long style water pump...

[Guest woodyhooten]

I just got a bowtie longstlye water pump and was mounting it on my engine. I'm new at this whole automotive thing and am still scraping together the parts I need as per the JTR manual. Aynway, I mounted the water pump tonight and it has about 3 inches of space between the timing cover and the pump itself. The alternator bracket I have can't fit on both the intake manifold and the water pump. Did I get the wrong size water pump or do I need a special alternator bracket for the long style pump? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Mike C]

3" seems like an excessive amount of clearance between the pump and timing cover. One is almost touching (the short pump) and the other should have about 1" clearance. In 1977 GM changed the mounting brackets for the long pump. Where they mount to the manifold is different. It is possible to cut the mounting bracket and not use the edge that goes to the intake, but I would try and get the correct setup. B&M makes an aftermarket upper bracket that doesn't attach to the intake for the long pump. See it in the pic..

 

[Guest woodyhooten]

thanks, that should help

[Guest Anonymous]

The Alternator bottom mount screw (where your seeing the 3" gap) this is where a special solid steel metal spacer (about 2 3/4 in long) slips between the back of the long bottom alt bolt on the engine-facing side of the block (this metal spacer is actually a bracket that screws into the back of the alternator!!!)

 

http://www.performancechrome.com/en-us/dept_376.html

 

scroll down and look at ( 4503 ) I THINK THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Scarab