[69boo307]

So I spent alot of money on this fancy billet March PS pump bracket, to simplify my power steering mounting with the headers on the car.

You would expect that something that expensive would work right, but nope, it is giving me a fit! The upper bracket does not exactly line up with the hole on my PS pump (plain ol' saginaw pump) so that I've had to do a little grinding on the nice pretty billet bracket. on top of that, the 'bossing' or 'embossing' on the pump interferes with it sliding up and down on the upper bracket, to adjust the tension. I can't slide it up far enough to get the belt tight. It appears I need to do some grinding on the pump face itself to allow a full range of motion with the bracket.

anyone else had similar experiences with these?

 

[BillsCamino]

I feel your pain, Brian...
I'm not real pleased with the design and fit of the March BBC LWP power steering brackets either...especially for the $$. On the serpentine belt system, it's hard to get proper tension on the drive belt.

 

[red68chevL]

If you are talking March Pulley systems, you'll not here one good word out of my mouth. I would definitely vendor bash them if it was allowed. March has a terrible customer service system as well. Call them, they want to know where you bought it and then blame them (Summit) for not explaining it all to you. Call Summit and they say, we don't have that info.

The good thing I do have to say about it is, ONCE you fix EVERY design flaw with their parts, its a slick looking system. I have considered removing the alternator bracket and having "MARCH" machined off and replaced with " SCOTT WARREN", since I fixed it.

 

[Davec43]

I had the same problems with keping my power steering pump tight.... That's why I switched over to jones performance kit

 

[Herb]

Got a link for Jones???

 

[67ss]

I think this is it.
http://www.jonesracingproducts.com/

 

[Davec43]

People at jones are awesome... Call them direct and they'll email/fax you pictures of the different set ups for your car. And there's many different options besides the serp kit to go with.

 

[blumont]

Brian, I used the March setup on mine and didn't have any problems at all. I wonder if maybe I have a different pump than you. My pump is an early Saginaw I believe.I think the number of the bracket I used is #20161. I bought this for the same reason, headers. The only slight problem was the one line out of the rear of the pump kind of limits the amount of travel on adjustment but otherwise fits great.

 

[72 Orange]

I've got the 20121 ALTERNATOR BRACKET and the 20161 POWER STEERING BRACKET KIT and have had not fitment or quality issues at all.

 

[chev-hell]

as of 15 min. ago i just finished my install of the whole system on my bbc, the wide single serpentine a/c alternator ps pump etc... these systems aren't "bolt-on" in my opinion, after finding out the 1 bracket was made for the 7/16's bolt hole (my canfield heads are all 3/8 bolt holes) and having to buy a lot of the correct depth bolts, and making a spacer (since they think all reverse-rotation short pumps are the same) it's finally on.
my system uses the GM II pump which is a super small pump that you have to add a remote resovior to. so now i also have to make a high pressure hose that has 2 different fittings (unlike stock where it's the same on both ends). AND the return line (from resovior to pump) is HUGE, not 3/8's line, not sure what it is yet (o-riley's didn't have that size hose)....

just be prepaired to do some custom work on any of their systems IMHO

FYI, they sell the Stewarts water-pump for a LOT more than Stewart does (usualy it's more thru the MFG. directly to the public)

 

[chev-hell]

here's one of the pump if you can see it

 

[69boo307]

jerry, I was using a #20161 bracket as well. I have the early Saginaw as well, but it is a NAPA reman unit, so maybe something was slightly different than the original pump.

Last night I finally got it installed, it involved grinding off any 'bossing' on the face of the pump that interfered with the 'slider' part of the bracket, and also widening the slot in that part of the bracket because it didn't line up exactly with the hole in the pump. Now that it's on it looks good, but it wasn't a 'bolt on' operation for sure!

 

[TC]

I put this set up on my motor, the PS needed washers used as shims to space everything rite.
Other than the directions suc-ing, thats the only problems I had.
Oh yea, dont go by there belt sizes, they are wrong.

 

[Chris R]

Well, it least if folks arent having too great of luck with March systems. There are other companies that make what looks like a nice system. I have thrown the idea of a serpentine setup. Zoops, Billet Specialties, and Street & Performance all appear to have nice systems too.

If there isnt any reviews in there yet. It would be nice if someone(s) could leave some info in the reviews section about the March setup. I dont know anything about them.

 

[Sgtpop]

Brian, Ive got the same set up as Chey-hell. The pump is off of a 88 Pontiac Sunbird. I didnt have any problems with the set up. Then again I didnt have to use the Saginaw pump. The only problem I had was they sent the wrong length belt. I took it to Napa and exchanged it for one approx. 2inches longer. I alrerady had a chrome remote reservoir. I dealt with Phil at March Systems 1-734-729-9070, ext 15. I contacted him several times with no problems. I first ordered the pump from him but ended up sending it back once I found out I had the same pump. It was cheaper at the NAPA store. Phil answered my questions and did not give me the run -around. I hope you are able to get it installed.

 

[blumont]

jerry, I was using a #20161 bracket as well. I have the early Saginaw as well, but it is a NAPA reman unit, so maybe something was slightly different than the original pump.

Last night I finally got it installed, it involved grinding off any 'bossing' on the face of the pump that interfered with the 'slider' part of the bracket, and also widening the slot in that part of the bracket because it didn't line up exactly with the hole in the pump. Now that it's on it looks good, but it wasn't a 'bolt on' operation for sure!

I am going to peek under the car cover this weekend and take a look at mine again just for curiousity.

 

[69boo307]

I'm hoping to start my engine tonight, we'll see how it works . Once I was done grinding on everything, it went together ok. It remains to be seen how well it holds in place

 

[Dan Orgill]

Brian, please keep us posted. I have a set for my BBC and hope I don't have to do what you've had to. Very expensive stuff to be grinding on.

 

[DaleM]

I used a complete March setup (20350 - High waterflow kit) on my 67 with a LWP and didn't have any problems at all with the P/S pump - I purchased the pump they recommended, 74 Impala w/454 w/keyway fit and it worked perfect. I did have to shim the brackets a little differently than they suggested for alignment but other than spacing the fan to fit the earlier model, everything went pretty smooth and ran the system for over 3 years until I sold the car.