Chevy & GMC Vans

This was originally posted on astrosafari.com.

I am looking to add another couple accessories to the front of the engine and am wanting to run them off the existing crank pulley by adding another serpentine pulley. Anyone have info on such a beast? I am going to call March Pulleys to see what they have. My goal is to keep all the accessories that are currently on the van in their stock locations and add another alternator for an OBW (on board welder) and add an aux hydraulic pump for the winch and snow plow. Any other ideas would be awesome too. These are going to be a late fall to early spring project.

Something like this: (this one says for LS-1)



I am looking to run a small hydraulic pump for my winch and snowplow as well as run a second alternator to be used for an on board welder.

Onboard welder

Hot Rod Winch

The hydraulic pump I will be using is rated at 12.9 GPM @ 2500 PSI at a maximum of 3200 RPM's. For the alternator I will be using a spare Delco rated at 105 amps.

After calling March Performance Pulley's and inquiring about possible solutions, I was asked whether I had a short or long water pump! Well after measuring and talking to Lockdoc, it was determined that all Astro/Safari 4.3 V6's had the long water pump. I got a hold of March Performance and they have a double serpentine pulley for my (our) application! Part number 6381 is spec'd as a dual 6 rib, 7" diameter SBC pulley. Price is $92.70 plus shipping. I will most likely order it in about a month or so when some bills are caught up! I am getting excited about getting this done!

I also have 2 manual spool valves, a series dual valve manifold and will be getting a pressure releif valve soon. Still need to figure out the electric clutch for the pump as well as fabbing up a reservoir tank and mounting brackets.

I spent some time in the garage today just trying to figure out where to mount the pump and the alternator. I think I can add an idler pulley under the A/C compressor and then mount the welder alternator right beside and just below the A/C compressor. Off the welder alternator I was thinking of running a dual pulley (serp and V-belt) and use a V-belt to run the hydraulic pump. I would then mount the hydraulic pump under the welder alternator and install a V-belt tensioner as well to keep the v-belt tight.

I have also been researching for 12V electric clutches to run the hydraulic pump from and found a company called Ogura Clutches. They make all different styles for mobile applications. The only issue is the pump I have has a 3/4" straight keyed shaft and most of their mobile clutches are for tapered shafts. I placed a call in to a sales rep and hope to hear tomorrow. Ogura Clutch link

After a hard night's work (LOL) I think we have the welder! We modified a delco CS-130 alternator from a 93/94 era Astro (Thanks Bill!). We pulled it all apart and removed the regulator assembly and soldered a wire directly to the hot side of the field brushes. In our crude testing we did, we found with a 12 V battery between the case ground and the hot to field, we were drawing a little over 4 amps. We then spun the alternator over with a drill at 1600 rpm's and could manage a little over 19 VDC out of the alternator. Now I know this sounds pretty weak but remember the alternator has about a 3:1 step-up in speed compared to the engine. So if the engine is at idle about 700 rpm's, the alternator will be running at around 2100 rpm's. Of course this welder voltage was measured with no load other than what a DVOM would provide...basically none! When the alternator was spinning over with no field and then the field voltage was applied you could hear the drill noticibly loading up! So in theory, with the engine at 2,000, the welder will be spinning at around 6,000 and the vltage should be in the neighborhood of 70 to 80 VDC.

Sounds cool, lookin forward to the pics of the install of this puppy