Big Block Ford Serpentine Belt Set Up Using 5.0L Mustang Accessories
The serpentine belt set up I designed for my car had numerous people asking me if would sell them the adapter plates. Once I figured out what I did and sourced some aluminum I decided to do it. They can be ordered for p/s only or p/s with air conditioning. The tensioner on the alternator bracket is the highest point on a p/s only set up at 9-1/4" from the center of the water pump. That is still a little below the top of a Duraspark distributor. The compressor is the highest point on the a/c set up at 10-1/2" from the water pump centerline. That figures out to be about 5/8" above the Duraspark distributor. I was also able to bring the p/s steering pump in a couple of inches. The framerails could now be as narrow as 30" wide and it will still fit. You still have the option of a mechanical fuel pump. Cam and water pump changes can be done while leaving the accesories bolted on the engine. Remember: If you're using an engine driven fan with this set up it must be a reverse rotation one.

These adapter plates allow '85-'93 5.0L Mustang pulleys, accessories and brackets to be used on the 385 series engines. The 5.0L water pump pulley needs the center hole enlarged to 3/4" and a new bolt pattern drilled. A water pump shim is included to correct alignment of the crank and water pump pulleys. It can also be used as a template to drill the 460 bolt pattern in the pulley. These are made from new 6061 aluminum. Heli-coils are put in all the threaded holes. If you have a grinder, welder and some fabrication skills these are the only pieces you need to make your accessories work. I also have details for the grinding needing done to fit the larger 3g alternator into this bracket. The kit includes a right hand plate for the alernator, a left hand plate for p/s only or p/s-a/c and the water pump spacer. These 3 pieces come with detailed instructions/photos, hardware and insured shipping for $210.

This is the set up I made for mine originally in '95. One nice thing about doing other sets was making improvements to the original. I was able to move all the accessories closer to the center of the motor from where they are on my car.

Here is a finished pic of Ted Ploch's engine compartment. He is from St. Lucie, Florida. This was the first complete set up I had made after mine.

Here are the two brackets needing modifications. The alt bracket and p/s bracket require minor grinding to correct pulley alignment. The instructions have details on the grinding or if the brackets are sent to me I can do the modifications for a fee.

Here is a pic of the modified a/c-p/s bracket. There is considerable time involved in making this bracket. I put all of my serpentine set ups onto a spare motor to double check that everything lines up before it is sent out. I will modify your bracket for $175 and include hardware and return shipping.

This is a pic of the p/s only set up. Please excuse the pathetic looking motor, it is the only one I have accesible at the moment. Still no excuse not to clean it. This bracket with hardware and shipping is $60.

The pic on the left is a rear view of my 460 water pump. I ground away the back to aid in flowing as much water as possible since it's spinning backwards. If you look at the pic of the marine pump, lower on this page, you can see what was ground away. The pic on the left is the rear view of a stock '85-'93 5.0L reverse rotation water pump. Before I riveted the Flow Kooler plate on you could see that the 460 has the same style impeller as the rev rotation 5.0L only a little larger in diameter. I bought this new remanufactured Ford pump from my local dealer almost 13 years ago, so I think it's worth doing the grinding on a good pump.

Even when it was a work in progress Ted's engine compartment looked great. He had the pulleys direct shipped straight from Summit and sent his brackets up to be modified. After I had modified the brackets he had them powdercoated.

Any Questions or comments?
For some reason I can't link to my e-mail address, so just copy and paste my address:
lsenior@zoominternet.net
to send a message or leave one in my guestbook.

This is the back of a Motorsport M-8501-C460 aluminum water pump off the newer big block crate motors. It is standard rotation and I don't feel this can be spun backwards effectively due to the curved impeller.

This is a Motorsport marine pump with standard rotation. Probably the same shape impeller as above only brass.

I bought some '01 Mustang parts to adapt the newer a/c compressor and p/s pump to the 460's. The 3.8L stuff looks like it should work with a little effort but I haven't had a chance to make anything yet. The p/s pump on these motors have a large underdrive pulley on them that looks like it would save some hp too.

I also did a Crown Vic set up for Ed Moser of Cincinatti, Oh. He has a bunch of pics of his ride on his website.

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