Which water pump?

Time to get the wagon back on the road, whether to broom it or drive it. I need a new water pump. rock Auto has 7 different ones. There favorites are Gates and AC Delco. both good brands. I think Dayco is decent as well. probably all made in china they are all around $60 with the AC Delco being 50% more.
I am sure most will say to go with the AC but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with any of the others.

Also, I assume I have to order the seal for the drive separate? rock auto is showing an o-ring but I thought it was a small paper seal. I have never taken an LT1 apart.

Any other tips or tricks?[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I go to a local store for water pumps. I love Rockauto but when it comes to items that have a chance of failing I don’t want to deal with the hassle of mailing parts back, on my dime, to have them warranted.

I also stay away from the reman stuff. Went through 3 of them in a year on a former wagon. Went with a new one from Oreilly and made it 3 years before a failure. No one seems to use quality bearings in these things.

Agreed on local store pumps for return reasons. Personally I think LT1 mechanical water pumps don't last for two reasons:
1. GM undersized the bearing.
2. Small misalignments between the driveshaft and the water pump dowels cause side loading and premature failure.

Two things I recommend:
1. Grease the water pump gaskets on the the side that faces the block. That'll make it a lot easier to remove cleanly later.
2. When installing the water pump, install all the bolts loosely, then try lifting up the pump to see how much vertical slop there is; put in the middle of the slop, then tighten the bolts. That may help the bearing live longer.

Where I live there is no such thing as a "local auto parts store". I have to drive 20 miles for one of the three main vendors. There are very few that have staff that can tell an alternator from a starter. if i go a little more rural where the box auto stores aren't they usually have 1 old guy that is a real parts guy.
given that they typically charge 50-100% more for the luxury of human contact, I have bought next to nothing from an auto parts store.

in 10+ years of buying online I have had NOTHING fail and need to be returned. the only wrong item was my fault.

What I was asking for was an opinion on brands. typically the rock auto "heart" picks are reliable.

I do appreciate the tip on alignment. makes perfect sense.

All the big box stores do online shopping as well

Anyways, I have no clue about the brands themselves. I know that a majority of the brands on RA are super cheap, made in china junk. Normally though, the stuff with a heart is the best available.

The pile of cars and parts I bought last year included a brand new GATES brand pump and it was a very nice looking part. If memory serves, it is what I put on my wagon 3 years ago and it's still going. I know it wasn't a rebuilt unit but can't remember where it came from.

As for the drive seal, you want the Fel Pro kit on this page.

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94Woody wrote:

All the big box stores do online shopping as well

Anyways, I have no clue about the brands themselves. I know that a majority of the brands on RA are super cheap, made in china junk. Normally though, the stuff with a heart is the best available.

The pile of cars and parts I bought last year included a brand new GATES brand pump and it was a very nice looking part. If memory serves, it is what I put on my wagon 3 years ago and it's still going. I know it wasn't a rebuilt unit but can't remember where it came from.

As for the drive seal, you want the Fel Pro kit on this page.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks for the link on the fel pro gasket kit.
I am leaning towards the Gates. I have had good luck with everything else from them. I am probably going to wait till next month to order. too much damge on the credit car last month.

I have a Gates on my car for oh 2 weeks now lol. But I also put one on my Fleetwood a years ago and to my knowledge it's still going (sold it to a friend and he hasn't mentioned a WP failure).

Sprocket wrote:

I have a Gates on my car for oh 2 weeks now lol.   But I also put one on my Fleetwood a years ago and to my knowledge it's still going (sold it to a friend and he hasn't mentioned a WP failure).

Thanks, I appreciate the info.

I have used the AC delco with descent luck on our old 96 Roadmaster with 323K. Those pumps would average 80K before failure. I know not great but used GMB once and that one went only 5K and dumped coolant all over the distributor causing that to fail too!