Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

[steddy]

I live by the phrase: "Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me.". Anyway, I tried to buy an A/C delete pulley from Ebay and whadya know? The package got here and being that I'm in only the finest of places, got stolen off the porch before I could get home from work. So....I'm looking to see if anyone has just run a shorter belt from the crank, back up to the alternator and cut out the compressor altogether. The pulley on the A/C rings like a bell constantly and, well, apparently, that delete pulley just can't make it to where I live and I'm not about to throw money into the air without a return a second time.

Honestly, all I'll need is a length and then I'll just grab it from the local a/p place. Thanks in advance.

[99BlackW68]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

dont know about the length...but can you just have the package shipped to your work?

[cam98aro]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

theres a thread here where somone listed the length without the pulley.. let me see if i can find it

[cam98aro]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

here it is: http://forum.camarov6.com/showpost.p...46&postcount=3

this is completly bypassing the ac system, nothing in its place

[Blizzard242]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

I've managed to install a 61in belt with no AC pulley. It was a huge pain in the *** but it's do-able. No other belts work for this, trust me. I barely got it onto the alternator pulley then twisted the actual pulley while helping the belt slide on more. It's very tight and almost seems like you don't need a tensioner but it's been working great ever since I got it on there.

1 little side note. At lower RPMs the belt from the alternator to the power steering pump likes to really wobble a ton. It's actually worn a tiny bit into my CTS clip. Just a small bit. Nothing to worry me yet but I've been keeping an eye on it.

here it is: http://forum.camarov6.com/showpost.p...46&postcount=3

this is completly bypassing the ac system, nothing in its place

That's on a 3.4^^ though

Let me check to be absolutely sure though..

This is exactly what someone told me..
"Its 6 rib by 61", autozone part number is 610K6, but I will tell you this their will be a lot of chatter with the way you route the belt, so some people opt for a bigger tensioner pulley to get more of the belt on the pulley."

I didn't have the chatter with the stock pulley though so that's still on there.. And yes, that is the exact part number at autozone. So if you get some noob there telling you that they don't have a 61in belt but they have that part number.. smack them and take it. I had a guy take out a serpentine belt and measuring tape.. measured the belt and multiplied it by 2 and tried to tell me it wasn't the right size. Just trust the part number.

[steddy]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Yep, stupid me, I didn't mention that it's a '96 with a 3.8L.

[Chris2088]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

I bypassed my shot A/C compresser by changing the smooth idler pulley to a grooved one and getting a shorter belt. I dont remember the exact size...but it was only a few inches smaller I think. I just bought like 6 belts and took the ones that didnt fit back.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Yep, stupid me, I didn't mention that it's a '96 with a 3.8L.

Hey no worries, I checked your info which had 3.8l in it luckily cause I'm not sure which models or years they went from 3.4-3.8 anyways.

[kristen]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

get a piece of sting. loop it around the pullies , then measure it. take a tiny bit off the size and tada thats the size of your belt

[Blizzard242]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Uhmmm.. I just told him the size so he doesn't have to do all that. :D

[steddy]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Blizzard242 Thank you so much. Been a little busy this weekend so far and haven't gone online. I probably will do the rope thing(thank you Kristen), just to do a check, but I'll be following that part number. I just can't really believe the week I've been having and I'm thankful to those who've offerred their help. 610K6. Will do, and a big thank you again to all.

[Aciddrag0n1]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Yeah, just read all this. My A/C compressor seized up about a week ago and after numerous trips to autozone (should have done the rope thing first), I found a 69" fit my 95 3.4 just about right. It was a little tight, but the 69 1/2" was too loose. Only problem is it squeaks when i accelerate sometimes. I'm gonna take it off and lube the pulley's though and try to fix it.

[InfraredMonkey]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

I've posted awhile back about bypassing my A/C, the clutch was grinding and the bearings inside were done. I went with the 610K6 from Autozone. I was a ***** to get on, but in the end I loosened up the alternator, slipped it on, then bolted the alternator back up with some help.

So far I haven't had any issues, if anything this solution SHOULD be recommended as a temporary fix, not a permanent one. Keep that in mind. :tup:

[Blizzard242]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

Yes.. it is a huge ***** to get on but possible.. I did it without unbolting anything though. Get the belt around the other pulleys first, excluding the alternator.. then get just a lip or a little bit on the alt pulley and turn the alternator pulley with your hands so the belt basically feeds onto it.

[RGB]

Re: Has Anyone Bypassed the A/C Compressor

I did this the air conditioner pulley delete (bypass) on my 3800 this past weekend.
A big thumbs up on the 610K6 belt from autozone.
I was lucky enough to run into a guy at the counter that was willing to open 10+ boxes to find a larger pulley to make the tensioner work better with the new routing. Since I know how rare it is to find that kind of help, the larger pulley we found was TorqFlo 835975. Fits great. I think this is set up will be reliable for many miles.

Since the other posts warned that the belt was hard to put on, to make things a little easier, I pulled the alternator bolt with the 10 mm head and loosened the other alternaor bolt and rotated the alternator a little while keeping the tensioner arm out of the way. I feed the belt onto the alternator pulley while turning the crank bolt. Once the belt was on the alternator, putting the alternator bolt back in was easy.

I then put the bolt (reverse threaded) that holds the pulley into the tensioner (without the pulley) so I could use that bolt head to move the tensioner arm. I then blocked the tensioner arm with the wrench I was just using to turn the crank. Then I could install the new larger pulley.

By the way, symptoms before the a/c pulley froze up so bad that the engine wouldn't start included: rust (brown) colored dust on the oil filter, a rattling noise like a loose exhaust pipe that would sometimes go away when the a/c pump engaged, and a drop in mpg.