Greetings all,
Sooo got a few things sorted out and it is starting to become a driveable car!! I abandoned the A/C portion of the belt for now in order to just run the alternator without it making all sorts of racket.
I ended up doing quite a bit of modifying to the alternator mount/tensioner setup I added about an extra inch of adjustability with the alternator tensioner bracket which helped a bit and also ground off the block a bit more where it was getting in the way. The biggest thing however was that I added about 3/8" of spacing to the alternator in order to get it to line up better with the crank pulley. I started with the 1/2" aluminum spacers I had made for the transmission but they were a bit much, but FYI 5 flat washers = 3/8"
In the end you still don't get much adjustability but I was able to squeeze a 5PK-875 (should be 6pk but I'm just glad it's on and working right now - only temporary anyway) onto the crank and alternator. It will just barely fit and actually had to loop it over the crank and turn the motor over by hand to get it to fit on, got it nice and tight and viola! No more squeaky belt!
Regarding the cooling system, I decided to gut a thermostat yesterday and put the system together like that just free flowing to the radiators. So far so good! I think the biggest problem was that the system was not bled well enough, even though I used a vacuum bleeder, just wasn't enough. I ran it for a bit last night and it took in quite a bit more coolant so I'm feeling better about it. Ran it again today for a bit and temperatures were staying just about 180*-190*F so I'm happy with that for now!
Last challenge for the day was the tachometer which so far I've gotten it to flicker and that's about it. I'll just say that the "Renegade way" didn't work. Stopped by a friends place to show him the car and he dropped a bit more knowledge and a resistor on me, i'll see if we can make that work tomorrow!
Otherwise she sounds good!! Pretty mean actually with the way the "Hot cam" hits a lick!! I think the decision to go with the LS376-480 crate motor was a perfect choice so far, at best I've only given it about half throttle and there is PLENTY left to scare you, I can't wait til I get her broke in!!!
I'll make a video tomorrow , would have today but it started raining cats and dogs and I still don't have a top on this thing yet so testing was limited
Thanks!
J