Feel good moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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