[george kujanski]

Notice to all members: my fee for the plate gap adjustment will still be $1.00 for the rest of the week. After that, due to the price of fuel, my fee will increase to $2.00. Hurry up and adjust your pumps this week B4 the rates go up!

Glad to hear another member had success!

George

[Geoff]

George,
Is there a discount for quantity? LOL

[pittgto]

I fixed mine a few weeks ago, just reporting now...so is it still only a buck? My 67 400 (with a 70 timing cover) always got hot at idle, running it would stay around 190, but at a long light maybe 210, and at worst 220. I pulled my pump and found a stamped one. I adjusted the backing plate and put it back on while i looked for a cast impellar (and it was scheduled for it's annual inspection the next day). I saw improvement with the performance of the stamped one, but still not really acceptable results at long idle.

I put the cast one from NAPA on two weeks ago and got 2 miles before the power steering pump (It was on it's last leg since spring) decided to squeal like a school girl. Now that I got the new pump on, I idled it in a hot garage (90 degrees) for a long time and it never went over 180. In the garage, it was typical to see 200+ quick)I'll run it good and long on the interstate this weekend, but I can already see better results.

George, the results are even worth the 2 dollars, and I was surprised at the improvement with the stamped unit. My tolerance on the cast unit is tight, I worked it down to touching each of the impellers, then put the gasket in between and bolted it up.

[gearbanger]

I worked it down against the impellar all the way around and then added the gasket. That should make it nice and tight. I will be starting my brand new engine tonight. It is totally different though, so I will not have good comparison results. The old motor was a 62 headed 400, around 400 hp. This is a KRE headed 461 with a good size roller, around 600 hp. I am about to die sitting here at work waiting on tonight. I feel like a high school kid waiting on a date with the prom queen.

[MalteseFalcon]

I bought a new water pump before hearing about the advantaged of the cast impeller. My old pump had a cast impeller and the new one I bought has a stamped impeller.

Is it possible to pull the stamped impeller off the new (rebuilt) pump and press on the cast impeller from the old pump?

Or do I have to try to find a rebuilt pump with a cast impeller?

[george kujanski]

I'd say you're better off finding one with a cast impeller.

George

[Malky]

maltese, I pulled the cast impeller off one pump and installed it on another. Another advantage is you can press the impeller on the shaft just the right amount to give you the correct impeller to backing plate clearance.
See this post for details and photo.

http://216.178.81.108/forums/showthr...er#post1690258

[george kujanski]

MAlky, good idea on how to pull the impeller off.

George

[MalteseFalcon]

Thanks, I'll try that. Nothing to lose!

[P@blo]

Ok i guess i got to this post late but ill give you my results....I picked up my pump a NAPA about two years ago and couldn't remember what kind of impeller that came on it so i figured id better check.....Off she came and low and behold i actually got the right part for once in my life (was cast not stamped)...lol...Then i go ahead and checked the divider plate to impellar clearance and was almost a full 1/4 inch off with the gasket in place...out comes the hammer and tapped it down to about 2/16" (actually mabey a 32nd under that) of impellar seperation.....Was running on the high side say around 210-220 and got a aluminum two core rad with a 160 thermostat which chopped it down to about 185-190 but when tooling around would go up to about 205......Now my results of this cool little modification are my 400 runs at like 170-185 and cant get it to 190...is this somthing i should worrie about ?.........Oh and George im sending you my oldest daughter nevermind the dollar......jk...Thanks for the idea

[george kujanski]

P@blo: appreciate the sentiment, but right now I have 3 women living with me, my wife, the mother-in-law (recovering from surgery) and the sister-in-law.....I could use the money. BTW it's two bucks now.

George

[norton70]

so for a 70 convetible GTO, what exact water pump and other parts am i purchasing, and where from..i have read many posts about various auto parts and part #'s...just looking for the final & best advice....i need a pump and want to do it right, thanks

[DIYGuy]

I was looking for info on the pros/cons of using an aluminum radiator, and found this thread. Read the entire thread in an evening (I was up 'till 2:15 AM today reading!)

So, today, I checked my rebuilt 'short-shaft' pump - the good news: it has a cast impeller. I got it from a local Kragen some time ago.

The result: the starting clearance measurement was well over .25"! I could put my pinkie in between the plate and the impeller.

This is on a newly rebuilt .030 over 455, which has not yet been installed in the car and driven, so I can't comment on the results except to report back in a few weeks (I hope!) and tell you all how cool it runs.

Oh, yeah, this was a really easy tweak. I followed the method outlined in Jim Hand's performance book appendix. Only thing was that I had to tap the plate down quite a bit to get the clearance I wanted, and it didn't want to go as far as needed, and the clearance varied around the circumference (slightly "wavy"), so I resorted to a bit of body worker's 'heat shrinking' of the metal using an LP torch and a wet rag... once I did that, the last bit of adjustment went very quickly indeed. I'm down to less than .050" clearance, and it looks much better.

[photos added] - first two are 'before', last one is close-up of 'after' clearance.

In closing, I'm so glad I found this thread... thanks all!

[george kujanski]

Pix are always good.

George

[DIYGuy]

Originally Posted by george kujanski

Pix are always good.
George

Depends on the subject matter.

I've edited my previous post to include photos. Hope they help.

$2.00 on the way to the Caymans account - hey, what's the account #? Will PayPal do?

[Tripower455]

Well, I did the plate mod on my hot running 455...... A small change, but it still gets up to 230+ after idling for about 20 minutes.

I hammered the plate until it just touched the impeller without a gasket. It was perfect and doesn't bind at all with a gasket in there.

The setup is:

'66 GTO
.030 over 455
'66 Tripower (#69s in the center and #73s in the secondaries)
Manual trans.
Cast impeller iron water pump
Rodney Red (non AC, 15") drop in radiator
HD fan clutch
March underdrive pulley
repro '66 A/C shroud
160 degree stat (I'm gonna try the drill mod next and make sure it's a high flow)

Crane hydraulic roller HR-222/339 (part number 289621)
Daves Small Body HEI with vac advance disconnected (I'm gonna try manifold vac and see if it runs cooler at idle)

I am using an Autometer temp gauge, and have double checked that it's accurate with a meat thermometer in the radiator. Plus, it is filling my catch can.....

Everything is brand new, and the car has about 500 miles on it since complete ground up, every nut and bolt restification.

If the car is moving, it runs at about 185 or so, and doesn't start rising until I sit in traffic or stop. Before the plate mod, it would creep up to about 210 with the air off, but would come down pretty quickly once I got moving again, and would even out at about 185 while moving. The idle is set at 850, and it is pulling 16" of vacuum at idle. The fan blows like a Cessna when it heats up. It is moving a lot of air. The water flow through the radiator is 100% better than before tightening up the plate/impeller clearance.

The idle mixture was a bit lean, as I had a little hesitation in off idle acceleration, but I've got that just about perfect turning the screws out a bit.

I am hoping that I don't need more radiator. I am going to try baffling the shroud better.......

[george kujanski]

The March underdrive pulley...that turn the pump slower or faster at the same crank speed?

George

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by george kujanski

The March underdrive pulley...that turn the pump slower or faster at the same crank speed?


George

It's supposed to be faster. I am going to measure it to make sure it is smaller than stock. I had a hell of a time with pulleys for this car, and even the Marches need some shimming etc.

BTW, I am amazed at how much space there was between the impeller and plate before the hammer treatment. Before, the water kind of surged a bit with the cap off, and now it flows like a river.

[Paul Brezinski]

Where do you get the cast impellor pumps from ?? I tryed auto zone and the have foriegn junk with stamped impellors.Any of the Pontiac suppliers have them like PY ???

[PRC]

I walked into the local AA parts store and they had a Cardone's pump with the cast impellor in stock for my '67.