Carver Owners Forum

Hi,

I'm upgrading the alternators on my 1986 Carver 3807 with Crusader 350's to Balmar 120 amp models. As part of the upgrade I'm considering upgrading the belt system from a v-groove setup to a serpentine system. Does anyone have experience with this conversion?

Thanks,

Dale

Sorry, can't help you with your question, but I have a quick question...when you say Crusader 350's, I assume they are 454's (7.4) with 350 HP. Correct? I can't imagine that boat with 350 ci (5.7) engines

Look into vintage air front runner conversions. vintageair.com
They make some really nice kits for gm motors. They may be able to help with Marine, the only real difference is no power steering, no a/c compressor and the addition of a raw water pump.

mvpacificrose wrote:Source of the post Hi,

I'm upgrading the alternators on my 1986 Carver 3807 with Crusader 350's to Balmar 120 amp models. As part of the upgrade I'm considering upgrading the belt system from a v-groove setup to a serpentine system. Does anyone have experience with this conversion?

Thanks,

Dale

I guess you may be able to buy all the parts from a recent engine and fit them to yours. Sometimes these things don't go real smooth as bolt patterns and the pulley alignments will have to be checked closely. The only other thing I can think of would be if a serpentine system is ok for an alternator over 100 amps ( probably is ).......used to be if over 100 you should double belt....maybe that is not the case nowadays, but still a consideration for what you are doing.

Not saying it won't work, just consider these things to be sure.There is some real nice after market stuff available for hot rods like Tom mentioned ( check out summit racing for one ). Hopefully someone has done just this and can chime in.

Try:

https://www.summitracing.com/search?SortBy=BestKeywordMatch&keyword=454+serpentine+belt+conversion&cm_mmc=ppc-google-_-search-_-general-terms-_-keyword&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqL6P3P6_6gIVRr7ACh2RagOcEAAYASAAEgKbovD_BwE

https://www.cvfracing.com/chevy/big-blo ... 6-427-454/

If you don't already have it, you might consider converting to a crank-driven raw water pump too (no belt)

km1125 wrote:Source of the post If you don't already have it, you might consider converting to a crank-driven raw water pump too (no belt)