today I got a start on my Water pump dumping on the opti idea. here is the front of the motor as it looked when pulled, then the second picture is to show the water weep hole in the water pump. tomorrow I will get to the parts house , pick up a drill bit a 1/4 NPT tap, a short 1/4 NPT nipple, 1/4 NPT elbow and a 1/4 NPT/barb. the plan is to drill the weep hole out , tap it, install the pipe fittings, re-install the pump, check clearance and get pictures for you all to see. Once this is all done you will be able to clamp a piece of hose to the barb and run it down under the motor out of harms way. more pictures tomorrow.

P.S. The initial clearance checks look like plenty of room

 

I like it... Never owned an LT...but I changed the water pump on one once. Not a fun job haha.

Just be careful how far you drill in for that pipe tap. Ide drill a little, tap, see how the nipple fits, then go some more. If you have a junk pump, might do a test run.

Not sure why the factory didnt come up with something similar!

J.

 

Success!!! it actually works and clears!!! actually went with 1/8th pipe, not 1/4, drilling and tapping, drilled about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deap, never found the bottom of the hole.

 

in this picture you can see how close the "street L" is to the housing

 

this is the final before install install on the motor, had to rotate it 90 deg more to work like I wanted

 

here is the final installed on the motor

 

I certainly hope that the pictures aren't as distorted on your screen as they are on mine. if they are let me know , I will post them on Flikr.

 

I thought that this was a great Idea???? save everybody a bunch of money and trouble ?????????????

 

seems like a good mod, but what if the waterpump gasket fails?

 

I have never seen that one??? I don't know - possibly fire the mechanic LOL

 

Are all the optispark issues just from the weep hole? Seems silly that the factory thought it was okay to leave it like that...

 

Another option is to just get an electric pump drive and it removes the possibility of the shaft seal going bad and leaking out the weep hole.

One thing I have seen with LT1 pumps as well is the pressed in heater hose tube fittings coming loose from the pump housing. I know of 3 local cars that this has happened to and on one car they fixed one side and then later had to turn around and fix the other.

 

No the issues are not only from the weep hole only, but getting wet from any water source or even moisture will almost certainly ruin it.

Also I did this years ago with my old LT1, but I just used a 1/8 NPT barb fitting and it was great. Now the car has a electric pump on it but it is a great idea.

 

cool thanks man

 

think im going to give this mod a shot when my opti comes in the mail. Where did you run the coolant hose to from the barb fitting?

 

haven't yet, it is still on the engine stand, it was just a crazzy idea that I thought would help y'all out. if I build my Convertible like I did my pick-up, this is not nessary for me

 

No one has an LT1 anymore lol. Good idea tho

 

I know that makes them easier and cheaper for me. LOL