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Water pump pulley keeps breaking. Upgrade options?

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Old Jul 25, 2019 | 04:08 PM
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Default Water pump pulley keeps breaking. Upgrade options?

Hi guys,

My 2001 Z06 is my lapping car. I've been lapping with it for about 10 years. Motor is stock aside from headers, tune, intake.

Over the winter I did a huge refresh on the car; changed all pumps, pulleys, belts, water pump and pulley, etc

About 1 month after I took it out of storage, the water pump pulley completely sheared off....weird. I thought maybe I had purchased a defective part, so I bought an AC Delco replacement, new belts, and everything worked great.

Now about 1 month after that change, it sheared again at the same exact spot.

There is no wobble on the crank shaft pulley.

I'm afraid to go out and buy another for fear that the same thing will happen again. I would like to replace the water pump and pulley assembly with a stronger unit seeing as the stock one is clearly not working... I did some searching on the forums and it seems like a common issue with guys that are supercharged. But that doesn't make much sense either as the SC pulley doesn't even touch the water pump.

HELP PLEASE!
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Old Jul 25, 2019 | 04:54 PM
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did you get the ac delco oem replacement?... they have 2 different pumps and the cheaper one I have seen have issues like you are describing as well as other cheaper non-oem brands... another possible option is to tack weld the pulley to the shaft
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Old Jul 25, 2019 | 07:06 PM
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Sounds like two defective pump shafts in a row. I would get a NEW AC Delco water pump and also change the tensioner.
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Old Jul 26, 2019 | 01:10 AM
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Check out Edelbrock. They have a pretty nice water pump that you can replace the guts of it without having to dig the whole thing out. I think I got mine from Summit Racing.

Good luck.

Spaggs
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Old Jul 26, 2019 | 10:43 AM
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Ya the housing got chewed up when the pulley broke. I'm looking into the Edlebrock one and Evans right now
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Old Jul 26, 2019 | 11:36 AM
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I went with this one for my build
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pdw-1434628
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Old Jul 26, 2019 | 11:47 AM
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Put the original pump back on???????????????

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Old Jul 28, 2019 | 07:57 AM
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Originally Posted by My Vette Betty
Put the original pump back on???????????????

Original pump was thrown out unfortunately.
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Old Jul 28, 2019 | 04:23 PM
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I have an Evans Pump on my car which was installed by the prior owner. Edelbrock and Melling both make water pumps for LS1s.
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Old Jul 29, 2019 | 01:09 PM
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Originally Posted by 93Polo
I have an Evans Pump on my car which was installed by the prior owner. Edelbrock and Melling both make water pumps for LS1s.
After searching I seem to be finding that all aftermarket replacements are made in China, and the OEM pump is made in Canada. Seems that the OEM pumps purchased from Chevy seem to always last. Plus they have a 12 month warranty on the part.

I'll let you guys know if it breaks again lol
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Old Jul 31, 2019 | 10:21 AM
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3rd time lucky for you l hope Patrick.
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Old Jul 31, 2019 | 10:09 PM
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"Over the winter I did a huge refresh on the car; changed all pumps, pulleys, belts, water pump and pulley, etc"

Seems your problem happened after this. Check that all pullys are in allignment.
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Old Aug 6, 2019 | 05:10 PM
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Originally Posted by whatyacallit
"Over the winter I did a huge refresh on the car; changed all pumps, pulleys, belts, water pump and pulley, etc"

Seems your problem happened after this. Check that all pullys are in allignment.
Anyone have a DIY on how to verify this?
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Old Aug 6, 2019 | 05:17 PM
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you need a calibrated laser alignment tool and basically you use the balancer as a reference point and use the tool to shoot from the balancer to the other pulleys and make sure that the ribs are in alignment... check the stickies in the forced induction section, there is a good thread on this subject

Last edited by StingrayRebel; Aug 6, 2019 at 05:18 PM.
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