Got some Studebaker work done today

Dec 17, 2006 13 Replies

It was so mild here today that, after the lowly Redskins beat the Saints, I went down to the barn and put a new water pump on my '53 Commander. I was done, cleaned up and put away and out of the shower in an hour and 45 minutes. This included the four or five times I had to come back up my shop for something I forgot earlier. Piece of cake on that car. I had started it a couple weeks ago to move out so I could get my snowblower out (I get caught about every other year with the blower still inaccessible in the barn when we have 10 inches on the ground). The water pump was making so much noise that I was afraid to move the car for fear that the shaft would break and run the fan into my NOS (10 years ago) radiator. When I got the old pump off (about eight years old w/ only a couple hundred miles on it), I found that I had done something wrong when I put it on. Any guesses? Paul Johnson


Wrong length bolts or fan on backwards?

Weep hole 180 degrees off???

Paul Johns> It was so mild here today that, after the lowly Redskins beat the Saints, I

Nope.

Close- 90 degrees off.

messagenews:vSkhh.550$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...

I don't think that it had anything to do with the failure.

Questions I do have include:

  1. How many times was the coolant changed since installation?

  1. Was it a rebuilt?

  2. If "Yes," who by?

JT

oldcarfart wrote:

messagenews:vSkhh.550$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...

It's still 68° as I type this at nearly 11 p.m. But, Wednesday will end the warm weather honeymoon so watch out!

JT

John Poulos wrote:

26 degrees in Oregon on the way home tonight @ 0045hrs - and the fog was freezing to my windshield and CB antenna. I hope to hear real soon regarding my 61 getting out of the paint shop (Stude content).

Dan

Grumpy AuC>It's still 68° as I type this at nearly 11 p.m. But, Wednesday will end

Not changed (but very clean)

No. NORS.

Coolant that is over five years old regardless of use turns acidic and can probably be the cause of your water pump failure.

I happened to me and when the pump was dissected, it had eaten around the seal and weeped into the bearing...

Oh, and that was with using (as I always do) distilled water/coolant.

JT

Near 80 again today. But beginning tomorrow will see a descent into gradual cooler temps with a possibility of snow flurries on Christmas day.

Needles to say, got the '55 Prez very close to being "refired" which hopefully will occur on Thursday or Friday. Once that occurs, I will be taking a hard look at the current seats (which have been recovered in cloth) with the thought of dumping them and installing the Lincoln Versailles seats I have salted away in the country.

JT

Dan Kay wrote:

Today it was even milder (75 - 75). After I finished running a bunch of errand (including buying more anti-freeze), I topped off the radiator in the '53 and fired it up. Wow was it quiet (except for the exhaust leak, the whine in the tranny, the grumble of the worn out generator, the tap of the loosely set valves...). Oh well, the new water pump doesn't make a sound Paul Johnson

I cleaned under the hood of the 59 truck and painted the inner fenders and firewall with bed liner paint. It looks nice and should be durable as hell.

Paul Johns>> ...I went down to the barn and put a new water pump on my '53 Commander.

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