I've done a search and read several different statements about pulley alignments. My original 210/327 with PS, no air was rebuilt (water pump replaced) - now when installing PS pump & test fitting water pump pulley - they are about 1/8 inch out of line ahead of the crank pulleys. These are the same pulleys that came off about 6 months ago. It seems that the crank pulley set is too close to the engine. Is it possible to move it forward? Any advice how to do that? I'll call the machine shop after the weekend for their advice.

Many posts talk about issues with the new motor mounts & variety of water pumps, bit I do not think either of these are involved here. They are original pulleys. A straight edge on the PS pulley is parallel to the crank pulley, but 1/8 inch ahead.

Thanks for advice.

Wilson, what water pump are you using? short--long What harmonic balancer are you using,is it new?maybe it was that way before you tore it apart,but never noticed?

Jegs and Summitt sell crankshaft pulley alignment shims, had to use them on my engine when i put it together.

Dan E.
69 SS396 4spd. 4.10 posi x66 coupe

your problem is going to be the water pump.

Crank pulley on backwards? Don't even know if thats posible, just a thought.

Are you SURE that it is the crank pulley that is off ? I agree with Jim, from what you are saying, the water pump is the only thing that has changed. Is the Harmonic balancer the same one that came off that engine ? Sit back and think about what has and has not been changed. It sounds like you replaced the harmonic balancer, with one for a different engine.
Remember :
67-68's are short water pumps.
69's are long water pumps
Pulley's and brackets for a long water pump are NOT the same as a short water pump.

Thanks for the replies & suggestions.
Jared, I presume it is a short water pump - measures 5 5/8 inches from mount base to face of pulley mount. That's close to the 5 3/4 I've seen mentioned. Under the WP pulley, there was a spacer - just under 1/16 inch but not enough to get back into line. I doubt there was this much mis-alignment before tear down - I drove it over 115,000 miles from new & did not have belt wear problems.

Dan, crank pulley shims sounds like what I will need.

Jim, why do you suggest the WP is the cause when the PS pulley is the same distance out?

Tom, I expect the harmonic balancer is the same one that came off - but the machine shop might have made a switch - unlikely but possible. I'll check with them after the weekend. It measures about 6 inches diameter & 3/4 wide face. It is positioned directly under the edge of the timing mark flange on the timing cover - actually the top end of the timing flange is over the balancer by about 1/16 and the lower end matches up.

Is it possible to position harmonic balancers at different distances from the block or do they fit to a stop? If they fit to a stop on the crankshaft, & I have the correct one, then it looks like I'll need shims.

I wanted to check out the alignments before mounting the Vintage Air compressor and replacement double crank pulley - didn't want too many changes to test out - as Tom says -what has changed & what is different. Have not checked the alternator yet - it's still at the rebuild shop.

Thanks for help!!

Wilson,
As far as I know, every small block balancer has the same dimension as far as the pulley location. Certain year Corvettes have a 1/8" spacer that goes on the crankshaft before the damper, but I have never seen it on any car other than the Vette. It was used to compensate for the thickness of the front engine mount that bolted on the block behind the water pump.

I have seen rebuilt water pumps with the flange in the wrong position. This would not explain the ps pump part, but are you certain that it was perfect before you took it apart ? 1/8" misalignment would probably not cause any problems on a daily driver type vehicle.

If you do decide to space the damper forward some, the Corvette spacer is available from Zip and other Corvette supply places.