Water pump bolt set - a solution!

[kishy]

Cool to see this come to a conclusion.

So much for Napa having parts that aren't trash.

I know you know this, but there's a lot of naivety out there about parts and vendors so it's worth me saying...NAPA doesn't manufacture parts. Neither does AutoZone or eBay or RockAuto. It's all rolling out of a shockingly small number of actual factories and the exact same items are getting multiple brand names slapped on them to be sold in multiple outlets.

The aftermarket, overall, has a diminishing supply of stuff that doesn't suck at least a little, but there are still 'cheat codes' for finding the non-garbage. For example I think I had determined Standard Motor Products is the one making Motorcraft TFI modules, which you can tell plain as day by just looking at the unique features of the plastic molding.

I, too, had a fitment conflict between a cast iron pump which looked identical to yours and my alternator bracket. I don't remember which item I ground down to fix it but it was probably the alternator bracket.

[gadget73]

I know they don't make anything, but I was hoping at least they were using vendors that made parts that physically fit. I've had lots of water pump issues in the past, physical fitment has never been one of them. I was actually trying to find another of the pump that came off but it seems they don't make water pumps anymore. I'd have to look at the logo to see who made the thing, I found other pumps from them but not that specific one.


I ended up doing some mild grinding on the alternator bracket anyway. I finally tapped the upper hole on the alternator for a 7/16" bolt and it was just a tad too big to fit through the slot nicely. Have to say its nice being able to hold tension on the alternator with one hand and just tighten the bolt rather than trying to use an elbow for tension, one hand for the bolt and the other for the nut on the back side.