The following article was published in Street Fords magazine on page 89 & 90. The article and pictures are courtesy of Roy Velardi.

Are you having trouble trying to keep your V-groove belts staying put on your pulleys every time you hit the go pedal? Well, we have a solution for you and that is a serpentine belt conversion.

A serpentine belt is a flexible rereinforced rubber belt that is powered by the car engine's crankshaft. The serpentine belt turns a series of grooved pulleys to power the engine accessories, such as the water pump, air conditioning compressor, power steering pump, fan, alternator, etc.

The serpentine belt is much thinner than a conventional V belt, and was developed for greater heat dissipation. The belt is about 3/4in to 1in wide, and about 1/8in thick. It has several V grooves, each only about 1/8in wide and each tapered just like V belts but very small by comparison with the grooves spread lengthwise on the inside width of the serpentine belt.

Because it is so thin, the serpentine belt dissipates heat better than the chunky V belt and therefore lasts longer. However, even a serpentine belt will eventually degrade, crack, and break, but it will last longer than a conventional V-belt before it needs to be replaced.

Seeing that a lot of the cars we feature are of the older variety and either have a Windsor or Cleveland engine fitted, we thought it would be worth looking into a way of converting to serpentine belts.

A quick email to my good friend Vic Moore in the USA led us to the serpentine drive conversion equipment from Concept One. The Concept One hardware is made of aircraft-grade 6061 billet aluminum, and is available either in a machined or polished finish. Concept One offers everything needed to complete a serpentine drive conversion successfully.

We were pleasantly surprised at the availability of a Ford Cleveland version, so much so that we just had to have one. Read on as we show you how easy it is to fit.

APPLICATION INFO
The Ford 351 Cleveland kits are designed for use with electric cooling fans. If you need to run a mechanical fan, contact Concept One and we will make modifications to the water pump pulley to suit your needs. These kits use standard rotation water pumps and are designed for stock-style balancers.

THE WAY TO GO
Without a doubt, I have to say that the Concept One serpentine conversion kit is the best quality and fitting kit I have seen-used on the market today. You think that is a big statement?

Well it is, but it's true!

I have bought and fitted other brands, and I can tell you first-hand that this kit fits like a glove requiring no modifications at all. Not like others I have used before which required new spacers to be made due to poor alignment.

This kit avoided these problems completely. Concept One offer kits that suit everybody's needs whether you only choose to run an alternator, alternator & PS, alternator & AC, or the whole lot! They even make kits for the Windsor and Big Block Ford engines too. Various kits are available ranging from $725 to $1895 - well worth the money in our books.