Benn;
A vee- belt doesn't need to be very tight to function correctly-- only
tight enough to keep it from slipping on the pulleys. Your water pump
might have been on its last legs anyway-- how many miles did it have on
it?
I like water pumps from Stewart and Edelbrock. They flow lots of water
with minimal BHP loss, plus they have a bigger shaft and heavier- duty
bearings. I'd buy the better pump; saving $ with a Brand-X "rebuilt"
pump isn't worth the hassle of replacing it often. Too many of those
pumps were defective right out of the box.
Check with a good speed shop for some soft copper inserts. They are used
to save a fitting that doesn't seal on the conical surfaces. Of course,
you might be mating a 45 degree SAE fitting with a 37 degree JIC
fitting-- that is guaranteed to leak.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Benn
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 6:35 PM
To: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: SBC water pump and fuel hose
Hi all,
I bought an inexpensive fan belt tension guage (the Clickit is the
name--seemed pretty repeatable, +/-5 or 10 #, absolute accuracy unknown,
although seems in the proper ballpark for the amount of pull I put on
the
alternator). I realized how loose my '63 'vette fan belt was and
tightened it
up to something in the spec range (seemed pretty tight, but not
crazy-tight-twanging-middle-C-tight). And the next time I ran it, the
water
pump gave out. So-o-o, d'ya think the pump was just old and cheap (it
was
both, but not many miles on it), and are there some pumps out there that
have
better bearings on 'em or something? Or are most all of 'em the same in
this
department? Hate to buy the $100 version at the vintage 'vette shop vs.
$23
at Autozone if there's no difference. What are your thoughts?
Secondly, I seem to have leaks in one of the three fuel hose assemblies
I put
together (Summit ss braided over rubber core with Summit fittings). The
fuel
is leaking out of the nut portion of the fittings, not the hose
connection
area, so I'm surmising that the flare portion of the fitting just isn't
seating well on the male AN fittings. How tight can these fittings (-06
size
aluminum) be torqued? The fittings' sealing surfaces look great--maybe
out of
round or something? I'm mystified.
Benn
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