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Hello everybody. Quick question in the picture you’ll see the backside/access panel of the water pump on my 72 350 LT1is painted
The question I have is I’ve seen this plate painted and not painted. The water pump on this is a nightmare n GM replacement and I’m looking at purchasing a correct #3991399 rebuilt one. Any feedback is appreciated thanks.
Whether or not the pump had paint on the back is variable depending on the engine painter. The engines were almost completely assembled at the engine plant when they were sprayed orange. The goal was not to build up a high level of paint protection, just enough to keep rust at bay for as long as it took to sell the car.
If a surface was easily reached then it got paint. There were also no great pains taken to mask areas not intended to be painted such as aluminum intake manifolds, exhaust manifolds, the bell housing. These types of parts often have a fog of over-spray where the part mates with the cast iron. Conversely, if a part shielded another part from getting paint, so be it. The timing cover under the water pump, the rear water pump plate below the visible top area, and the sides of the block behind the exhaust manifolds usually show a shadow of the overlapping part with little paint on that surface.
For an interesting read about Chevy/GM engines, check out this John Hinckley article on the small block:
For clarification are you looking to stack stock NOS Chevy or is there also a difference between a normal 350 WP and an LT-1 WP?
thx
Originally Posted by c3c7vette@proton.me
Hello everybody. Quick question in the picture you’ll see the backside/access panel of the water pump on my 72 350 LT1is painted
The question I have is I’ve seen this plate painted and not painted. The water pump on this is a nightmare n GM replacement and I’m looking at purchasing a correct #3991399 rebuilt one. Any feedback is appreciated thanks.
1972 LT1 350 Water pump
