Borgeson p/s pump bracket impressions

[AcampoDave]

I bought a Borgeson 802400 low mount p/s steering pump bracket. A little pricey maybe but here it is. It looks sturdy, simple and a fraction of the size and weight of the old one.

[AcampoDave]

Here's my old one. It has a cast iron block mount and a bracket going all the way up to the exhaust manifold bolt (where I had to use a homemade spacer). It doesn't really fiit a ramhorn and it has had a bit of Sawzall surgery to make it accommodate my alternator pivot bolt where it goes into the front of the ramhorn. It also always put the pump pulley around an 1/8 of an inch too far forward (which still worked but made for some noise on such a short belt).

I'll be installing it soon so I'll be back to update.

[AcampoDave]

I gave it satin black paintjob and put it on today. There were a couple of glitches...
First, some excess flashing on my block required a little Dremmel work to get the needed clearance for the bracket hug the block.

[AcampoDave]

The second glitch..
The long bolts holding the bracket to my block were too long for the bosses. Previous experience has taught me that continuing to tighten them after they bottom out will cause them to punch through the water jacket on a 283. (And it didn't take much effort either.) Looking at the pic, you can see that the extra spacers added to the top represent how much I shortened the one below. I had to shorten the bottom one because spacers would set it back into the belt. That's why their long bolts are button headed with an allen wrench inset.

[AcampoDave]

Overall it's a decent part. It's still a bear to adjust the belt tension, (Gates pt#7350) but the old one was worse. The spacers added to the top don't do much for its appearance but my engine is a worker not a looker. The real question is did it solve the belt alignment problem?
Yes.