I was putting together a sbc with a short water pump and I noticed the timing cover was about .070 to .100 too tall. I had 2 other timing covers laying around the garage and these hit also. I've used short pumps before and never had this problem. 2 of the timing covers were GM stamped steel and the third was a chrome aftermarket timing cover. The water pump is a Stewart aluminum. Changing to a long pump is not and option. I could use spacers behind the water pump but I want my belt to line up correctly. Anybody have this happen? How did you fix it? <!-- / message -->
sounds like you need to use a stock waterpump. I'll keep it in mind not to waste my money on a Stewart pump in the future if it wont work with the stock timing covers and Ive never seen a timing cover that wasn't as deep as the stocker.
I'll see if one of my buddies has a stock shorty laying around and see how it fits. I noticed Milodon and Edelbrock both say you may need to run extra water pump gaskets to use their stamped timing covers on a short pump. Summit lists some timing covers as being for long water pumps only. I never knew there was a difference in timing covers.
I had the same problem with a reman short pump. I ended up stacking up 3 units on the parts counter and took the tallest one. I think one of them had the mounting face surfaced for some reason during the rebuild. The one I am using now clears by a RCH after beig torqued down.
i have run stock short pumps that touched the timing cover, they just touched and didnt cause any problem, if you need to run more then one gasket that souldnt hurt anything as long as it seals, if you need to make up a little spacer that should be fine , maybe you just need to give one of your covers a good smack with a hammer.
Mine just touches the stock as well.. no problems.. They sell spacers and you can double stack gaskets if you need a little clearance. This could of course make pulley alighment a pain since you might end up spacing your crank pulley and any other accessories..
I'm running a gear drive so I need to be somewhat careful since the button on the front of the cam takes up it's thrust on the timing cover. I see Summit has a water pump spacer kit with 1/16", 1/8" and 3/16" spacers. That might do the trick. It just seems odd to me that it is an issue with shorts pumps.
If I am not mistaken the spacers you are talking about are pulley spacers. I had the same problem with a polished cover that the pump hit. I did as someone else stated and pulled about 6 pumps and took the tallest one. Keith
alot of the time if you have to space the pump off the block you can press the pulley flange a little farther down the shaft.
yup, my lumium pump wouldnt clear cast timing cover. made up a spacer. if the belts are really out of whack you can space out the lower pulley
I have a cast iron Stewart water pump on my coupe with a stock timing cover it fits fine, and the belts are OK. I am using stock 1959 single belt pulleys on a 72 350 with an 8" damper if that helps anyone.
To be redundant, I also have had to pull many H2O pumps from the parts shelf and use the taller one. my 2cents
I run a short pump on my coupe it hits the timing cover. Thicker gaskets and a single washer shim on the bottom pulley did the trick. Make sure you true the pulleys with a large straight edge. I have never thrown a belt.The gaskets are about .125 thick and the pump clears the cover by .015, works for me.
Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to cut a couple spacers out of some .060 aluminum and put a gasket on each side between the water pump and block. That should give me enough room. I'll check alignment with a straight edge and shim as needed.
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