I had engine rebuilt and he put on a procomp timing cover. Just installed power steering brackets and pump for power steering upgrade. I went to try old water pump and it is hitting timing cover. Do I need to put a long water pump on? it is a 68. Is this going to screw up my power steering install? Thanks in advance
water pump hitting timing cover
hammerandnailhandyman
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I had engine rebuilt and he put on a procomp timing cover. Just installed power steering brackets and pump for power steering upgrade. I went to try old water pump and it is hitting timing cover. Do I need to put a long water pump on? it is a 68. Is this going to screw up my power steering install? Thanks in advance
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It will be much easier in the long run to change the timing cover. Some of the parts differences between a short and long water pump are: ALL accessory brackets, ALL pulley's, cooling shroud, Fan clutch. The short water pump has brackets to put the alternator on the driver's side, long pump is on the passenger side.
Some of the new plastic timing covers will not work with a short water pump.
Some of the new plastic timing covers will not work with a short water pump.
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It is not hitting by much. maybe 1/8 inch. I think I will measure a new one at store and see How much space is between back of pump and water inlets,to get a reference. The old pump that was on the engine is an aftermarket chrome pump, so that could be the problem. it looks like a major job to change timing cover
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Believe me, dropping the front of the oil pan and changing the timing cover is nothing, compared to changing to a long water pump.
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I measured another aluminum cover that my son had bought me and it measures about 1 inch just like the one that is on the engine. The ears on the pump measure about 7/8 to 15/16. I do not think a gasket will take up this much gap. Should I triple up on the gaskets? Am I missing something? It is like I need a 1/8 spacer between engine and water pump
Anything you do to move the waterpump out is going to throw off the alignment for your belts since the pulley is going to move. You can shim a pump pulley out but there's nothing you can do to bring it back in.
Two choices....go with a regular stamped cover that fits under the short pump or convert everything to work with a long water pump. That's going to entail pulleys, brackets, etc.
Two choices....go with a regular stamped cover that fits under the short pump or convert everything to work with a long water pump. That's going to entail pulleys, brackets, etc.
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I had the same problem when installing a reverse rotation pump. The gap was 1/16 to 1/8, cant remember exactly. I ended up grinding down the cover plate on the back of the water pump. I know that the plate is not 1/8" thick so that may not fix your problem. Also, a couple of the bolts that attatch that plate were hitting the timing cover, which were ground down. I spoke to a guy at a machine shop about swapping the timing cover for one not as deep and he said that whoever built the engine may have used a cam button and if you remove the timing cover on a roller engine you will be looking at camshaft end play issues. I dont know how much you know about engine building, but I know very little so it was a new term for me. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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130 Posts
The engine builder said he reused my timing chain so I do not think it has a cam button. I will ask him next week. That is what I was looking for, someone who had the same problem. I searched the site and found no posts like this. I may have to change to a stamped cover like you suggested.
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It is not a roller cam. It does have roller rockers though.
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had the same exact issue with 2 different aluminum covers!! went to long pumps as i was using new pulleys etc.. anyway!!
I only had alter. to worry about no power steering etc...
I only had alter. to worry about no power steering etc...
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