No one seems to want to make time for vehicle maintenance. That's ashame. Performing the proper maintenance on your Mustang now willprevent some repairs down the road. Transmission and coolant flushes,hose inspections, tire rotations, brake inspections, and oil changes areall imperative to a smooth-running, trouble-free ride. Unfortunately,most people run their vehicles until something fails. Then they panicabout fixing it, when normal maintenance could have prevented theproblem in the first place.
We decided to replace our water pump before it needed replacing, but wealso wanted to upgrade it from stock. Sure, you can install anyparts-store reman on your ride, but you get what you pay for when itcomes to the cheapo versions that are nothing more than stock units withnew bearings and seals thrown in them.
Horse Sense: Don't think of a water pump assimply the part of the engine that pumps coolant and keeps the enginecool. A well-designed water pump, such as one from the Edelbrock VictorSeries, provides equal distribution of coolant to both sides of theblock. This prevents hot spots in the block and cools the engine moreefficiently. When the engine runs cooler, you can run more timing orboost, and make more power.
If you want a high-quality water pump made from all-new materials withsuperior flow characteristics and heat dissipation, then the EdelbrockVictor Series water pump for reverse-rotation 5.0 small-blocks is youranswer. This water pump will help your Mustang's engine stay coolthrough high ambient temperatures and hard driving.
The CNC-machined aluminum water pump features a directional flow patternwith rounded radii to improve coolant flow, even at low rpm. Thecast-iron directional impeller, which is also CNC-machined, iscomputer-designed for optimum flow. No straight-blade, stamped-steelimpellers here. The heavy-duty impeller shaft measures a stout 5/8 inchand rides on high-quality roller bearings with superior seals for longlife and leak-free operation. The Edelbrock Victor Series water pump canalso be ordered in a polished version for you show-crowd types.
The Edelbrock Victor Series...
The Edelbrock Victor Series water pump comes with the pump gasket,screw-in heater and bypass fittings (plugs for these openings can bepurchased locally if necessary), and an instructions/warranty/decalpacket.
1 Our 5.0 has a Paxton NOVI...
1 Our 5.0 has a Paxton NOVI 2000 on it, so we will have someadditional steps to perform. But since blown 5.0s are so prevalent, wefigured our Mustang would be a good application on which to show thewater-pump replacement. Drain the old coolant from the radiator drainpetcock into a suitable container, and remove the upper radiator hosefor access.
2 Though not usually required...
2 Though not usually required in stock form, most blower kitsrelocate the belt tensioner, which requires removing it for water-pumpaccess. The Paxton kit requires the removal of two bolts and a nut toremove the tensioner and Paxton tensioner bracket.The blower andaccessory belts will need to be removed at this time as well.