I have to buy a set of pulleys for a 454 I'm building. Stupid question but......... Are the Merc 454's just Chevy's short water pump set?

If it is a carbed motor you have a three belt set up on the circulation pump(water pump). It is a short water pump, But the pulleys are not the same as a car.

I just looked at a set off a 330 in my shop and they are cast Aluminum , where a car is steel.

I have stock aluminum pulleys and replaced my waterpump with aluminum as well. Yes, it is the short pump. Was looking into converting to serpentine though - looks like it needs a reverse rotation pump for that.

What is all required to convert to a serpentine set-up? The aftermarket kits are ridiculously expensive (around $1,000). Are their regular car parts that can be used to make the swap?

A little more research and viola! I do believe i have found a suitable solution for those aching to change things
http://www.blackmountainprecision.com/bb2.htm
$320 bones and you can have billet cog pulleys. I am thinking this is a even better than serpentine! Just the 1" though, 2" and people would want to see the blowers that don't exist...

How do you turn the raw water pump? Don't see a pulley for that on the site or different length belts to accommodate one.

looks like it needs a reverse rotation pump for that.[/QUOTE]

I believe that all of the late model (replacement) pumps will run either direction

and not all the merc pulleys are alum, they had steel ones as well....my original ones were...

Good point. I run Alphas and do not have a raw water pump... I didn't see anything like that on their site.