Even though we’re following the best of the best in many aspects of this build we still find that we are doing some things that apparently no one else has done before.
One of those things is putting an LSA motor in the Detroit Speed subframe and mounting the AC compressor and the alternator tight and low on their respective sides of the engine.
We could only find people who have installed their LSA in either stock or other after market subframes.
This made me a little nervous but the crew at V8TV just took it in stride as another challenge to be overcome.
First, they took one of the small Sanden SD-7 AC compressors Vintage Air recommends for use in their systems.
The objective was to mount it low and tight right about here but a little further back…
Next they performed a little surgery on the subframe and massaged the motor mount a little..
Then they made their own lower mounting bracket...
Their own upper mounting bracket...
Their own adjustment link...
And there you have it…AC compressor where we want it!
To mount the alternator tight and low on the driver’s side, they started with an alternator from East Coast Auto Electric. It is smaller but still puts out more than 120 AMPs (part number 2003)
They put a mock up pulley on it and sized up their plan of attack…
With some surgery on the mounting bracket and some minor fabrication it looked feasible to mount the alternator without modifications to the subframe.
They pulled it off. No notching of the frame required on this side..
For the steering pump, we bought a reservoir that has an extra return line port in it from Jones. We need an extra return line port because we are going to install a Hydratech brake booster.
That reservoir works best with the Corvette power steering pump so they made some slight modifications to the Corvette style pump to mount it in the LSA mounts.
The result….What we think is the World’s first LSA with ZL-1 accessory locations installed in a Detroit Speed Subframe….. TA DAAH!!
Frankly, the V8TV crew makes this stuff look easy. Can you tell I’m a happy customer?