air condition delete

i got a 94 caprice with a 350 engine....how much of a power gain could i get if i eliminated the air conditioning pulley?

i got a 94 caprice with a 350 engine....how much of a power gain could i get if i eliminated the air conditioning pulley?

None. As long as the AC isn't on, there will be no power loss by leaving it.

you would actually gain a couple but it wouldnt even be noticable, not worth the effort, especially if the ac still worked

Again, no power loss, not even 1 horsepower, by leaving in the AC compressor. The pulley acts as an idler when the AC is on, and while there might be a parasitic loss of power (on the order of a few percentage points of one HP), the amount of labor to remove the existing unit does not pay for itself over 10 years for the 'power' you will 'gain' by removing it.

If the bearing on the compressor took even one HP away from the engine, that thing would be frying belts left and right, smoking the whole time.

to add to this,
you wont gain much, if any hp, but you WILL loose a lot of weight, and you WILL gain more room in the front to install a larger radiator if you need it due to a 350 transplant.

if weight is the enemy, remove as much of the ac components as possible and sell them on ebay

or even better,
bottle your refridgerant, and send it to me
i need some... badly