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.
3 Remove the A/C-compressor...
3 Remove the A/C-compressor front support bracket to access thewater-pump mounting bolts. There are three nuts holding this bracket tothe water pump and three 13mm bolts retaining the bracket to the A/Ccompressor that will need to be removed.
4 There is an 11/16-inch...
4 There is an 11/16-inch nut on the end of thepower-steering-pump bracket stud and another bolt below the stud thatpasses through the power-steering-pump bracket. Remove both these piecesof hardware. This will allow removal of the A/C-compressor front supportbracket.
5 With the belt-tensioner...
5 With the belt-tensioner assembly and A/C-compressor supportbracket out of the way, remove the heater and bypass hoses from thewater pump. Inspect all hoses carefully and replace any that arequestionable. For clutch-fan cars, the fan shroud, fan, and water-pumppulley can all be removed now as well. Our Mustang utilizes an SN-95electric fan, so we had only the water-pump pulley to remove.
6 To have enough clearance...
6 To have enough clearance to remove the right-most water-pumpmounting bolt, our Paxton blower bracket will need to be loosened andrepositioned to allow the bolt to slide out of the water pump. ThePaxton idler and tensioner pulleys will have to come off to access theAllen-head retaining hardware for the forward-most blower-mountingbracket.
7 Once the Allen bolts and...
7 Once the Allen bolts and spacers have been removed, the frontblower bracket can be shifted forward, which will allow access to therear bracket and its retaining bolts. The tough one is the recessed9/16-inch bolt that secures the top of the Thermactor air pump.
8 Once the blower bracket...
8 Once the blower bracket has been shifted forward and to theright as much as possible, a swivel socket finally allows access to thewater-pump bolt we've been after. The remaining 5/8-inch water-pumpbolts are now easily accessible as well. Remove all the bolts and thelower radiator hose to free the water pump from the timing cover. Scrapeoff any remaining gasket material from the timing cover--but be gentlesince the aluminum cover is soft and can be easily gouged, causing aleak.
9 Here's how your timing...
9 Here's how your timing cover should look when it's ready forthe new water-pump assembly. A thorough scraping of the gasket surface,followed by some sandpaper, will result in the clean surface you needfor a proper, leak-free installation.
10 To prepare the new Edelbrock...
10 To prepare the new Edelbrock water pump for installation,install the hose fittings for the bypass and heater hoses into the pumphousing, using thread sealant. You can use pipe plugs in these holes forracing applications or if you want to run a bypass hose but not a heaterhose.
11 The new water-pump gasket...
11 The new water-pump gasket will properly line up only one way.Make sure the gasket is positioned correctly, then use a spare amount ofPermatex nonhardening sealer or similar product to adhere the gasket tothe water pump. Let the sealer cure enough so the gasket stays put. Thiswill prevent any problems with gasket shift during installation.
12 Because our Mustang was...
12 Because our Mustang was wearing an electric fan and a thickFluidyne radiator, space was tight for removal and installation. Thelong water-pump bolt on the driver side and the right-most bolt thatbarely clears the blower bracket had to be installed into the water pumpfirst. The water pump with the two bolts were then lowered into placeand secured. None of this will be a concern on a car with a clutch fan.
13 The new Edelbrock Victor...
13 The new Edelbrock Victor Series water pump is now completelyinstalled. If you can't remember where the different length and typewater-pump bolts go after you've removed them, taking a good look atthis photo should help.
14 Since our hoses were in...
14 Since our hoses were in fine shape, we can reuse them.However, if yours came on the car from the factory, now might be a goodtime to replace them. Don't forget to attach the lower radiator hose atthis point--otherwise it will be difficult to access with theA/C-compressor support bracket in place.
15 Depending on the type...
15 Depending on the type of blower and bracketry you have, thesteps will differ, but the only thing left to do is reassemble theblower and blower brackets to the engine. Once everything is backtogether, flush the cooling system and refill the radiator. We opted torefill our system with Evans NPG+ nonaqueous (waterless) coolant afterflushing and draining the system. The NPG+ offers a higher boiling pointwith anticorrosion properties and is perfect for hot-running 5.0s. Thisis a lifetime coolant and does not need to be replaced as do regularGlycol-based coolants.