Today I decided to tackle the task of scrapping my old, leaking water pump and installing a new one by myself (no one around to help me). Little did I know how much of a pain in the *** this would be.

So I start at 11:00 AM. Didn't have too much trouble getting started. Removed the fan shroud, fan clutch and the fan itself, as well as the drivebelts. Got most of the hoses disconnected also. I finally got the water pump itself off around 1:30 PM.

I figured since I had the car jack up anyway, I'd just go ahead and do the fuel pump as well. Got that done in a snap, and at about 2:20 I finished installing the new fuel pump. At this time I noticed I was missing a few bits and peices and had to walk to AutoZone which took about an hour and a half to walk up there, buy everything and walk back. It's now 4:00 and I decide to take a whack at putting the new water pump on.

Well, I managed to get the pump itself on, along with all the accessories screwed in and the fan reinstalled, despite the fact that it took me forever to get the stupid bolts to the water pump to thread into their holes. It's now about 6:00 and I just realize that the power steering belt doesn't look right... it's not centered and the belt is actually chafing against the water pump pulley. The other belts aren't lining up right either and I'm about sick of doing this.

After blowing up at my family (they keep telling me "take a break"... which I hate doing because I'll procrastinate and the job will never get done), and taking a shower, I'm on here wondering if anyone knows what the hell I should do about this. I've been trying to get this pump in for pretty much 6 hours straight and I don't know why the belt is rubbing against the pulley like that... I installed exactly the way it was before I started taking things off and it still won't work. PLEASE HELP

This is an LG4/Auto.

 

Is the water pump pulley seated all the way? Is the new water pump identical to the one you took off? They used a couple different types of waterpumps (short/long) on the SBC over the years, both of which have different thicknesses.

 

got any pictures of what it looks like right now?





these are the only pictures that I have readily available of my LG4 setup (well, it's the LG4 belt setup atleast... on a 350 )

I hope these help a little bit. I can take more if you need pictures of certain areas.

It took my friend and I a good 4 hours to get the accessories right even w/ a Helm's manual there. But we didnt have any of the accessories dangling or anything, and it had been 7 months since I even took the accessories off the old motor, so that is what took some of the time loll.

 

Sounds like you put a short waterpump on i think you will find you will need a long pump.

Jeff.

 

I just put my belts on the other day and i messed up the sequence of the belts and the belts did not line up. after looking at them a bit I figured them out. DO a double check to make sure you have the belts in the right groves

 

the 2nd picture I posted has a good view of the belt order if that's the case

 

I'm pretty sure I got the right pump, because it looks exactly like the old one and fits in there perfectly.

You guys are probably right. I probably just didn't line up the power steering pump belt right. At the time I posted this, I was really pissed because I had been working at it all day without getting very far at all (or at least it seemed like it). I will go out there today and double check that I lined them up right.

By the way, thanks for posting the picture, but I don't know if I could use it for my car because I have A/C and I don't know if the compressor uses a different belt arrangement. I have three belts that run the alt, A/C, fan, water pump and AIR pump.

 

Ok, I finally peiced my car back together and got the water pump on. Now I have another problem.

Everytime I start the car, the temperature steadily rises up until the point where it gets to the "red" zone on the gauge, which is when I turn it off.

There are three things that I noticed going on with the engine or cooling system that seem to point to a problem. The first being the most obvious... when I start the car, it makes a rather loud and annoying squeeling noise for a few seconds and then goes away. Secondly, when I squeeze either of the radiator hoses, they don't feel as if they have any sort of liquid in the at all. Third, when I take the cap off of the radiator, all the fluid that is in the radiator at that point backs up into the coolant reservoir and it overflows out of the top. There also sounds like a hissing noise coming from the top of the engine near the radiator hose when it is running.

What is the problem? Please don't tell me those guys at AutoZone gave me the wrong part... I'd seriously shoot myself.

 

Turns out it was just a rather large air pocket above the thermostat that needed to be purged.

 

glad you got it figured out