I searched through several swap threads but couldn't find an answer to a specific issue. I've got a carbed/V-belt 300 six in my '85 and I'd like to swap for a Saginaw PS pump. The only E series vans I can find locally are F.I./Serpentine belt, 90's vans. Will the bracket and pump work on a carbed block if I swap the serpentine pulley for a V-belt pulley? Hoping maybe someone has done this.

 

This swap is not discussed that much on here, there seems to be no reason to do it. I asked one time when another guy came on here what the purpose of this swap was, and it was so long ago I have forgotten what he said. You might do a search in this forum with "saginaw" as the search word and it might pick up something.

Do you mind reminding me why you would want to do this swap? I have heard of it before, but besides being noisy, the stock pump seems to work ok for most people.

 

Besides being quieter, I hit the trails in my Bronco quite a bit. I'm running 33's now and will probably up size with my next tire purchase and could use the extra psi, aired down that PS pump is screaming pretty loud. I'm adding a PS cooler and filter at the same time and my box is leaking pretty bad so it's getting replaced too.

I agree it's not really necessary for most people. With 31's my pump barely made any noise and worked fine. It didn't start screaming till I went bigger. I wouldn't bother with my 2wd street rig.

 

I've noticed your post on the 300-6 forum as well. I think your concerns are that as you find a Saginaw pump used in a serpentine belt arrangement, you should take notice of what rotation the serpentine is at the pump. I've not heard of this concern so far and I run a 300-6 v-belt, and have a Saginaw pump or two ready for use my self. Getting up to speed with the rotation of that install probably is a good "lesson" for all of us. Since not much is mentioned about it, I'd guess in the serpentine use the rotation is the same but I don't have the definitive answer either. You find out, and we'll all know.

Of course we could check the application notes of the different years at the usual suspects...The Zone, Advance, O'Reilly's etc..

 

The rotation is the same, because the "serpentine" setup on the later Fords wasn't a true serpentine arrangement, but actually what they called "Poly-Vee" and it ran the same direction.

(As an aside, I believe you can reverse the direction of rotation of the Saginaw because they specifically warn about it in the rebuild kit. But again you won't need to do this.)

I'm doing the swap to a Saginaw on mine but I'm also doing a swap to the poly-vee belts (got the whole setup from a 91 E-350) so I haven't thought about your specific question before.

I don't see why it would be a problem to run the standard v-belt pulley on the Saginaw. The only issue is if the pump shaft is a different diameter and wouldn't fit the old pulley, but these things seem to be pretty standard.

The bracket issue could be a problem though. Have you actually found a 90s van with the straight six? I didn't even know the vans came with the six.

 

I will have to source a pulley for a Saginaw box, it's a bigger shaft than the ford pump. There's a couple of 90's vans here with the 4.9. Only one still had the bracket and pump so I went ahead and grabbed it. It came with the pressure lines too and I talked them down to forty bucks so I figure it was cheap enough to gamble. The brackets holes look like they'll work with the older block, all the threaded holes are there, spacing at be an issue though, I couldn't really measure properly with the old pump in place. I'm replacing the gearbox in a couple weeks, I'll be sure to post the results.

 

Some good reading here:

1981 Ford Bronco Saginaw Swap pictures, videos, and sounds | SuperMotors.net

 

I'd say 40 bucks is a good deal for all that. I know the high pressure exit is pointed in a different direction between the two pumps so good thing you got the lines.

The 80s vans came with a Saginaw and would have been the V-belt arrangement before some year, probably up to 87, so I suppose that would be one source of the pulley. If you can find any 80s vans.

 

If I could find an 80's I would have got one but none of the yards around here have much older stuff any more. I'm pretty sure I can use any Saginaw v belt pulley. I'll keep you posted on the results.

 

So this pump has more volume and more pressure or just one or the other?

 

They deliver about 200 more psi, are much quieter and the reservoir is metal. I've had a couple ford pumps crack at the low pressure inlet. I'm not sure if there's any more volume but I'm adding a factory ford tranny cooler as a PS cooler so there will be a little more volume from that. I've already done ball joints, wheel bearings and tie rods and ends, with the new pump and box, I should have a rock solid steering system.

 

According to this reference page at Pirate4x4:
The figures he cites appear to come from NewStar Parts Group published figures, and they look right to me, see here - Newstar S-A384.

But I couldn't find specs on the Ford C-II pump, so I can't say if that's more or less. But consensus on the interwebs is it's more better.

Saginaw pumps also may have the advantage of being very easy to find parts for, they were installed in everything under the sun; GM, Dodge, even Jags had them.

 

I have found that running Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF in the Ford PS pump will quiet them down, it that is the major issue.

 

I used Dexron 6 full synthetic in mine because I couldn't find the Mobil 1 ATF until AFTER I used it. Even the Dexron 6 shut my pump up quite a bit and really slicked up the steering.