What size torx bits are needed to replace the water pump on a 1989 camaro 2.8? I want to replace my water pump but only want to buy the right ones I need and do you have to use a special tool to hold the timing cover in place to do it?

T-30, T-40, and T-50 ($15.00 for all three at Sears). Doing the same project on the same car (89 RS 2.8) this weekend. Getting the Power Steering Pulley off was a chore. Had to rent the puller/installer from AutoZone. I was going to replace the Torque tip bolts with regular ones, but now that I bought the bits, what's the use.

Now I know why you should replace the Torque tip bolts with regular ones. I just twisted my T-50 Torque tip beyond use. Bolt will not budge.

Well, I had one heck of a time trying to get two Torx bolts removed from the water pump. I did a search and found a similar post from 2003 by HurtHorseZ28 titled !@#$%^&* TORX BOLTS!!!! :>( which pretty much describes my same experience.

I'm trying to learn how to do pics, will try again later.

Did you get them out? or did they break off.

Oh yeah, I got them out, and they did not break, they are "9.8" grade steel, tough stuff.

Both bolts were 2 of the 4 large bolts, at the 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions......

At the 1 o'clock position, I was able to get a pair of vice grips on the bolt head, and with a lot of effort, it finally managed to begin backing out. It was covered in brown powdered rust.

At the 2 o'clock position, I wasn't so lucky. Vice grips didn't grip as they were blocked by the shape of the water pump. So, I altered the circumstances and said good-bye to my core charge by getting a grinding bit on my drill. After an hour of removing aluminum, I was finally able to get the vice grips to bite. But, no joy. That sucker would not budge.

Taking a tip from "HurtHorseZ28's" post, I relented to breaking the dog ear off the water pump at that position. First, I got the hammer and chisel and punched a line coming down towards the bolt, then took a good swing on the dog ear with the hammer, which easily popped off. A few taps with the hammer on the main case of the pump, and I was able to work the pump off the engine.

Vice grips still would not provide enough torque to move the bolt, so out came the large pipe wrench. After a few tries, the bolt finally began to rotate. I had to use the pipe wrench through out 80% of backing the bolt out. It was covered in a hard black oxidation.

While I was in there, I was going to replace the Timing Chain and gears, but I couldn't get the crankshaft center bolt off. That will have to happen another day.

I've been recovering for the past 2 days, lol. I'm not the warrior I used to be. But, the new water pump is on, and my son is happy to have his 1st car rolling again.

(Note: ALL Torx-Head bolts were replaced with equivalent Metric Hex-Head bolts.)

The 1st picture shows (l-r) the 12 o'clock small-long bolt in good shape; the 1 o'clock large-long bolt with brown rust; and the 2 o'clock large-long bolt with black oxidation.

The 2nd picture shows the 3 bolt heads (l-r), the good, the bad, and the ugly. The one on the right shows the pipe wrench gouging on the head.

The 3rd picture shows the water pump with the dog ear broken off.

i just unbolted the power steering pump bracket and moved aside no need to remove pully on the pump.

Yeah, that works, too. But, I was doing some de-greasing and accessory inspecting while I was in there. So, the serpentine bracket under the A/C compressor had to come off. Had to remove the pulley to get the lower Power Steering pump bolts out.

It's been a while since I've been under the hood, and this experience brought back the old love-hate relationship with turning backyard wrenches. This message board has been a huge help. Didn't have the luxury in the old days.

Did you have to use a special bolt on tool to hold the upper timing cover in place and do you remember what the new bolt size and lenghts you replaced with so I can get them beforehand. Thanks a lot Roan for the info and pics that tells me what I`am in for not looking forward to it but gotta be done.

Glad to help. Ain't the internet cool. So much helpful info. Just trying to pay it forward.

I never got far enough into the timing chain replacement to discover the gremlins facing that issue. The crankshaft bolt wouldn't budge and I was getting fed up with it, ha-ha. So, I just replaced the water pump and got my son rolling again.

I went to Fastenall to have a pro size up the bolts for the water pump. He's the one who told me about the different grades of steel, as the replacements were a step below from 9.8 down to 8.8.

The sizes were (all meteric):

6mm-1.0x25 (3 ea)
8mm-1.25x70 (3 ea)
10mm-1.5x70 (4 ea)
8mm-1.25x35 (1 ea) (EDIT was to add this bolt)

All for about $10.00.

Not sure what you mean here.

Here's a picture of the area with the water pump removed (finally removed, that is).

The Haynes manual says to use a special tool to hold the upper timing cover in place so it dont break its seal and mix oil and water as the upper water pumps bolts also hold the upper timing cover (see attached photo of one such tool). Also the crankshaft pulley would take a long breaker bar to get the center bolt loose as it is torqued something like 80ft lbs and also have to keep the engine from turning at the same time. But thanks a lot for all the info and photos as it will give me and anyone else on here the needed motivation to go forward with enough information to get the job done.

Why would you take off the Power Steering Pulley. 2 or 3 bolts to remove the PS and you keep it to the side.

As for the tight bolts I HIGHLY recommend using PB Blaster. It is THE BEST rust busting, screw loosening product out there.

Thanks for the tip. I thought about WD-40, but I don't see how a solvent would get to them to do its' job. The rust on one, and oxidation on the other, ran the length of the bolts as well as where they thread into the block.

Don't forget guys there are two t 60s on there too. I think my water pump on my 89 rs 2.8 had the water pump replaced once before because the only issue I had was taking the pulley off