Double gasket on water pump - cause a problem?

[68keyblr]

I've got about 200 miles on my 331 build now, and I noticed a very slight leak from the bottom of the water pump. It looks like the bolt heads on the backside of the water pump are contacting the timing chain cover, preventing the pump from torquing down properly.

I think the easiest solution is to double up on my water pump gasket. Are there any problems with doing that? I know it'll change belt alignment slightly, but I noticed the crank pulley was slightly farther out with the new balancer anyway, so the water pump pulley would actually be in better alignment with a 2nd gasket.

So can I double up on the water pump gasket without any problems? Has anyone run into this before? Oh, and it's a Stewart water pump.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Umm ... why not just get shorter bolts?

 

[samickguy15]

I would also suggest shorter bolts, or hit them with a file or grinder.

If you want to shim it out though...

I would personally not suggest doubling the gasket. However, I would suggest double the gasket thickness. You can buy rolls of gasket material in different thickness's and composition. I would go that route. If you don't want to go through that trouble and want to double gasket, use some sort of adhesive and glue the gaskets together all the way around before putting them in place, that way they will act more like one gasket rather than two.

 

[68keyblr]

I would also suggest shorter bolts, or hit them with a file or grinder.

If you want to shim it out though...

I would personally not suggest doubling the gasket. However, I would suggest double the gasket thickness. You can buy rolls of gasket material in different thickness's and composition. I would go that route. If you don't want to go through that trouble and want to double gasket, use some sort of adhesive and glue the gaskets together all the way around before putting them in place, that way they will act more like one gasket rather than two.

Just to be clear, it's not the length of the bolts that's the problem, it's the thickness of the bolt head.

Having said that, I think I may try to grind down the bolt heads some and see if that gives me enough clearance.

I like the idea of cutting a gasket out of thicker material...I'll try that if I can't remove enough material from the bolt heads.

Thanks for the ideas

 

[rd]

I would not try double gaskets. I have enough trouble sealing water pumps and covers with gaskets or rtv.

Ford originally used two special bolts with thin heads to hold the cover on the back of the water pump. If you don't have the old ones, try a machine shop or junkyard. Or just take a grinder to the ones you have. You probably don't have to take the cover off, just the pump.

I think the double gaskets would allow too much flex and soon leak, as a lot of stuff mounts to the water pump and it's bolts.

 

[vristang]

Get the right bolts...

You can find them in the j/y (any 302 will have them)
or a hardware store(?)
or Ford dealerships should be able to get them...

jason

 

[troyGT03]

Get the right bolts... the water pump bolts can be found at autozone in the crappy help section. you will have to buy 2 kits but it will get the job done. ask me how i know...

 

[68keyblr]

Get the right bolts... the water pump bolts can be found at autozone in the crappy help section. you will have to buy 2 kits but it will get the job done. ask me how i know...

These are the bolts that came with the pump (Stewart). When I pull of the pump, I'll compare them to the old pump. Thanks for the Autozone tip - may come in handy

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

I wouldn't double up. That might leak worse. What I do, is run a small bead of high temp RTV on both sides of the gasket and put it all together. This ensures a nice tight seal. Are you sure the coolant isn't coming out of the water pump weep hole? They are notorious for that...sometimes you can get a bad one out of the box.

 

[68keyblr]

I wouldn't double up. That might leak worse. What I do, is run a small bead of high temp RTV on both sides of the gasket and put it all together. This ensures a nice tight seal. Are you sure the coolant isn't coming out of the water pump weep hole? They are notorious for that...sometimes you can get a bad one out of the box.

I was looking for that weep hole first off, but it was dry. Definitely coming from the bottom of the pump.

Good call on the RTV - I'll use some "The Right Stuff" with the gasket, and I'll grind down the bolt heads some.