How many of you have ever spent a whole day (6 hours) doing something that should only take a few hours?

Well, my water pump was making noise, so being a good Corvette owner, I picked up a new one yesterday and went at it today.

Halfway through the removal I was already aching! Busted knuckles, aching back, dirty from head to toe!

You have to take apart EVERYTHING to get that sucker out- AC, brackets, and all the other stuff in there. The R&D Camber brace, as much as I love it........man, I almost sent it to the bottom of the Atlantic! My air tools wouldnt fit in all the tight places, and some of the bolts were really tight.

There is this little metal brace that runs from the block to the AC bracket, right under and behind the idler pulley....... :smash: :smash: :smash: :smash: I had a heck of a time getting it out, and the first time I put the bracket back in, the brace was on the wrong side and I had to start over :mad :mad Then the radiator hose that ingenuously runs through the AC bracket :confused: :confused: there has to be a better way. That pump itself was really easy, My old Fiero GT water pump was mor difficult to line up and install.

Then the hardest part.....installing the camber brace again, so it doesnt hit my large LT1 alternator, or my underdrive pulley on the WP, or the serpentine belt under the AC pulley.

You need 3 hands to do this, one to hold the open end wrench inside the bar on the nut, another to turn the socket on the bolt, and another to really lean on the giant prybar to keep the Camber brace in position. I must have dropped my wrench 6 times!!!! :mad :mad :smash: :smash: :banghead: :banghead:

Its all back together, and now I can cruise with confidence that it wont blow the WP, i also put a new serpentine belt too.

How many of you have done this and felt the same? I am one aching bastard right now!!!! Gonna sleep real good!

It was a great day for it though, it was pouring outside the whole time, nothing else to do.

Today I hate my car, and I hate GM.

Tomorrow...... :steering: :steering: :auto: :auto: :jester :jester

Over and out......like a log!


[Modified by GusBustamanteJr, 8:10 PM 1/31/2004]

 

Bindair Dundat :smash:
Aren't you glad it's over :D :smash:

 

Im too tired to be glad, in fact, even to be typing!

 

your write up made me ach and tired... hard to type now... :lol: :lol:

 

Have a beer or ten..... :cheers:

 

I do not do the work on my car, but believe me, I understand how you feel.

I don't think there's such thing as a perfectly modded car. Something is always looking to bite you in the a s s on it! :D :cheers:

 

Man, I just dragged my butt out of bed.......ITS WORSE TODAY!

It went from aching to SORE!!!

Even my hands hurt!

Its a sofa day for sure!

 

Seems like every mod or repair takes longer than I anticipated, I do understand! :yesnod:

 

Amen Brother!

I'm on my 3rd day putting in a new pump and radiator. I admit that I only work on it a few hours a day. When I get sick of it I have other things to keep me amused. And there is all the work of trashing the empty beer cans!

Now I see that I have to find a heater hose, so that will set me back a few more days.

My rule of thumb is that if I estimate it should take x hours to do it on a normal car, I end up spending 4x before I am finished. Just another joy of the vette. We love the abuse!

 

Welcome to the club! :smash:

I yanked out my old waterpump, put in a new waterpump, drove it for 10 miles, found out it had a defective seal, pulled the whole damn thing back out again, resealed it, and reinstalled it all over again. That wasn't a fun day.

It took about a 40 minutes to put it in that second time, after all the practice. :cuss


[Modified by CentralCoaster, 2:02 PM 2/1/2004]

 

Sometime you have to wonder what the hell the engineers were thinking. On my C-3 some genius decided it would be a good plan to run the exaust pipes THROUGH the cross member! OMFG! Now, to take out the transmission or do any exaust work you have to disconnect the whole exaust system and drop the cross member. How retarded. There are all kinds of things like that when you start to get into this stuff. Another personal favorite is the radiator on a C-3. A true psychotic sadist designed that setup. I invented new curse words and fun new combinations of old curse words changing my radiator out. I just recently picked up a C-4. I'm sure I'll learn all the fabulous design nightmares engineered into this car. One of my first findings is the fuel pressure regulator. With just a little more thought, it could have been put in a place where you could have changed it with a wrench in five minutes. But NOOOOO, you have to dissasemble the intake to get that sucker off. Pure genius.


[Modified by BubbaJJ, 6:23 PM 2/1/2004]

 

My water pump went out on me earlier this month. I have a buddy that works at a Chevy dealership and he gave me a nice hookup. He had their best mechanic work on it. Took him about an hour to fix it. It took longer just waiting for the engine to cool down than the actual repair. Total bill parts and labor: $256.40. Not bad for a brand new part installed by a GM dealer. :D

 

I hope like heck mine holds up for awhile... :smash: :sleep:

 

Wait till you get to pull the trans on your C4. The exhaust has to come off also. But it's a fairly painless process. There's plenty of things on this car just waiting to **** off a DIY like you. Try removing the fuel rail for example... you gotta remove the damn a/c compressor bracket! Or changing your EGR.. or getting the damn c-beam out... :banghead:

 

I am more sore today than yesterday! Feels like i went 12 rounds! Hurts all over! :banghead:

 

I never thought gettin to the water pump was all that hard...

I thought it was kind of easy.. It's definitely one of the easier things

to do... dont even get me started on replacing the rear lights or

one of the rear axle u-joints!!!! At any rate, I feel your pain..

Humble Pie comes free with every Vette...ha ha ha

 

:lol: I know just how you feel brother. I guess I'm just getting old and/or out of shape, but it seems that every major project lately, leaves me feeling like I've been thrown off the back of a moving truck

:chevy

 

I know the feeling. I took on the task of replacing my oil pan gasket recently on my 86. Took much longer that I expected. I was pretty sore from laying on my back under the car. But at least my oil pan is still leak free. :D

 

:nonod: