ItsNiceToBurnRice

Im gonna cut off my A/C belt, this ok? I mean nothing else runs off of it right? A weird thing I noticed was my neighbor has a 86 base NA, and he has A/C, did all 7's come with it? Cause he dosent have any other options.

tesla042

Instead of cutting it, take a 10mm socket, and unscrew the tensioner bolt, and take it off. At least that way you can put it back on if you change your mind.

No, nothing else runs off the a/c belt.

No, not all 2nd gens came with a/c.

-Tesla

Kurgan

If you take it off, you need to loosen the pulley as well. The pulley clamps down onto the bracket and won't freaking budge unless you loosen itl. and yes, you will have to loosen the tentioner too.
If you remove it, I've heard of the water pump belt slipping at high RPMS, when you need it the most... but they are pretty much unconfirmed stories. RP sells a dual belt pulley for this.

Well, now that I think about it... I think that they sell the dual pulley for the alternator, so that when you remove the air pump, the water pump won't slip... but this may be similar.

I'll shut up now.

SpeedRacer

And while your at it, you might as well remove the AC compressor, its only held on by 4 bolts if I remember correctly, then you can remove the reservoir, and all the plumbing that goes along with it. It will drop about 50lbs. off your car.

Kurgan

Oh yeah, one more thing. My AC belt has been removed for 3 years with no ill effects on a fairly high horsepowered motor...

Thaniel

Yes. No. No idea.

tesla042

It's actually the air pump belt removal that causes the water pump to slip, not the a/c. The a/c belt never touches the water pump--only the air pump belt and alt belt.

There are ZERO negative side effects to removing the a/c belt (other than you can't use your a/c.. )

-Tesla

MaxRX7

no A/C was standard on some models and an option on others....
so was power steering..

dre_2ooo

I dont think that the A/C belt takes away from the engine unless it is ON!

Josepi

Tesla042 is completely right in all his posts. You can take off the a/c belt. Depending if you want A/C the next summer, you can rip all of the **** out. If you found yourself using A/C there's no reason to rip it out for all of .005 in the 1/4 mile.

My take:
Loosen and remove bolt. Take off belt. Tighten bolt. Drive with some more power through winter. But come next summer, you may want to put the belt back on so, leave all the stuff in.

You don't need any underdrive pulley, because all that is related to the airpump. The whole worry there is overdriving the waterpump and cavitating. I don't want to get into how water behaves when it cavitates, but it basically loses function. Just like a submarine and its props.

PS...I'm drunk. probably hit BS 40 times typing this....