Water Pump Replacement

I read a survey awhile back that said that leakless water pumps, percentage wise, were the most used as replacements for Model A water pumps. FWIW.

It really depends on what you want to call a "leakless" pump. There are a lot of "so called" leakless pumps that really aren't.
 
Update on my water pump exercise. I appreciate everyone's help, and after thinking about it, I have decided to rebuild an original style pump. As I mentioned, there's a gentleman here in town that has some parts, including pumps, that he no longer needs. I like the idea of the "leakless" pump, but I think I will get a little more satisfaction out of rebuilding one. I will probably regret going this route at some point, but...I've made worse mistakes.

I did make an attempt at getting the studs out, and they are stuck but good. Tried pb blaster, but no luck. I will leave them for now.

Some have mentioned not having to take the radiator off. That would have been nice, but I have a 4 blade fan, and I couldn't get the pump off without removing the radiator. It's just as well. Needed to replace the two bottom hoses, and I took the radiator to be boiled out, cleaned and painted. While I wasn't having any cooling problems, there was a lot of grease in the radiator.

This brings up another question. Since I've had the car, the slot for the crank handle, and the center of the crank pulley don't exactly line up. Crank pulley is about a half inch low. I'd like to address this while the radiator is off, but I am concerned about effects of trying to raise the front of the engine that much. If I move the front...other stuff will move too. I've never dealt with an engine install. Any suggestions?
 
Loosen the bottom castle nut on the front motor mount and see if it comes up. You may also have to loosen the rear mount bolts that go into the flywheel housing, to let the engine find it's resting place. If the front still won't lift up then you'll have to buy new springs for the front mount.
 
At the web site:

Marco's Model 'A' Ford Barnyard

Marco has a well detailed article on front motor mount height, spring length etc. to assist in aligning crankshaft pulley and hand crank bearing/opening.

As far as the WP, in lieu of buying an entire new leak less WP, I used my original water pump housing, and installed Bratton's Water Pump Kit which includes a SS shaft, new seals etc. , as described in his catalog.

If you do what "you" want to do with your WP, I think you will be happy that you did it "your" way ..... that is what most of us do, anyway ...... we usually do not follow advice of others at our age ........ LOL
 
When I changed my pump a year or so ago (with studs), I was able to do it WITHOUT removing the radiator. Loosened the rad rods (go to f/wall), tilted the rad away as far as I could, Installed a cardboard shield and was able to "snake" the old pump off and install the new. FWIW

Paul in CT
I did the same thing and had good results. Just took a little care and time to wiggle the pump out.
At motor rebuild time will change over to fake studs.
 
Well....now I have a water pump ready to go in. As I mentioned before....took the radiator off, had it boiled out, patched up and painted. During this project I found that the front motor mount springs are missing. Also, the bottom washer was replaced with something that looks like it came off of another car. It is over 1/2" thick, and has what looks like a hole for a set screw. Anyway,the yoke is fine, and I am installing new springs and washers...I just got those parts on Friday. I got the ratchet nut off today, and now....I have come across another issue that kept me from putting everything back together. The crankshaft pulley is a two piece type (notched).

Question is...since I am in this far, should I just go ahead and replace the crankshaft pulley with a one piece like original, or leave the two piece? The existing pulley looks in serviceable shape.
 
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