I bought the wrong water pump and need advice

[cerebus]

about a month ago I bought a water pump to replace my old one. I spoke to some board members and decided I should get a 73' style long water pump. So I went to part souce and bought the 73' pump (P929 is the model number) and I traded in my core for the stinking $3 rebate.

I broke my hand recently and havent had much time to wrench on this thing so it sat for a few weeks.

Now I got the new pump on and my alternator bracket doesnt fit. the metal around the bolt hole on the alternater bracket is just too big to fit on the back of the water pump.

I got frustrated and didnt want to start ordering parts blindly so I spoke to my mechanic. He said if I could get the core back he can figure out which pump I need.

So I went back to Part Source and tried to get my core back and it was sent away already. I cant get it back and I dont know what the part number on it is.

Any ideas on what I should do?

A) modify (grind) the parts to see if I can make them fit possibly making things worse
B) purchase new Alternator brackets blindly hoping they will fix my problem
C) take it to my mechanic and just pay for him to figure it out ( im trying to do this on a really low budget so I can afford other new parts )
D) ????

[GMC AMI]

That alt. b belongs with a long neck pump, but on the pass. side of the motor, not the Driver side. Never saw that on the drivers side. Others will chime in to help you for sure.

[jkaylor68gmc]

Take a pic of the pump from ground level

[67ChevyRedneck]

Based on your alt. bracket picture, I'm assuming your truck had a long water pump to begin with? My truck has the same bracket on the passenger side. It should look like this bolted up:


If the pump bolts up, I don't understand why it wouldn't fit??? It looks like a long pump... The bracket needs to go on the front side of the pump, not the back, maybe that's the hang-up

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by GMC AMI

That alt. b belongs with a long neck pump, but on the pass. side of the motor, not the Driver side. Never saw that on the drivers side. Others will chime in to help you for sure.

It's not on the DS, the pics are from the back of the motor looking towards the front

I was confused at first too

[cerebus]

Haha, K sorry bout the backwards pic, I was trying to show how there was not enough clearance for the bracket to bolt on the back of the water pump. I tried to line it up with the front of the pump but the bracket is not long enough then to reach the intake manifold.

[67ChevyRedneck]

^Well, then something is f'ed up

How far off are we talking? 1/8".... 3"???

[glock35ipsc]

The bracket should bolt to the front of the water pump. Might try a different bracket. No need to blindly order one, go to the parts store, most chains have them.

Measure from the front of the water pump where it bolts to, then to the center of the threaded hole on the manifold. Then go to the parts house or the bone yard and find one that matches.

[john]

There are two types of long pump brackets. On 67chevyredneck's pic the bracket goes to hole in manifold. On my pic it goes to a thermostat housing bolt and the boss on the front of pump is a different length. Note mine came with a spacer when i bought the pump. Rednecks does not have the spacer. Parts stores usually carry the chrome brackets to fit both styles. On my old pump the pump boss was about 5/8" longer.

[cerebus]

Based on what you guys said, I ordered the new alternator bracket yesterday. It should be in next week. I hope it fixes the problem. That means I can give life to the beast and drive it for a few months

To answer the question on how short the current bracket is. If I were to bolt the bracket to the front side of the water pump its about 1/2" too short to reach the intake manifold.

Thats why I was trying to bolt it to the back of the water pump, because it would reach the intake manifold. I figured it looked wrong but it was the only way to make it work

[Scott68-93-97]

Best thing to do is go to the junkyard and get the bracket off a 73 and up for $5 check out the pictures on my 68 build ther are pics of the motor that show all the different newer brackets because I replaced all the brackets and accesorys on mine to the 73 up style.