NECESSARY ACCESSORY

Installing a Zoops Posi-Trak Accessory

There’s simply no avoidance. If you are building a street rod with a small-block 350 Chevy engine, there are a number of items you cannot do without. We could list hundreds of parts that are considered basic necessities in order to complete a street rod. These range from the obvious, such as a basic chassis, on up to the engine itself, but there are other necessary items as well. The engine will need a variety of essentials—an ignition and charging system to enable it to work, and for comfort an air conditioning system or perhaps power steering, which will include a power steering pump. Begin adding items such as these together and attempting to stuff them all in the engine compartment, and things can get cramped. An engine also requires a water pump and all the brackets required to mount the selection of engine-driven accessories, and then it all must be connected to the crankshaft via a belt-driven system.

As a street rodder, you no doubt are aware of Zoops Products, as it has been manufacturing engine bracket and pulley kits for a variety of popular street rodding engine choices. The adjustable bracket systems Zoops has designed and engineered have become popular items, and the engineers have also kept busy continually improving upon the products they offer—designing new items to better satisfy the needs of the rodding community. To improve their line of brackets and accessory parts, they identified the need to market complete kits that include all the components necessary to complete a full engine accessory installation. This design challenge was not an easy one, as there are numerous accessory options, but the Zoops engineers tackled it anyway, and they did it with style and helped standardize and simplify such decisions.

This Zoops engine accessory kit comes complete with all the parts required for complete installation on a ’67-or-newer carbureted small-block Chevy engine, or on an older engine that is outfitted with 350-style heads. The kit includes an aluminum water pump, a polished alternator, a polished air conditioning compressor, a polished power steering pump, a unique bracket assembly, a polished belt tensioner and pulleys for all components. The aluminum water pump comes in a natural finish, so if you want everything polished that needs to be done separately.

The company’s newest offering is the Posi-Trak system, which was devised to not only look good, but to eliminate the search and possible mismatching of all the components needed. It’s important that the components be selected to fit and the brackets and pulleys align. To enable the Zoops system to work as one, the kit comes with an aluminum water pump, a polished alternator, a polished air conditioning compressor, a polished power steering pump, a beautifully designed bracket assembly, a polished belt tensioner, pulleys for each of the components included and a serpentine belt to run it all. The obvious benefit to such a system is that the entire accessory assembly works in perfect harmony and is designed to fit into space-restricted engine compartments.

Our goal here was not only to introduce this system, but also to provide you with a better perspective of what all this might mean for you and how the assembly “measures” up, as well as to give you an idea of the overall size of the installed system and the space these engine accessories require. We made a few measurements to help you determine how such a system would fit your present installation, or how you can use this information when mounting a new Chevy small block. Going in, the total length of the small block, from the back of the block to the end of the crank pulley, is 28 inches. Keep this in mind when you begin installing your engine mounts. Some builders will mount the engine as far forward as possible to clear the firewall and to allow more room for the transmission bell housing area, but this can dramatically reduce the room up front for whatever engine accessories have been chosen, including clearance for the radiator and the fan. This is especially true on early Fords that have radiators which lean backward. Knowing the size of the accessory package ahead of the engine, along with the restrictions of the radiator package, will enable you to determine just where the engine must be placed, or what alterations are necessary to position it.

The water pump was installed first and was connected by the two bolts on the passenger’s side of the engine. At this point all of the bolts are installed snug but not tight. It is also a good idea to wear surgical gloves to prevent fingerprints on the polished parts.

For this Zoops installation we measured from the face of the engine (the front) to the outside crank pulley, which was 6-3/8 inches. The measurement from the face of the engine to the outside air conditioning cover was 7-3/8 inches. The total width of the engine from the air conditioning compressor to the alternator was 15-1/2 inches, and the tallest point from the center of the water pump to the top of the air conditioning compressor was 8 inches. As you can see from these measurements, the Zoops bracket assembly is very compact, allowing it to be used in everything from Model A Fords to ’70s-vintage Camaros. The new Posi-Trak system is also a beautiful design element in the creation of your engine detailing, and Zoops also offers well-designed valve covers and air cleaners to complete the package.

We visited Zoops recently and followed the installation of the Posi-Trak system to show you how easy it is. There are two version of the system available: the 8300 (with power steering), and the 8301 (without power steering). As you will see, this kit is easy to install with normal hand tools, and the job can be done in under two hours from start to finish.