I already cut mine like they told me also, that's why I'm stuck making it work.........

 

Have you put it on yet? I thought that the Vette accessories ran in a different spot (different plane) than the F-body stuff? I could be wrong about that though, I'm far from an expert

I pretty much figured out a good mount today, I just need the crank pulley/grooves to make it in the exact right spot. Can you take a picture of the ATI pulley for me by any chance. A side shot so I can figure out if it's going to work with my F-body accessories.

Yes Side exit would make it alot easier

Lance

 

I talked to ATI this morning. Very nice folks and very willing to find a solution. Evidently they don't normally make a dampener for a F-body that has a 4 groove pulley in front of the "normal" belt location. They said they could custom make one for me...... 3-4 weeks and $175 custom charge. As I was talking to Rob the tech line person I asked how the rear a/c configuration works. Evidently it's just a 4 groove ring that bolts onto the back of a non-a/c dampener. I have one of the "add-on" 4 groove rings on the way to me. I'm hoping that I can just mount this to the front of my factory dampener, accurately of course so I don't jack up the balance of the dampener. When the part shows up I will post an update and let everyone know if it worked.

Lance

 

i didnt purchase the damper yet so no pic ,yes i think they are on a different plane and tha ac pulley and damper are one piece.i did think about bolting a pulley on front but im not sure thats a good idea . if you have a s&p catalog check out the pic on the top right on p 89 (the ac bracket)or look on line at the s&p cat. www.hotrodlane.cc. im just waiting on my steering box and headers then ill get back to the ac stuff.JOHN

 

I have the Art Morrison subframe and am putting a Corvette LS2 in a '68 Camaro convertible. I can verify that the LS1 Camaro/'04-'06 GTO accessories (including the A/C compressor) clears the subframe. The problem, for those with the Corvette accessories, is that they're closer to the block. I'd love to bolt the Vintage Air adaptor bracket in and run the Sanden but it would be aweful close to hitting the motor mounts. I, too, my be heading down the ATI (Mike Stielow) approach. I suppose I should just get off my *** and try the Vintage Air adapter bracket/compressor and work from there.

Thanks!

 

I hope to have mine put together with the VA bracket within the next couple of weeks so I guess we'll know soon. I'm still not sure why they substitute the rear exit Sanden for the side exit unit. I'm hoping that if the rear exit won't work the side exit will. The reason I went this route is because I wanted a solution that didn't require expensive accessory drives or custom brackets. If I can't make it work I guess I'll use the S&P solution that retains all the other factory accessory drives but mounts the compressor high on the passenger side. It costs around $700.

Don

 

Thanks Don:

I, too, want to keep the factory orientation. Frankly I don't like the look of having the alternator and A/C compressor splayed out wide with long belts going everywhere. The S&P option might work as it looks like rather than two belts it uses just one. That will gain us about 3/4" (the width of the A/C belt) and it appears that they have it available for both the Camaro and Vette accessories.

I don't know why VA is sending out the rear exit compressors. The Sanden 508 is available, and commonly so, with the side exit. In fact the "body" is the same and the "tailpiece" can be changed for any number of options. You may want to look into swapping out for the side exit in the event you don't clear.

There is perhaps another option. The compressor used by Mike Stielow is a Sanden SD-7. It has a little less capacity but has side exit fittings that are on the body of the compressor. I'm not sure if it is any shorter. VA offers it with their Front Runner set-up.

Keep us posted!

Jeff

 

My new pulley is "out for delivery" . Unfortunately my UPS guy doesn't get to my neighborhood till like 5 pm

I sure hope this thing is the solution.............

 

I was thinking a little more about why VA supplies the rear exit compressor with the LS1 bracket. I think the reason is that it was designed to work with the BRP engine mounts which place the engine several inches further forward than all the other mounts. I'm guessing that the hoses clear the frame mounts when using the BRP mounts.

I remember reading somewhere that the VA LSI bracket was developed for that Year One LS1 Camaro that was built by BRP.

Don

 

Well the ATI add on pulley solution isn't going to work..............there's not enough material in any spot between the two parts to put a mating bolt pattern in.

Next I'll try the S&P brackets that puts the compressor pulley in the same path as all the other accessories. I also am buying a vertical exit compressor. It's only $200 from Summit and it'll make the problem alot smaller. Anybody need a rear exit 508 Sanden..........cheap? This is really starting to suck. It's not like these so called "kits" are cheap or anything............

 

Lance, that compressor and bracket would be useful to someone using the BRP mounts. Maybe you could post them for sale and see if you get any takers here and on pro-touring.com and lateral-g.net.

Did you call Vintage Air and explain the problem? Maybe they would at least give you a break on the price of the new compressor.

Ryan from VA posts on pro-touring.com. You could post there about this problem and see if he responds. He helped me out adapting the Camaro controls in a Firebird.

Don

 

lance, didnt you say the s&p setup would be in the way of your future turbo plans? for the cost of the s&p setup you could get a custom damper from ati and make the bracket for the comp . im about a month out from tackling that again but ill prob. go with the ati & homemade bracket,either way you can place the engine where you want it then get back to the ac later. it sucks buying all this crap just to see it isnt goin to work, but i'd still rather do it this way,figuring it out and learning than paying someone to do it . ill let u know when i get it worked out , JOHN

 

There's a couple of solutions from S&P. I'm going to try the one that keeps it mounted in the lower stock location. It's about a ~$300 fix if you don't count the new compressor I bought. You're right I'd rather do it myself and do it in a way that I can look at later and not think "What a hack job". Still room for the turbos if this one works

 

In case people are curious... Here's a picture of the Sanden SD-7 that Mike Stielow used. Note the refrigerent lines are on the body. This is the compressor used in VA's Front Runner set-up. Also the tab spacing is different from the 508.

 

I tried the rear exit Sanden compressor with the Vintage Air bracket on my Art Morrison subframe. Without cutting off the ears I am about 99% convinced it will not fit. No matter how I rotate it at least one of the connections lines right up with the engine mount stand. But, it does look like the side exit compressor might work. I'm going to call VA tomorrow and see if I can exchange the rear exit for the side exit.

Don

 

Hey Don:

What accessories are you running? LS1 F-Body? LS1 Corvette? LS2?

I'm running LS2 Corvette so if you're running LS1 F-body then I'm definely going to have to try the S&P option.

Thx!

Jeff

 

You can buy a complete front drive system or notch the frame.

 

He also used custom made pulleys that spaced the drive system out enough to clear the frame.

 

Yes, thanks. I have an Art Morrison sub-frame that provides some clearance for mounting the A/C in the factory position without modification. I'd like to try the VA bracket or the S&P bracket before going the Steilow approach. My problem is that I have Corvette accessories which are about 5/8" closer to the block.

Jeff

 

Jeff, I am running F body accessories. I'll let you know how the side exit compressor fits. Hopefully that will be late next week.

I wouldn't give up on those Corvette accessories until I try the side exit compressor.

Don