Anyone do their own water pump install on an LT1? About how hard was it for you on say a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being as hard as it can get and how long did it take you?

 

Well, this is the LS1 engine section, but I did own a 97 LT1 previously. The H20 pump would be a 6 on a scale of 1-10. As comparison, LT headers would be an 8 Realistically plan on 6-8 hours for a first time change. How much mileae is on your LT1 and why are you replacing the H2O pump? A lot of times when the water pump goes bad it leaks on the dreaded opti-spark and kills that as well. If you have over 80K miles I'd suggest pulling the crank pulley and then changing the opti with the H2O pump. An opti is not cheap ($300), but at least you'l only deal with that pain 1x!

Just my $0.02 Good luck whatever you do.

Schantin
2002 Camaro Z28 M6

 

I would say it's about a 4 or a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

The only thing that you really have to worry about is keeping the opti-spark as dry as possible when doing this.

 

I'd say its a 2 on the difficulty scale. Maybe a 4 on the time scale. Shouldnt take more then two hours tops.

1: Remove radiator and hoses from waterpump
2: Unbolt waterpump (6 bolts)
3: Clean gasket surfaces
4: Bolt new one on
5: Replace radiator

ITs relatively simple

 

I'll let you know this weekend..... I am replacing the Opti .....so, while everything is off I will be installing a Mezeire Electric unit. However. I will tell you that taking it off is time consuming

 

dont pull the radiator theres not reason to. simply remove the passenger side fan. its four bolts easy to get to and unplug. the airpump will have to come off. its hard to see one of the bolts but its there. getting the gaskets off will suck, but do it well so you get a good seal. if you can get under the car pull the knock sensor out the passenger side. itll allow the water to drain from the block and should keep you from drenching the opti. also you might find itll be easier to work from underneath the car.

 

You have to for electrics. Stocker might be jsut as easy without pulling the rad.

 

I'm with him ^^. Water pump is ultra easy.

And for reference: I'd rate a clutch install at 6, cam install at a 7, engine rebuild at 8-9, rearend gears at 9 winding out with a T56 tranny rebuild being a 9 to 10.

Just my .02 cents.

Mike

 

Nice, thats good to know beucase i will be doing a clutch install over this next winter.

 

sorry wasnt aware that he was adding an electric.

 

clutch instal is easy as pie, just a lot of crap to pull off just to get to it. Getting the shaft to slide back in the pilot bearing was a PITA though, lol. Ive wanted to do the electric waterpump for a while now but im not sure if the benifits are worth it, just havent talked to enough people that have them.

 

I would have to add that the two top bellhousing bolts were also a PITA. But overall, clutch install isn't bad. Just a lot of "take apart and put back together!" Gangly, I just read yesterday in either Popular Hotrodding or Super Chevy (don't remember which) that electric pumps may not cool enough on the street due to the decreased volume of water. I knew they didn't flow as much but never really thought about it. The article said that an electric motor big enough to push the amount of water a stock pump will would be larger than the engine bay! The conclusion was that electric pumps are better suited for racing where your car is only running for a small period of time. A belt driven pump in their test only cost 6 hp/ 6 tq max on the engine dyno. Don't know if a cam driven pump would be less or more.

 

I run a CSI electric and have zero issues with my car. Couldn't be happier. Consistant cooling, can run with car off, no weep hole or bearing seal to leak out of. (Great to cool at track).

Best part is, if it broke, it'd take about 5 minutes to put a new one in

 

That's true, just have to pop that motor out and the housing stays. I still have a stock pump and it wasn't broke so I didn't fix it. I hadn't ever talked to anyone with an electric pump to see how it was. When mine goes bad, I might get an electric one. Do you do a lot of street driving? What's your car stay on temp wise? Is it pretty consistent?

 

I'm not so sure if i want to get one right now anymore. My stock pump is still fine. When i replace it i might get electric. My buddy has one on his 99 but his car is a straight up drag car (he still drive it on the street but only like 2 days a week if its nice).

 

I don't believe that for a second!!

I have a Meziere electric water pump on mine and the other day when it was 90+ degrees, with the air conditioning on and 160 degree thermostat, my car never got above 170 degrees. Plus at idle, the electric pump is supposed to pump MORE than the stocker. So in stop and go traffic, when cars usually overheat, it's actually better.

And, like mentioned above, it's nice to be able to run the pump/fans in the staging lanes to cool the engine down for the next run.

Mike

 

Mostly all street with track runs whenever I'm at the track. Consistent, lower temps sitting around at idle for sure. Pumps nearly 5x stock (37 gpm vs 8 gpm) at idle. Can't beat it

 

Sounds good. It's always nice to talk to real people about stuff instead of just taking the article as gospel.