My education continues. I bought a new (not rebuilt) water pump becaust the bearing went in my old one. The vibrations were so bad I thought I'd blown the engine. When I got the new one home, I looked it over and it seemed fine - the gasket and the bolt holes matched up. So I painted it with good 'ol Buick red and put it on. First hint of trouble was when the fan shroud hung up on the fan hub. I flexed it and got it on. Then when it was time to put the fan on, it wouldn't fit all the way. I finally got around to looking at the shaft where it comes through the hub - it extends 1" beyond the hub, while the old pump shaft only stuck out 1/2". Did I miss something when I asked the parts store for a water pump for a Buick 455? My fan and all the accessories came from the 400. Maybe the fan clutch changed??? on the later motors? What am I doing wrong here? As i see my choices I can 1. Take the water pump back, complain that it doesn't fit, and try to get my $70 back. Probably a tough sell because of the paint... 2. Take a cutoff wheel to the shaft and circumcise 1/2" off the end. This seems crude, and I'm afraid I might hurt the bearing with the heat. 3. Make or find a 1/2" spacer to go between the pump hub and the fan clutch and put 1/2" longer studs in the hub. I have room between the fan and the radiator - this is what I'm leaning towards. Fire away with any advice or caustic comments....
a picture or two is worth a thousand words.. John... 67-70 400/430/455 water pump/timing cover on the right.. 71-76 timing cover/water pump on the left. Sounds like your putting the long 71-6 pump, where it does not want to go. I happened to have a polished setup, and one fresh out of the blaster, on it's way to be polished, so I set them side by side and took the pics. Only diff is water pump length.. covers are dimensionally the same. JW
My choice, only unless you have a lathe and a milling machine, just buy a spacer. Personally, I believe that you got the wrong application water pump. But, without more details, I am not sure at this time.
Oh boy Thanks Jim - It looks like the pump shaft is longer AND the distance from the pump hub to the timing cover is greater - this won't work due to pulley alignment. Anybody want to buy a nice new RED water pump?
