I ended up ordering “The Beast” serpentine conversion kit from CVF Racing along with a new high output alternator and an AC compressor.
Fit and finish on the brackets and pulleys was good. Everything fit, and they included all the necessary hardware. Of course, all of their bolts have an allen head, so while I already had a set of allen sockets, for some reason most sets jump from 8mm to 10mm, so I had to go buy a 9mm allen socket to finish the install.
Belt install and tensioning is really easy, you just use a 1/2" wrench to spin the tensioners in and out.
I wish I could say it was a flawless decision and execution, but I did run into some issues.
First, my dual electric fan set no longer fits between the radiator and the AC compressor and power steering pump. Had I stuck with V-belts this wouldn’t have been an issue. Luckily there’s still clearance for the flex fan, so I’m back to that for the time being while I investigate which electric fan will fit and still pull enough CFMs.
The other issue I ran into was aligning the AC compressor and idler pulley. The instructions for a 289/302 with passenger side water pump outlet was no spacers, but that quickly proved to be wrong.
Even the spacers included in the kit for driver side outlet water pumps weren’t quite enough to get me into alignment. Thankfully I did not use permanent locktite on that idler pulley during the first install as instructed. After some additional shimming, I seem to have everything lined up now, but I’m waiting on a fresh belt to show up this afternoon for a final test this evening.