Ok, looking at the real thing, that's different, you're plenty good. I dunno what all the fuss was about?
The illustration does throw the perspective way off. If nothing else, bypassing the A/C might make the clutch/pulley last longer.

 

I didnt even think of that. But you might be right by that actually. Hey, it was only $15 and 2 minutes to install. So if it isnt going to hurt anything, why not.

 

I spose you'll be going through back tires a lot faster too now, with your new-found power gain!

 

will bypassing the compressor like that, and leaving it sitting and not cycling, cause any damage when you do un-do the bypass? doesnt the ac system have a small amount of lube along with the freon?

 

I was thinking the same thing, if immobility would have a negative effect. That's a double-edged sword. We know that having things sit unused, can sometimes make it go to hell faster than if it's used more frequently (insert wife joke here). On the other hand, constant use wears bearings out as well. Flip a coin.

 

i guess the question is......is a winters worth of sitting and then starting up again in the spring and summer doing enough harm to make it not worth it. hell if i know, but its somthing to think about.

 

Well i like my a/c but i dont need it. im not that fat lazy bass tard that cant go anywhere without his precious a/c. so ill be the test dummy. if nothing else, this is a learning opportunity. you have questions, soon we will have answers. if the a/c does go, then ill just rip out the whole a/c system anyway. but at least this way, we can all learn something.

 

I was going to say that it was a bad idea to not spin those bearings for months at a time but since he is already done.....

For anyone reading this thinking about doing this it will gain you about .05 percent of a one HP. GM had a big push on fuel economy back in the late 80's. Bearing manufactures were pushed to remove as much drag as possible so the manufacture could comply with federal standards MPG limits set at the time. There was a time when auto manufactures had to hit a average MPG per car sold so if they sold a vett they had to sell two Geo Metros.

Since all goverment test were done with AC off GM put a lot into making sure free running AC clutch was not hurting the MPG.

If your clutch bearing is make noise that is a different story.

 

Update for everyone.
Now anyone that has done this, probably hasn't had problems if they use the car casually. So this mod is perfectly fine if the compressor makes noise, or you want that last little sip of gas to get you down the road to the gas station instead of pushing. (which actually did prove a difference for me. same amount of gas as when i ran out, but i actually made it this time. and again.. i need to start carrying a gas can in my car) ANYHOW, I did notice a couple faults.
First off, if you are going to keep it this way, there probably wont be much of a problem. But if you want to go back to the other belt, forget about it. Youll need a new tensioner. Because of the way it gets pushed down with the shorter belt, it loses the springs ability to decompress. My tensioner was hard as anything to push down before. I took the belt off today and noticed the tensioner just takes me leaning on it to push down now.
Also, like I said, for casual driving, this is fine. But I noticed when I drop a gear and go, it seemed to hesitate. When I pulled the belt off, there were marks showing signs of instantaneous slipping. So under high torque, even though the tensioner works with this set up, it doesnt work well enough to get up and go.

Now, I don't need any I told you so's or anything. I actually enjoyed this. And I hope anyone that hasn't done it or is thinking about it enjoys this thread as well. Its a learning experience, and thats what I love best about my camaro. It has always been my teacher and I learn so much from it. So $15 went out the window, its not exactly a waste when I learned something.

 

I told................. myself I wasn't going to say I told you so! lol
Strange reaction to the tensioner, I wouldn't have expected that. The picture makes it look like there was a decent amount of deflection to the belt from the tensioner. Or was that an optical illusion?