As some of you know I'm in the process of rebuilding the HiPo 289 for my
Cobra. While waiting for the machine shop to finish up various pieces
I've been going through some of the grungier stuff like the pan and
timing cover, cleaning them up and repainting them. A couple of
weekends back I decided to buy a new water pump so I grabbed the old one
to take along so I could compare it to whatever I bought. But I noticed
that although the old one was covered with lots of dust and cobwebs, the
bearing seemed to be in good shape. I can't feel any play whatsoever
and the shaft turns smoothly. The impeller has some surface rust and
the aluminum casting has a bit of pitting and corrosion here and there,
but nothing too serious. For now I'm holding off, but my gut feeling is
still to replace this pump. My biggest concern is that since it has
been sitting unused for about 20 years that the seal had dried out. Am
I being paranoid?
An update on the engine assembly: I installed the pistons a few weeks
back but after checking the deck height clearance, had to pull them out
and take them to the machine shop to have a few thousands shaved off.
While I had them out, I had the valve fly-cuts enlarged in case I
decided to go with oversized valves. My inclination for now is to stay
with the stock size valves, but the options to go larger is open in case
I change my mind in the future.
I picked up the pistons last Friday and re-installed them yesterday. I
can now lay a straight edge on the deck and see daylight when the
pistons are at TDC. Before some were in excess of 9 thousandths above
the deck.
The heads are still in the shop but I should be getting a report on
their conditions and what all needs doing sometime this week.
Roland
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