I have the dreaded water pump leak on my LT4. No warning really. It just started with a real gulley washer. The front of my engine is soaked. The vehicle has 65K well pampered, no powershift, clutch-dumping, tire smoking easy as pie miles. (well, I have hit the rev limiter a time or two, but that is all, honest) Time for a Hot Cam. I intend to do the job in my garage. I have the helms manuals but any input from those that have been there would be greatly appreciated. I have searched the archives but would really like a step by step walk through if there is one on the forum. (especially this part about raising the engine). thanks. :smash: :banghead:

 

Sorry to hear about your pump. However there is an up side, its a ideal time to put in that cam. I am going to be putting a motor im building for my 96 very soon, feel free to email if you have any questions, I'd be more that happy to lend and input I can.

Best of Luck,
Victor

 

Join the club ( bad water pump ) :sad:

 

i have a brand new pump for $125 shipped if ya like. its never been used... i went to an electric after i bought a new one and didnt even install it.
:cheers:

 

I appreciate the offer of a deal on that waterpump. It is a good price but I already have the parts coming in from Jeff Kopp. Thanks for the offer.

 

Greetings:

I just finished putting a new water pump in my 89. I went with the edelbrock victor series. I found it to be a very time consuming job around five hours to get it out, and three hours to put it in. Not hard just alot of crap to come off and put back on. Now that I've done it, it would not take as long the next time around. Buy a chilton's service book!!!!!

Bruce H :cheers: :auto:

 

Below are the posts I made to the Grand Sport e-mail list documenting my HOT cam install. It's not quite "step by step" but it should get you going in the right direction. FWIW, I did it over a several days and had a "pause" in the middle when I decided I wanted new hoses. Could have gone faster if I had to...

.......................
Install
Well Gang, I couldn't wait for the weekend. The parts on the shelf have been staring at me for too darn long. Spent about two hours tonight and have the top of the engine removed...intake, valve covers, rocker arms, and as well as a lot of other misc stuff...MAF & inlet duct, alternator, etc.

Tomorrow I'll pull the fans, radiator shroud, and radiator. After that, I'll see how I feel. The longest part is going to be cleaning everything up prior to reassembly (I hate scraping old gaskets!).

Update #1
Today was fairly productive. Put in about 4.5 hours and in that time I...

- Drained the coolant
- Removed the fan shroud
- Removed the fans
- Removed the radiator and hoses
- Removed the water pump
- Removed the balancer from the hub (Tip: Slightly raise the engine to remove the balancer from the car. Not enough clearance between the hub and the crossmember with the engine resting on its mounts)
- Removed the Opti-Spark and found out that I've been suffering from a vacuum leak. The rubber vent hose was nearly in two pieces.
- Cleaned some parts

Update #2
At the conclusion of yesterday's program, we were in need of a hub puller.
Today I got that and pulled the hub off the crankshaft. Patience is the phrase
of the day. Space is at a premium, so it takes some geometric gymnastics to
get everthing lined up...keeping in mind that as you pull the hub off, you need
to leave room to get the puller and hub off/out before banging into the
crossmember or steering rack.

After pulling the hub, I...

- Removed the starter
- Removed the transmission dust plate
- Drained the oil
- Removed the oil filter & adapter
- Loosened the oil pan so that it would "droop" in front
- Removed the Timing Cover
- Removed the camshaft sprocket, timing chain, and oil pump drive
- Removed the camshaft retainer
- Gently tied the a/c lines out of the way & moved the condensor
- Jacked the engine ~1/2" (that's why I left the oil pan in place)
- Removed the lifters
- Pulled the stock cam out
- Put the HOT Cam in!!! :) & lowered the engine
- Freed the a/c lines
- Dropped the oil pan (gonna replace the gasket)
- Installed the camshaft sprocket, timing chain (new), and oil pump drive
- Installed the lifters
- Scraped gaskets and cleaned...and cleaned...and cleaned...

Tomorrow I have my religious commitments...I play hockey in the morning and watch football in the afternoon :)

I may install the rockers, timing cover, and oil pan though.

Update #3
- Reinstalled the pushrods and rocker arms and set the rocker arms to 0 lash + 1/4 turn
- Installed the new timing cover with the waterpump driveshaft hole blocked
off (switching to an electric pump)
- Installed the optispark & plug wires
- Installed the hub onto the crank
- Installed the balancer
- Installed the coil

Then things got interesting....

- The oil pan gasket is a single piece affair. I tacked it to the oil pan
using RTV at the corners and then attempted to install the pan. After 20
minutes...No joy. I couldn't fit the pan between the crossmember and the
engine without bumping the gasket off the front of the pan. A few more moments of thought, and I elected to raise the engine by jacking under the
transmission. With a 1/2" more clearance and another 20 minutes of trying,
things were better but...No joy. Some investigative work revealed the gasket
was hitting the front counterweight on the crank. At least I was making
progress(?) The solution was to rotate the crank. Bingo..sort of. The pan
wasn't fitting snug on the sides. After 30 minutes of probing, checking, and
refitting, I decided to snug up the pan bolts. Perfect. The front and rear
seals of the gasket just needed to be compressed. A final check verified the
end seals were in place and not squished out before final tightening of the
bolts. After that, I installed the starter, buttoned up everthing else underneath, added a fresh oil filter and lowered the car off the jackstands.

FWIW, my block is stamped 4/95 on the bottom. Guess it's an early LT4 :)

Tonight I'll stick on the waterpump and clean up the intake manifold (may even install it). After that, 'bout all that's left is the radiator and shroud as
well as wiring up my water pump. I also plan to flash a new PCM program to
disable the Misfire Diagnostic. Why have an SES light when I don't need to?!

Update #4
Well gang, the engine is buttoned up. The only thing left is the radiator but
that's on hold until the weekend. As I was getting ready to secure the various
coolant hoses I thought..."You know, these hoses are original, 7 years old, 67k miles. The cooling system is empty. Now would be a perfect time to change them all". With that in mind, I ordered all new hoses this morning. They should be here by Friday, in time to fire it up for the weekend :)

Update #5
Well Gang...The hoses I ordered Tuesday aren't here yet :( Been patiently
waiting for the big brown truck to pull up to my door with a big package, but
it didn't happen yesterday and I think they only deliver Overnight and 2-Day on Saturday.

Looks like the car will sit until at least Tuesday :(

Sooooooo close.

Final Update

Brown delivered today.

Buttoned up the cooling system with new hoses and fresh coolant. Turned the
key and "VROOOM"....rumpity..rumpity..rumpit y... :-)))) Fired up just like
stock and settled to a nice idle. No coolant or oil leaks. No SES light, no
codes. Drives and cruises like stock. Comes alive when the go-pedal is
pressed :) The engine revs a lot quicker. I'm guessing this has to
do with the electric waterpump. I'd heard this was a side benefit.

With no driveablity issues, next up will be a lot of data logging and then
closed loop fuel corrections (if needed [Ed...They were]). After that, WB o2 sensor and WOT tuning.

Jim's tip of the day: Install the electric fans *before* you install the
radiator shroud. I wonder how I know this...

I took ~70 pics of the job. Once Hutch catches up with other stuff, I'll send
them to him for the website :)
........................................ .............

Hopefully this helps.

:cheers:

 

Thanks to all! '96GS007, that is good information you offered there. I am sure I'll find it useful, especially that part about the gasket on the oilpan. I am slowly building courage. :cheers:

 

Before you put it all back together you might might want to consider new plug wires, (and possibly a new optispark if you are really proactive). FrankLT4CE :chevy

 

FrankLT4, good advice. I did go ahead and get the new optispark, water pump, extreme duty chain set, new lifters (65K on the old)to go with the hot cam and all sorts of gaskets from Jeff Kopp. He got it all to my door in 3 days.
I do need new plugs and wires. Any suggestions?