berkeley. Im an idiot.
I go to fill with coolant to get this damn thing going. Coolant comes pouring out. I leave for work and think it over.
See this little hole under the left hand side of the water pump.......yeah. On the old engine I had put a bolt in it. This one doesnt have one. So either I luck out and its threaded or tapped for something.....or I pull the pump to tap and install a plug........SMH
And here I was about to quote Rocky after your last post, but it looks like Apollo still has some fight left in him.
There is no way I'd plug that coolant passage with a bolt or some such. GM put it there for a reason. Get the right water pump. You've got a Vortec type of pump on an early type of engine. You need one for a 1988-1995 application which will encompass the coolant passage and still be reverse rotation for the serpentine belt application that you have. It also won't have that extra hose bib on the top which you have capped off.
Here is a generic picture I googled. Note how the housing accommodates the coolant port to allow flow.
When you get the right pump you will need the proper water pump pulley too. Grab one off 88-95 V8 application from the junkyard or wherever you get your stuff. It will functionally interchange with what you have with the difference being is will have a smaller center bore and bolt pattern to fit the earlier style pump.
In reply to Sgt_Sizzle :
Lol.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
Im retyping this, now that I am in front of a keyboard.
The engine that was in prior to this, I had the same thing. I plugged it with a bolt. Never did I have an issue with the performance of the engine or cooling system. It ran fairly cool as well. Now that being said. I have looked into this, and now that its being discussed I recall doing the same earlier - when I did the swap the first time. Two schools of thought. One is yours. If it didnt need to be there, they wouldnt have put it there and yes I am running a pump thats the wrong one (I do this to maintain the accessory drive setup I have). That school allows the coolant to bypass into the head and over to the next one. With me running the hose off the pump into the manifold, I am still accomplishing this. If my thinking is right?
Two, plug it. I have read that even some electric water pumps state to do that.
Im open to a solution, though not at the expense of one that already works and has worked before, short of me hunting for more parts and this thing being down even longer. Your point is a good one and well taken. Ill look into it.
I also read that that internal bypass can be blocked if I have a inlet manifold to water pump bypass. Which I do. Perhaps thats why its worked in the past? Thoughts to think on lol.
I will concede that having an external bypass hose like your setup likely negates the necessity of the hole in question.
So it comes down to either tapping and plugging the hole with a plug or changing the pump. If you tap the hole for a plug it would be best to use an NPT tap and pipe plug rather than a straight tap and a bolt. The NPT is designed for the purpose and a bolt is not.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
Well. I had to act. So I did. I tapped it with a 1/8 npt tap and got it done.
Well done. A lot of folks get shook about tapping into engine parts. It's not really a big deal is it ? Cast iron taps so nicely.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
Thankfully no. I took off the water pump to make it easy so I can ensure was a clean tap and straight. Got a plug and slobbered it up with pipe sealant. We will see!
Need to wire the fan back up. Other than that she's done! Can't wait to drive her.
She runs great! Got on it a little and it moves out. Timing is still at 10 BTdC so I can add probably 4 more degrees with no issues. I'm also working on a spacer. I had this four hole spacer I never used and was told this will help with cfm and mid range. Sooooo. Me being me and not leaving well enough alone.
Before.
After. Still working on it. Need to taper the center to blend.
Engine Masters has proven those actually work well, which surprised me.
In reply to Gambit :
Ill work on it some more and post pics. Interested for sure to see the results. Thanks!
Bout as far as I intend to go. Plan to install it this weekend and bump timing.
Pic is weird looking as I took it next to the wife's airponics farm.
Haven't updated in awhile. So here's where we're at.
1. Truck runs great! Plenty of power and you can feel the torque. I only really got on it once slap shifting it and first burnt out the rear tire and second continued to do so quite happily.
2. Mileage may actually be better. Though it's still what you imagine. Abysmal.
3. I'm running about 6.5 psi fuel pressure and 14 BTDC for timing. Still has plenty of adjustment but that's safe for 87 pump.
4. Only real mods since the install are some Moroso spark plug wires holders and a FUel pressure gauge.
(Yes I cleaned the valve cover up after spilling fuel on it. Lol)
I have a wierd metallic squealing noise from the trans area some times. Usually when cold and backing up. If you blip it. Other than that. No issues.
I sold the Subaru and plan to pick up a nice daily soon. So until then the truck is my daily. Haven't seen any issues other than the random noise. Fluids are great and IDK. May post a video of it and see what's the thought.
Motortrend on demand has a show called Engine Masters where they tested among other things a air cleaner shootout. I picked up a velocity stack air cleaner with the filter on top. Should not be a restriction till about 300. Though when the filter is removed it actually added a couple HP.
Should have the best of both worlds. Looks as decent cfm. Though when it's race time pull the filter bump the timing and send it!
Cam is coming soon. Still working out the bugs lol.
Well. Update time. I had a vapor lock issue which I had attempted to solve with a three port fuel filter. All it did was cause my fuel pressure to fluctuate and be all over the place. Even tried another pump and got rid of the regulator. No dice. So I went back to a smaller in line pump that doesn't cavitate and no regulator. Will see how that goes.
I sorta want to tweak the governor some. Like replace it with one out of a corvette that had a 700r4 to get it to E36 M3 at wot near 5k. As is it's around 4500. Too low.
My trans pan was beat looking and I figured why not go ahead and replace it and this filter I have had for over a year. So I did.
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