I need to rebuild the water pumps on my 1953 239 flathead. I bought kits from Macs and proceeded to attempt disassembly of the pumps. Got the impeller off one and then broke the pulley trying to get it off. The snap ring broke on the other pump and I was only able to get half of it out. I had read it was still possible to press the impeller off. Nope. Broke one of the mounting ears off the casting.

So, I bought a few bare pumps off eBay but they don't have the recess at the end of the shaft shoulder for the lock ring. The seller claims they were good for a 1949-1953 flathead. I know the pulleys are different between the cars and trucks. Is the 1953 water pump unique? Can I make these castings work with a different rebuild kit? I'm at work so I can check for part numbers when I get home. I could buy new ones but the cheapest I've found are $100 through Macs. I see Dennis Carpenter has some for $60 but I don't see one with a wide pulley for the truck.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really thought I'd have this truck on the road before winter. With any luck I'll still reach that goal.

 

Try NAPA auto parts. I believe I bought two new ones from them for my 53 about 5 years ago and they were pretty reasonable compared to the catalogs.

 

That is where I got them for my '52.

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...d=5&SubCatId=4

 

I tried NAPA and they said they didn't have any in stock anywhere but could rebuild mine for $50 each. Well, surely I could SAVE $50 by buying two $25 rebuild kits and doing it myself. Right?

Now I don't have a pump to rebuild or even send in for a core. Doh!

So, I'm trying to rebuild what I have if I can figure out what will work. I do have one good casting and pulley left. But I need to figure out how to get the good pulley off the casting I broke. Anybody bought a truck pump from Dennis Carpenter? From what I understand, they don't require a core.

 

If you need a core I should have one but will have to look. I broke the pulley on one before I necided to buy new. I bought mine from NAPA new not rebuilt and didn't need a core. They were higher but I thought maybe worth it.

 

kevin , this is the other kevin in springpatch with the green 53 . what pulley's ypu got ????? the narrow belt like mine or the wide belt ??? i got a set of wide belt pumps here somewhere if your interested . pm me and we can talk factoids 'bout 'em . i'm gonna buy the " improved ones for my flatty from carpenter as i have heard good things about 'em . nothing wrong with mine just while i'm there do it now instead of waiting for the inevitable middle of nowhere scenario ...........................

 

I'll doublecheck my pulleys. I'm sure we could work something out if I can use them.

Thanks!

 

You can check also with speedway motors, they have the wide new pumps. I bought them for the 49.

 

I'm pretty sure '53 pumps are different, the front of the engine is supported on a single mount in the center of the engine, right? So they wouldn't need the ears?

 

Correct. The 53 water pumps are actually 8BAs, like the cars. Except I believe they have the wide pulley. It has been awhile, but I'm sure my parts manual lists them as 8BA.

Hmm, been a spell since I was here, and my handle got shortened from 1952henry to 1952??? I see hundreds of posts were reduced to 32??