The dreaded water pump failure and a weekend project

[GOLDCYLON]

So wednesday night in the garage I get ready to install a headlight bucket clip I lost to finally finish that job correctly (I was installing HELLAs last weekend when I heard a clip fall) Never found that little bugger lol. Ive also been having a lot of cooling problems lately. In 6th gear on the freeway no problems but if I get caught in traffic here comes almost 260!!! Underneath the left wheel is a puddle. Damit looks and feels like Glycol. Maybe im lucky and its a hose nah sure enough she leaking centerline on the car after running it for a few minutes. Well I have a waterpump in my parts crib a new radiator and a new set of Black Samcos and clamps. I was going to wait until fall/winter do do this job sure enough it turns out to be an Arizona summer garage special. Well Im lucky enough to have a four day weekend Jeffvette suggested to make it a good project job so I guess my dance card is full for the weekend. After work tonight my goal was to remove the radiator.. What a bear of a job. Those three small screws on each side of the upper radiator shroud slowed me down a bit. A pair of metal shears were my best friend to cut the corner off the shroud to get around the oil cooler lines and AC lines. And that short little thermostat hosing hose to remove was pure PITA as well. So Phase I is done. See anything that might be causing any heating issues on my 91?















Tomorrow I face the waterpump. I ordered a new set of SPAL fans from MidAmerica a few weeks ago. So I called them today to find out the status on them. I was notified that "oh they are being dropped shipped from the Manufactuer due date 1 Oct. What a pisser and the boneheads did not even tell me. AZZHATS!!! Would have been nice to have them as promised to hit this cooling problem from all sides. It was 102 in the shade of the garage but in reflection I remember when I didnt even have a Garage. GC

[cuisinartvette]

Its really not bad man, Id rather change the water pump that mess with pulling the fans and radiator. Just clean everything off real well so you can see what bolts go where (they are different), youll be done in no time.

[GOLDCYLON]

Originally Posted by cuisinartvette

Its really not bad man, Id rather change the water pump that mess with pulling the fans and radiator. Just clean everything off real well so you can see what bolts go where (they are different), youll be done in no time.

So the worst of this job is behind me????

[Paul Workman]

Next to a heater core, a WP is a piece o' cake!

When you do the pump, Marc gave me a tip that worked quite well: Make a bold holder! There are (I forget exactly) about 14(?) bolts of three different lengths, and it is easy to mix them up and get the wrong ones in the holes.

He said to lay the gasket on a piece of plywood and with a marker trace it and drill holes in the wood according to the gasket and then stick the bolts in the appropriate holes as you remove the pump. It worked great!

One thing tho...do NOT use an air ratchet on the lower left side of the pump ...It's an easy way to turn a two hour job into a 6+ hour job...Don't ask!

Good luck!

P.

[-=Jeff=-]

GC,

for that short lower hose, you could unbolt the T-Stat housing fromt he frame and it will make it MUCH Easier to install.

Also when you do the hoses, there will be coolant otn eh other hose into the T-Stat housing..

I found out the hard way

[tomtom72]

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

So the worst of this job is behind me????

Yes! Getting into the cooling stack is the worse part of your total cooling project Daryl. You the man! I cheated & pulled the oil lines & never put those 7mm side bolts back in the shroud....

Make the screen that is listed in the how to section over at the netreg site and you'll not have to worry about having a forest in the stack again.

I got a Q for ya, those spail fans are better than the updated ones that GM has for our cars? Why does your replacement rad have trans cooler lines? Sorry two Q's for ya....

Thanks for passing on the Mr. Haibeck tip on the bolts' trick!


Tom

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by tomtom72

Why does your replacement rad have trans cooler lines?

As far as I know that was the only one GM Still made as a replacement.. since it will work on BOTH Auto and manual it was one less PN for Gm to maintain.

less PN less cost on inventory..

Not sure how accurate my thought is but makes sense

[tomtom72]

-=Jeff=- your answer makes sense, from GM's point of view. I guess I'll be seeing Ron Davis when I need to replace my OE rad.....I hate to give the space over to something I can't use unless I can figure a way to pump the zf's fluid thru there .....hummmmm....proly a very dumb idea!

[GOLDCYLON]

Hello folks thanks for the kind support and tips. Finally up awake and pushing the Diet Coke to get motivated to do the job. Yep that is a ahem "standard replacement radiator" I picked up on the CF for $80 shipped to my door from a fm who could not use it. As correctly stated it works for both AT and MT Corvettes and Most C4s if I remember correctly. I could not pass it up to put it away for the future which is now here. It obvious the radiator has never been replaced on my almost 18 Year old car. So now was certainly the time to do a nice project as Jeff reccomend. Actually I think he said "dont be a girly man, you can do it" in his best Arnie voice

Jedi master Jeffvette told me to make sure I loosen the fan pulley with the tensioner still on. He told me it resolves the spinning issue. Don’t worry no air ratchets will be used as I don’t own one lol. On the Spal fans the FSM says the factory fans put out about 2200rpms.(don’t be impressed I had to look it up as I also wanted to know what the performance increase for the new fans would be) The Mad Vet catalog states that the new fans put out about 2730rpms so I guess better cooling is a total potential net increase of 500 CFM plus/minus

Thanks for the template idea I will probably do it in cardboard. As to the thermostat hosing yeah I thought of that but I was a little paranoid to dork around with the o-ring as I didn’t have a replacement but that would have worked as well. More pics as I get closer to the job completion. Jeff wants a pic of the water pump vains to see if it's pitted and such. GC

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

As to the thermostat hosing yeah I thought of that but I was a little paranoid to dork around with the o-ring as I didn’t have a replacement but that would have worked as well.

but if you unbolt the bracket from the frame then you have NO Issue with the O-ring. unbolting bracket (while keeping it bolted to the Housing) allows the Housing to move..

not too bad, if you look at it, it might make more sense

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

Jedi master Jeffvette told me to make sure I loosen the fan pulley with the tensioner still on. He told me it resolves the spinning issue. Don’t worry no air ratchets will be used as I don’t own one lol. On the Spal fans the FSM says the factory fans put out about 2200rpms.(don’t be impressed I had to look it up as I also wanted to know what the performance increase for the new fans would be) The Mad Vet catalog states that the new fans put out about 2730rpms so I guess better cooling is a total potential net increase of 500 CFM plus/minus

So does the 2200rpms and 2730rpms Directly relate to the CFM? or did you mean 2200 and 2730 CFM?

Thanks