I just got a "great deal" on an aluminum SBC water pump, which I was planning on using on my '86 Camaro's new motor. When I got the pump, I immediately noticed two things.. It is a "short" style pump, and it is missing the tapped holes for mounting the accessory brackets on!

I know that pump extensions are available, and I don't have a problem buying these if I need to. What really has me confused is how am I going to mount my brackets? I hope to use my original accessories and brackets, which are non-serpantine. The pump was advertised as being an '84-'89 Corvette pump. Are vette motors that much different that other smallblocks?!

 

Not to be a schmoe, but.... might the fact that it doesn't fit normal cars have anything to do with why it was such a "great deal"?

More than likely you will spend more time and grief and, yes, money, in fiddling around with graunching the wrong thing in there, and then dealing with slung belts and leaking gaskets and broken brackets etc. etc., than you will just getting the right thing in the first place.

The best way out (since it sounds like you already parted with your money) is to find somebody with a 84-89 Vette with a water pump going out, and sell it to them. Their bracket arrangement is in fact somewhat different, as there is very little space in front of the motor in that chassis. Alternatively you could hork the whole accesory mount system off of one of those cars; but that would probably cost more time, money, & effort by far than coming up with the right pump.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I'm fully convinced at this point that your assumption is correct And although I had thought of finding some other way of making my camaro brackets wirk with this vette pump, I think I'll just save this one for the next swapmeet and look for something more F-body friendly!