Spacers on Crank Pulley?

[SubLime440]

I went from a multi-groove pulley to a single groove crank pulley... but it need to be shimmed out to line up with the water pump / alternator.... Do I just use washers or is there a better way to solve this problem? Just wondering.... Thanks

[Lee Pritchard]

How far off is it ??

[SubLime440]

Alot.... I bet it's almost an inch.... The only thing I can think of is to get longer bolts and put washers behind them.... What do ya think?

[Ausydad]

Doesn't sound very secure for something as important as the crank pulley. What was the reason for the change anyway?

[SubLime440]

The multi-groove pulley doesn't fit correctly on the Fluid Damper.... (Came off the stock Damper).... The bolt holes are off by a hair no matter how I position it....and there is always one bolt hole that I cannot get to line up after the other ones are in.... Plus I dropped off the power steering pump since it didn't work anyways... The single groove fits the new damper perfectly (and weighs a heck of a lot less too!).... but it doesn't line up with Alternator / Water pump.... need to shim it out somehow....

[Ausydad]

Do you have maybe a friend in a machine shop that could make a spacer of aluminum that would be solid instead of washers to shim for you? It would be a lot more solid and aluminum should be strong and light enough.

[pishta]

I used 5/8 rod unions to space the pulley out to get the pulleys to line up. You can cut them down to size and then grind then to exact lengths. I slipped them over long studs and torqued them down good. It looks real professional and it doesnt even wobble. Pretty trick If I do say so....

[DAVE JONES]

If it was me I would have someone make up an alum spacer.
The farther you are away from the mounting surface, the weaker the setup is. Having some sort of individual spacers that are ground to the same size will work but I would have concerns on this. Keep in mind also that the farther you are from the mounting surface, the more chance for runout on the pulley which adds in a potential balance problem. This will hold true for both the solid spacer and the individual ones but the individual ones add one more variable..........they greatly reduce your contact area by 50% or more. Alot of this decision should also be based on if your car is a daily driver and your not hitting redline or its a street/strip car.
Its your call doc. Pishta did it and I'm sure others do it too without any trouble but if you do use the seperate ones, Make sure they are equal length. just my .02....good luck.........Dave

[SubLime440]

Hmmm... well I do have a neighbor who owns a machine shop.... Maybe he could shave a chunk of aluminum for me... Pishta... your setup sounds like it worked okay.... It's a street / strip car and will never see over 5800 - 6000 RPM's... Forgive my ignorance but what's a rod union... Pishta?

[pishta]

Rod union is a device that is used to join allthread, it looks like a 2 inch long hex nut. It is threaded all the way through. You can use the same size as the stud you are using or use the next larger size to slip over the stud. If you use the same size, youll need to clearance the end that meets up with the shoulder of the stud or it will not seat against the damper. Mine ended up about .60 long so it wasnt flopping around down there. A billet aluminum spacer would be tits, but I didnt have the time to wait on a fab or the material/tooling to mock one up. My Fluid Damper didnt even come with a longer bolt to mount it, what were they thinking?

[SubLime440]

... Talked to my neighbor and he is going to fabricate an aluminum spacer for me... He said he does stuff like this all the time for racers.... and he is going to do it for free... no big deal.... Very cool.... Good guy.... although I'll kick him a six pack or something to show my appreciation.... Thanks for help everyone...