On my '80, rear suspension all in and getting close to trying it. Need to decide if I should figure out a slight shooshing sound at the other end of the car. A shoosh is the test I can describe it. I can hear the Car Talk brothers asking so this a shoosh, not a whoosh I say yes,. It's not an air sound like a vacuum leak. It is cyclic, i.e. shoosh, shoosh, shoosh, and increases frequency as RPM is increased. So it must be coming from something rotating. I've used the mechanics stethoscope, aka rubber hose, to localize it. Definitely in the front of the engine, most likely near the water pump, but I'm not certain. I hate to hold up getting this thing out to test the readjusted rear gear set up and especially don't want to pull the pump for no reason as pulling things that haven't moved for 20 years may cause trouble where none existed.But if this is something serious, then obviously I need to address it.

 

try spraying some water on the belts to see if the noise changes

 

You can isolate it somewhat by removing fan belts

 

Spark plugs tight?

 

That swooshing sound is money leaving your wallet and being sucked into the engine bay. We all hear it now and then. Just part of being a Vette owner.

 

The truth of your statement is clear. Considering right now on the C3's for sale are two survivor vettes of the same vintage (79 and 81 bracketing my 80) in way better shape than mine having about 14k miles to my 90k miles and listed for $17k, vs the the $5k I've sunk already without touching the engine and trans and paint and interior, why do it. If I hadn't owned it since new, I wouldn't .

 

Makes sense to do this before pulling them. It's on the menu.

 

Pretty sure, but easy to check. I'm been swapping them in and out for 39 years, but you never know.

 

I'll look at this. It's actually down to 2 belts and only one is on the fan. Need to finish wrap up the rear first. Main reason I'd consider pulling the water pump is I've drained the radiator so I can cap the water pump due to a heater core blow out. I have it capped now but the existing caps look like crap already after all of 100 miles. Nothing but crap made now.

 

Some one stole your fuel bladder!

 

Do you have power steering? fluid level right? JUst a guess. I was leaning toward a bad belt myself but thought I'ld through that in there

 

Are you saying you capped off the water pump to heater core pipe?
Most simply bypass the heater core by simply connecting the supply & return hoses using a short tube or adapter forming a loop.
The capped water pump could be the source of your shooshing sound.

 

Full story, not that it may matter. It was originally capped. Then, when I saw the cracks in the caps I took them off. But didn't feel like getting the car blocked up again to pull the lines at the core - I didn't have the quick lift yet. So, I got some new hose and did just build a loop for it. Now, since it's sitting nicely on the quik-lift I figured I would instead use the heater core hoses to create the loop as they are down out of the way vs the current ones which are on top and in the way of various items.

 

It may have too much, I still need to recheck that. The cylinder and control valve were rebuilt so new fluid went in then early last year with all the turning left and right and adding that went with that.

 

It may have been belts or it may have been the water pump but the sound is gone. I replaced both. I had a new pump sitting on the shelf. The existing pump was not original and probably had no more than 25,000 miles on it. But it sat for a lot of years without being started. As for the belts, I didn't replace the power steering belt. But I did replace the alternator belt and put one on the AC. Not that the AC works, but I thought maybe it would bring a little balance to the pulleys to have a load on both sides. Probably not true. But I was finding very good belts, e.g. continental and goodyear for $2 to $4 at Rock Auto. Seems not much demand for v-belts now and a lot of close-outs. Good thing too as it seems there's a lot of debate what length's to get. 305, 350 L48, 350 L82 in 1980 all the same block, so why so many different length belts for the same jobs. In the end they were so cheap I just bought half a dozen of various lengths for less than one Gates belt from NAPA.

Started her up today and the sound was gone. Then the cloudburst started so I didn't get to take it out which would have been the first time since October. maybe tomorrow in which case I'll update on the Bair's attempt to readjust my rear end gears to get rid of coast whine and their rebuild of my TA's to see if that got rid of a knocking sound on deceleration.