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A Curious Hole

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Jim_Newman

Jim_Newman

Jedi Hopeful
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After many years of inattention, I decided to pressure wash my engine compartment. Before I finished, I discovered this, heretofore unseen, hole in the water pump housing.
Anyone ever run across something like this before? It almost looks like a casting defect rather than due to corrosion. So far the water pump seems to be working properly.
As always, thanks for the advice.
ps. This is my first attempt to post an image so wish me luck. If nothing shows, I'll try again later.
Cheers
 

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Hi Jim,

This hole is intentional to allow any water to make it past the main pump seal to weep out. The cast around that hole always looks a bit rough, probably since this is unseen anyway. Is this a picture from before your cleanup? It looks very clean, my pump on the 100 had signs of seepage, so I rebuild it.

cheers,

Bert
 
Yes that is correct. It really is a sight hole to see if the inner bearing is leaking. I don't think the aftermarket pumps have this hole, so yours must be original. I've rebuilt my '60 pump but it started leaking almost immediately so I bought a replacement, which didn't have the hole.
 
OK. I feel better knowing it's supposed to be there. But it is located on the top of the housing. Water could not seep out till it was pretty much full. And yes this was after cleaning when I first noticed it. Maybe it is sight hole but it's rather difficult to see anything through such a small slot.
Cheers
 
My replacement and original both have the holes. The original had a screw as well that the new one does not have. I believe it is for lubricating. I would like to rebuild my original. Can it be done DIY ? The new one has a thicker mounting flange that makes the nuts harder to tighten to the block as they fit into a counter sink. I thought it would move the pulley further out but it didn't.
 
Hi Jim,

The 100 pump only has this slit on the bottom. I have not seen a 6-cyl pump up close, you might have a hole like that on the bottom as well. For the 100 there's an excellent how-to on the pump rebuild. It involves installing a stainless sleeve on the shaft, a modern pump seal and sealed bearings. It's not exactly cheaper nor faster but then again I prefer rebuilding originals over potentially bad reproductions.

https://www.healey6.com/Technical/100_TECHNICAL.PDF

towards the bottom of this excellent resource.

Bert
 
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