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Water Pump Restrictor Plate

A

Andy W.

Wanna Fight About It?
Joined
Jul 19, 2000
Messages
2,667
Location
MD!
Well,
After 115K miles, I'm finally replacing my water pump. I've never had a cooling problem. Well I've got a surprise. Has anyone ever seen a removeable restrictor plate.

SVTWPHNR1.JPG

SVTWPHNR2.JPG

SVTWPHWR1.JPG

SVTWPHWR2.JPG

SVTWPR1.JPG

SVTWPR2.JPG


Any feeback would be great, I've never seen this peice before.

Thanks,
-Andy
 
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Heh.. yeah, it's pressed in and shouldn't move. I had a swirling/rattling sound coming from my w/p. I figured it was the reducer cone... and it had sliced up the housing pretty good. The full kit (w/p, housing, both big hoses) isn't that much... like $70 or so from Bill J. It was actually cheaper than any place near by, just for the w/p.
 
Ya, I don't think that thing should be removable. I believe that Jim (Big Jim) commented on this issue on the old forums.

I replaced my water pump this summer (thought it was the black plastic, but found out it was white) and that piece could be wiggled a little, but was secure in the housing.

EDIT: Morbid got to it first, but ya, the Bill J deal is a good one, the hoses and the full sealed housing for like $70ish, and ridiculously fast shipping as usual.
 
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Yes, that's how I found mine when I changed it a long time ago. It had about 80,000 miles on it and it has 222,000 miles on it now.

I was trying to change only the rear part with the impeller, pulley, and bearing only without changing the entire pump. I bought the entire pump, but was trying to take a shortcut. When I pulled the old pump apart, the stainless steel ring fell out.

The plate is held in place by staking the housing, expanding the housing metal against the plate, holding it tightly. I felt that I did not have good access to stake it back in place with a punch or chisel withpout removing the housing. Since that would require removing the housing from the car, I just went ahead and installed the new one instead.

Look at the inside of the housing and the see for yourself. You may feel that you can stake the plate back in without removing it from the car.

I have had no waterpump trouble since replacing it.
 
Thanks all,
I'll be pulling the housing out tomorrow and seeing if it can be presed back in. If not I'll be calling around to Ford's in the morning.

Thanks all,
-Andy
 
My first thought when opening this thread was: "Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low". :laugh:
 
My opinion is that it's worth a little extra time, effort and money to replace the entire housing now and eliminate all uncertainties about overheating in the future.
 
I had previously just replaced the w/p... but it had a slight leak from the mating surfaces. Before I could get around to remounting it, it started with the rattle... and I replaced the whole thing. I wish I would have just gotten the entire kit from the start.
 
I have a brand new unused housing. Came with the car. LOL! Anyone want it for a small price PM me.
 
We ended up peening the flow control washer in place. I took pictures. I'll try and post them tonight with more details.

-Andy
 
What do you mean you haven't had any problems since? Have you disassembled the w/p to make sure the reducer cone's cutting of the housing is within spec limits?

If the cone came out, it's broken. You can't just toss it in there and expect it to stay in place. It will swirl around with the impeller, cutting up the housing (loading your coolant with metal flakes) and wearing down your impeller (if it's plastic... it put a nice polish on my metal impeller).
 
morbid said:
What do you mean you haven't had any problems since? Have you disassembled the w/p to make sure the reducer cone's cutting of the housing is within spec limits?

If the cone came out, it's broken. You can't just toss it in there and expect it to stay in place. It will swirl around with the impeller, cutting up the housing (loading your coolant with metal flakes) and wearing down your impeller (if it's plastic... it put a nice polish on my metal impeller).
Click to expand...

That's why I called him a big dumb idiot :)
 
Ok,
Well I didn't have the time or the money to let the car sit for a week. My dad is a 30+year Certified Mechanic on short term retirement, he sold his shop. He said it's common on all alluminum housings to peen things into place. The picture below shows what we did with a round nose punch.

SVTWPHPEEN.JPG


-Andy
 
Andy W. said:
Ok,
Well I didn't have the time or the money to let the car sit for a week. My dad is a 30+year Certified Mechanic on short term retirement, he sold his shop. He said it's common on all alluminum housings to peen things into place.
Click to expand...

Keep us updated on how that works out. Looks like it should be fine.
 
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