Water Pump Relacement

[Ginger]

Written up by Kawamatt2

Here we go again fellas.

107K miles and the stock water pump on my 98' SBC 350 decided to retire. Was getting some pretty good weepage from the lower hole in the pump after i would shut it off and heat soak would commence. I only noticed it about a week ago and thought to get it before it left me stranded somewhere.

So here is where we start.

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Remove upper fan shroud.

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This is a shot of what i came up with to get the mechanical fan off. Just a piece of aluminum with two hole drilled and clearanced between the holes. For anyones reference the pump pulley bolts are ~1.85" O.C.. From outside of bolt head to outside of bolt head is ~2.35".

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I actually tried the technique of leaving the serp belt on and just smacking a wrench on the fan with a hammer. Didn't have much luck there. With my little tool i was able to spin it right off. Doubt it took more than 25 ft/lbs. Wasn't very tight at all.

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Fan removed.

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Remove lower shroud to ease access to radiator drain ****.

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Used my tool again to hold the pulley and loosen bolts holding pulley on.

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First snafu of the day. Removed the upper hose/thermostat neck to pull the thermostat. Working to get a screw driver or pair of pliers in there and broke the plug off the temperature sensor.

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Thermo removed.

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Removed idler pulley to get to heater and bypass hoses easier. This is the technique i used to get most of the hoses off. Suckers were frozen on there pretty good.

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Hoses removed, pump ready to come off.

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Finesse is key. As an additional aside; the water pump bolts are into the water jacket. Thread sealer is required.

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First time that covers seen the light of day in nearly ten years. Cruddy.

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Make sure and scrap the mounting surfaces well of old gasket material.

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It was at this point i had the bright idea to try and remove the crank pulley/balancer to clean up the timing cover really well.

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[Ginger]

Fruitless endeavor there. Started cranking down on the wheel puller and the damn thing started to crack around the center threads. Cheap cast ****. Oh well.

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Time for the new pump! Weird looking gaskets. Must be some universal ****.

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Once again, use thread sealant on these bolts.

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Heater/bypass hoses connected.

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Its thanksgiving day, all the autoparts stores are closed, and i want to button this thing back up. Superglue to the rescue.

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Install new lower radiator hose.(*****) Install new thermostat and old housing.

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Re-install radiator drain plug, lower fan shroud, and fan. Used my home made tool again to tighten it up. Worked like a charm.

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Install upper fan shroud and upper radiator hose. Fill with coolant and let burp. Take for a spin around the block. Hopefully you have no leaks.

 

[Bighead38]

Coomon problem and an easy fix. Ive done mine 2 or 3 times now.

 

[///RAGMC]

Great write up

 

[94blu1500]

Does anybody know what size the water pump bolts are on a 94?

 

[CodyB]

IIRC 9/16ths

 

[94blu1500]

my bad i needed the bolt size and length

 

[MeanGreenZ71]

Just changed the WP and rad hoses on my 95 this weekend. No real problems but I broke the heater hose connector off and had to run to the parts store for that. I also flushed the whole cooling system and added a brand new Gatorback for piece of mind.

 

[1996*GMC*SHORTBED]

Don't buy any pump that doesn't come with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Z Fury]

Excellent write-up. I'm almost done with this project, but I've run into a problem. Where the fan connects to the water pump, the 4 bolts that come out of the water pump - I can't get those things out. On my '94, they are threaded studs, so there is nothing I can really grab on to. Should I just measure the bolt length and get a replacement that has a head? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to finish this up this weekend.