Rebuilt waterpump self destruct...Argggg

Capt Kirk

Capt Kirk

Well-known member
As some may know, I don't drive my car a lot however I did take it to work (7 miles each way) a couple days last week. My spedo went haywire on the last trip home so today I was going to work on it. As usual, I pop the hood to inspect whenever I'm working on the car.
I instantly noticed the fan belt looked loose and thought the alternator slid down...nope. On further inspection I noticed a water pump pulley laying on the frame...dammit! I had these rebuilt last year due to a leak and what I got back had the car running cooler than it had in the past...even during the 90+ degree Dream Cruise. I was completely satisfied with the rebuild.
Anyway, the shaft of the pump spun freely and I didn't notice any squeeling sounds from the engine during any of my drive-arounds. As you can see from the last pic, the paint isn't even worn off the belt area yet. I will contact the rebuilder to see what my options are. Here's a few pics of what I found this morning.
 

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I have seen many water pumps with that style pulley that are not only a press fit, but have a pin set to retain them. Does yours have the pin hole, and a missing pin?
 
Capt,
What seems to work well is drill and tap the nose of the pulley for 10 - 32 and
install an allen set screw. I always grind a small flat on the shaft so the set screw
gets good purchase.
Charlie ny
 
I think I would do as Charlie said. without removing the pump, drill and tap pulley for set screw, grind a small flat on pump shaft, use some thread/shaft lock and replace
 
Having a set screw or a pin makes sense. This is my first flathead and I'm not accustom or familiar with all the nuances, such as this, to get the car dependable. I have the tools and ability to install a set screw but never in my dreams did I think this would be an area of concern.
I'm guessing the pulley won't just slide on with no resistance...is me tapping/beating on the pulley to get it back on going to shove the shaft/impellers back into the block and cause problems? I have full faith in the rebuilder and will contact them and get their thoughts as well. I haven't done it yet but will check the other pump too. I have to admit that I'm discouraged. I love working on cars and tinkering but I'd also like to be able to go more than 20 miles before I'm shut down and need to do something like this. Was hoping to drive this weekend. Fresh-ish engine, Max carb, Skips coil, rebuilt water pumps and was planning on sending the helmet in for rebuild this fall. Broken axle last year, screaming speedometer last week. I'm looking forward to the point where I can build trust in the car and drive.
 
These cars are old and set a lot. Problems are going to continue to occur until everything that can go wrong is fixed. Just the way it is.
 
I don't think you will be able to just refit the pulley without removing the pump. There should be a fibre washer between the pulley and the pump body. The set screw is not a bad idea. I was wondering if a suitable grade of loctite would be applicable here.

The reason you can't just refit it in situ is because the pulley needs to be pressed on and create a preload to pull the impeller against the seal face. Without the impeller accessible you can't press against it when fitting the pulley.

Once the pump is off it should be a relatively simple job to get it back in working order again.

It might be worth doing the same to the other pump as a precautionary measure.

Agree about the old cars needing some problem solving. But if you fix each thing properly it shouldn't reocurr. As time goes by the reliability will improve. They like being used regularly more than they like lying idle.

Mart.
 
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When driving an 82 yo vehicle, these things can and will happen. All you can do is carry spare parts and tools, and hope you never need them. Triple A, or membership in some type of good road service is highly recommended.
 
JM 35 Sedan said:
When driving an 82 yo vehicle, these things can and will happen. All you can do is carry spare parts and tools, and hope you never need them. Triple A, or membership in some type of good road service is highly recommended.
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My insurance covers towing so that's not a problem. I understand that these old cars need to be worked on and maintained and that's part of what I like about it. I know this water pump issue isn't that big of a deal but I thought that, since I sent them in to be rebuilt right, I could put them in the category of never having to worry about them again...or at least a lot of years down the road.
It's been a tough year for me as far as vehicles go. Wife rolled the Jeep so I had to restore that, neighbors 14' trampoline blew through our privacy fence, hit my 56 causing some damage and then wedged itself against my garage. After two court cases, my neighbors paid for repairs and on my way to have the 56 repaired, the carb went haywire (I believe due to MI gas) and had to limp it back home. I will keep working and tinkering on them and hopefully I can enjoy some time out on the road this summer.
 

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Someone once told me there would be one hour of maintence for every hour of driving and old car, most of the components are rebuildable instead of throw away.
 
corvette8n said:
Someone once told me there would be one hour of maintence for every hour of driving and old car, most of the components are rebuildable instead of throw away.
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This is lousy maintenance or a lousy car. I have driven my car in all 48 states, Cal two times with a total of over 40,00 miles and there is no way I could spend that many hours working on it!
 
You might be able to drill and tap the pulley and then warm it to make it slip back on.
I used to keep a hotplate and small sauce pan filled with oil for installing VW crankshaft timing gears that were a press fit.

You could spray the shaft as well with a chilling aerosol like DynaIce(Chills to -62° Farenhei).
 
These little hicups all add to the character building associated with the use and maintenance of older vehicles. As stated once these issues are resolved they will become fond memories all connected with the older vehicle. this cannot be had from newer vehicles which do now give this hands on driving and fine tuning experience.
It eventually all comes together.
all the best.
Phil NZ
 
I contacted the pump rebuilder. They asked me to send the pump back and they would expedite the repair and return. I may use this down time to have my helmet looked at as well instead of waiting till the fall like I had planned.
 
Cecil/WV said:
This is lousy maintenance or a lousy car. I have driven my car in all 48 states, Cal two times with a total of over 40,00 miles and there is no way I could spend that many hours working on it!
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I once owned a Harleythat was that way. Ride one weekend wait two weeks for the parts to soend the next week installing them. It legt me real quik.
 
The pulley sheaves are generally a fairly tight fit. Now press them on or off a few times and then change a shaft with one that might be slightly smaller then you just never know how tight it's going to be. Some of the old original parts may have been rebuilt a few times. Some new parts, who knows where they were made. A set screw sounds like good insurance to me. Loctite 680 might work too.
 
Loctites bushing mount works wonders on stuff not having enough pressfit as long as the working temperature isn´t to high.
 
I don't know the history of these pumps but the rebuilder said that the new shafts are machined to exactly .5" and the pulley is reamed to .497 which is a .003 press fit. It shouldn't have come off and when they get it back I'm sure there'll be some measuring going on.
 
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