I just bought this c4 in calif and trailered it to Illinois, i was told the car had set up for almost ten to fifteen years, out in the open calif sun, it was running over 235 degrees when i got, with over thirty years working on chevy engines i felt this was overheating, i could understand 180-190 or even 200 degrees, but 235 was just too hot for me, i decided the first thing was to install a new thermostat, a 190 degree from my local chevy dealer, well to say it was easy to work on a aluminum intake that has not been in use for years was an understatement, as expected the bolts broke off, so i had a very long and trying time trying to remove the bolt, my local dealer wanted to replace the intake manifold, at some considerable cost, because the cost was too high i decided to do the work myself, so i disassembled front of the engine to allow easier access to the intake manifold, this required removal of the throttle body, air pump, alternator, and other stuff in the way, after several days of slow careful work, the unexpected results of drilling and tapping that worked out ok, i was ready to reassemble the engine, at this point i thought a little preventive measure were in order, so i removed the water pump, ac unit, and replaced the lower radiator hose, put on a new water pump from a local auto parts store, as well as heater hose, and drive belts, after completing the work, all seems to be in order, i have also replaced the air filter intake housing, and the air dam, checked to be sure all is clean and looks ok,

My question is this, after reading several comments from you good folks i am not sure of the water pump, some have said the corvette engine water flows in the other direction of a regular chevy engine, ?? I gather they mean the water flows into the engine from the top of the manifold instead of into the lower block and exits from the top, some have said a regular water pump will not work and could cause overheating,

Question? How could this work if the thermostat is in the intake manifold?
The thermostat would open but then close because of the cold water in the hose? This idea does not make much headway with me.

Any comments on this? I would like to hear from somebody with more experience on " corvette's" then i do. I have over thirty years with gas engines, and including some very large diesels,

Any advise?

 

the '86 is a standard SBC, waters flows as one would expect. the LT1 and LT4 was reverse flow. you need a reverse rotation pump, though, because of how the belt is routed. just get a pump for an '86 Corvette.

 

This is good news, car is still sitting in warehouse waiting for coolant to be added, i thank you for the info,
Elcj.

 

Run a compression check.

 

As observed above .
Only LT1 engines have reverse coolant flow.
The coolant enters the block and is directed to the heads 1st through the top hole circled before returning out of the block through the bottom hole.

 

You will observe from the LT1 pic there is no way of mounting the wrong pump to either type block as the LT1 pump is completely different to a reg SBC pump

I believe you are getting confused with the "reverse rotation" pump used on Vette engine which as noted runs in the opposite direction to a reg SBC pump



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