Info needed: Ford V8 water pump rebuild kits

[Maurice Donckers]

I put jeep water pump bearings in my Ford pumps.

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Maurice, what brand and bearing number are they please?

[Tony Smith]

There is also a recent parallel discussion going on in THIS THREAD, perhaps the two could be merged?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

There is also a recent parallel discussion going on in THIS THREAD, perhaps the two could be merged?

Thanks for the heads up - done.

[Lynn Eades]

Here are James contact details.
James Saccoccio
Gotham Auto Parts,LLC
340 Cherry Street
Bedford Hills, NY 10507

sales@gothamautoparts.com
Tel: (718) 878-3699
Fax: (212) 519-7909

[Mike Gurr]

I have been in touch with James Saccoccio at Gotham Auto Parts who, as Lynn says is very helpful. His reply to my enquiry is as below. I have ordered a pair of kits and I will update the forum when I have received and fitted them.

Mike

Hello, and thanks for contacting me. You came to the right place!

The parts available today, specifically the seal assembly, is the style shown as the “optional” version in the illustration below. This simplifies the number of parts you will need to complete these pumps.

A complete kit will include the impeller, which I would recommend you replace, especially if you feel these pumps may have been disassembled at some stage in their life. The center hole of the impellers will become enlarged after being pressed on and off of the bearings shafts and may now create a poor kit when a new bearings is installed.

Complete kits are $44.95 each. Each kit includes:

(1) 8530 Sealed bearings and shaft
(1) 8512 Impeller
(1) 8551 Seal
(1) 8557 Carbon Cross Thrust washer
(1) 8574 Snap Ring
(1) Water pump to block gasket

Flathead_Engine_waterpmps1937-46.jpg

[Tom Millward]

One disadvantage of the new type of single pulley water pump is that the output to the radiator bottom hose is shorter than the original and the special shaped bottom hose is too short to make the gap between the radiator and pump.

IMG_20200219_115357.jpg

[Mike Gurr]

An update on my experiences to date. I bought a Jeep pump repair kit and while the bearing is the same size the end of the shaft which passes through the various seals into the impeller is larger than the Ford one so would need grinding down to fit or the impeller boring out, in either case the carbon disc, rubber seal and circlip are not the same as the Ford parts and do not fit. I then bought 2 repair kits from Gotham Auto parts being the correct truck pump repair kit shown on the pic below. My pump bodies needed the inside refacing as they were scored where the carbon disc seals against the casting so it all went to an engineering shop near me who specialises in vintage car water pumps, steering boxes etc. Unfortunately they have come back to me saying that the kit is good for all parts except the rubber bellows (Part 8551). This is poor and even when compressed does not seal around the shaft. I have emailed James at Gotham Auto parts but so far no reply, I guess they are not working at the moment. Unless anyone has a source for this part separately I am at a temporary halt. Any more info and I will update.

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Mike. I don't think the seal is supposed to seal on the shaft. The rubber end seals in the impellor and the carbon runs inside the pump housing. A successful seal at these two places prevents water getting to the shaft. As long as the assembled length has enough spring tension, it should be fine. I'm having trouble understanding where the problem is? Can you expand?
It is known that this old design has trouble holding water when used in conjunction with a pressure system. Having said that, I run a 4 lb system (Morris Minor cap) with no problems on these standard type pumps.

[Mike Gurr]

Hi Lynn,
You make a good point. I am no expert on these so am only repeating what the engineer who is assembling the pumps has told me. However your theory does make sense in that so long as the spring has sufficient pressure to keep both ends of the rubber bellows sealed against the carbon disc at one end and the impeller at the other it should be OK, or at least as good as these ever were.

[Lynn Eades]

Mike, I have a kit here. (I cannot remember if it came from James) It comes with the carbon bonded to the seal and also a "fibre" washer. I assume it goes inside the impellor? (nowhere else to go) BTW, the WWII Jeep uses the same type of seal however the seals were separate from the carbon and the jeep bearing has a bigger dia. shaft.

Tom, you might have some trouble running single pulley pumps. The reason why the double sheave, double belt arrangement is fitted is because it takes a lot of power to drive the fan. You can of course over come this problem by over tightening the single belt that you are left with. This however is likely to cause premature failure somewhere?

[Petr Brezina]

Hi Lynn, I believe that quality modern single belt can easily take it. They are surely more powerful than the war ones (Im running single belt too).