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Continuing towards getting my 235 ready to start up for the first time, I recently finished installing a new GM 12v alternator. I bought a replacement pulley for a 5/8" wide belt in order to match my crankshaft and water pump pulleys. I looked at the commercially available kits for mounting an alternator and decided to do something much simpler using the original generator bracket. I made a bolt long enough to pass all the way through the bracket, then made a temporary spacer out of a piece of 1/2" pipe to fit between the alternator and the rear end of the bracket. I then test fit it on the block to check the pulley alignment. As you can see in the first photo, it was too far to the rear (exactly 1" as it turned out). I drilled two new mounting holes in the bottom of the generator bracket which moved the mounting forward 1". After another test fitting to make sure the pulleys were lined up, I moved on to finding an upper bracket that fit. I had available a bracket from a Chevy 250 inline 6 and one from a Ford 300 inline 6. The Chevy bracket had a tighter curve to it which interfered with the alternator's fan. The Ford bracket had the right curve, but had an offset bend in it at the middle that put the slotted arm too far to the rear. I decided to use the Ford bracket and after some heating and beating to change the offset bend towards the front, it fit really well. I took everything apart and painted the brackets while I waited for some new parts to arrive on my door step.

A package from LMC Truck arrived over the weekend which included my new fan belt, a lower radiator hose, and pre-bent vacuum and gasoline lines. Before re-installing the alternator, I took some time at the lathe to make a permanent spacer out of a piece of bar stock. Then I re-installed the alternator and tried the new belt. I was very happy to find that the new 5/8" belt was just the right length for my alternator set up!

I also found a little time to install a PCV valve into the road tube hole. Since the distributor vacuum and gas lines both run up and around the front of the block, I will be running the PCV vacuum line around the back end. The connection at the intake manifold is at the rear face of the manifold, too, so that will be a much cleaner install.