Running a standard water pump on stock timing cover

[mob]

Hey guys, I have a quick question. I am going to only be running alt, w/p, and crank. So I guess I need to switch to a standard rotation water pump.

I've been searching around and came up with a 1990 ford f150 302 pump, and an 83 Ford T-bird 302 pump. I work at advance auto parts so matching them up is no problem.

At work today I pulled a water pump for a 93 mustang and a 90 150 and they looked exactly the same, different part numbers, but same rotation and angle of hose inlets.
So I pulled a water pump for a 83 ford tbird and the rotation was definitely different, but hose angles were the same. It looked like it would work but the angle of the D's on the back didnt line up with the 93 water pump.

So what I did was take the 93 mustang back plate and put it on the 83 tbird, and the holes lined up perfect but the water would just be coming from a different way but it didnt look like it was interferring with anything. I kept reading to make sure the "D's" on the back line up with the stock timing cover but I never found anyone to say if it worked or not and what pump exactly they used. I also saw a post where Mustang5L5 said to use Napa part number 55-4052 and I crossed that number and I came up with the same pump for a 83 T-bird. So the only way I can see this working is to swap the back plates, will this work? Anyone with standard pump and stock timing cover do this?

Also I heard you have to drill new holes for the water pump pulley if you want to use the serpentine belt, I noticed the pulley flange I guess its called on the shaft of the 83 t-bird pump is a lot smaller then the 93 mustang pump, not sure if anyone has any input on that, I am gonna take my pulley to work tomorrow and match them up and see what will need to be done. I want to be able to get to the bottom of this so anyone in the future who has this question can do this with no problem, maybe I should have put this in tech to make it search-able if a mod wants to move it.

 

[Cobra912]

Nick this is a good question to clarify. I know I had to do a lot of research on this as well with no luck. I ended up buying a Ford Racing standard rotation water pump, which lined up perfectly to bolt up but the shaft was to short to line the pulley up in line with the other pulleys.

I ended up seling it, using a ford racing (motorcraft) reverse pump, alternator, crank pulley, and my stock tensioner on a March A/C / P/S elimantor bracket. It has worked quite well.

 

[mob]

Hmm, I know this has been done before so I will keep looking. That is a good point on the shaft being short I noticed it was smaller but I didnt notice if it was shorter, when I match up the stock pulley, I will also measure both pumps length wise and see if they are the same.

I wonder if with that frpp standard pump you mentioned a spacer can be made to work in between the stock pulley and shaft.

Id probably buy the bracket from breeze automotive to move the alt to the driverside before I get the march p/s eliminator pulley, like this.
http://www.breezeautomotive.com/details.php?prod_id=158&cat_id=8#

I want it to be clean. Maybe Mustang5L5 will give some input I think he has done this too.

Weird thing is also on my computer at work for the water pump for a 93 mustang and the 80 f150 that looked identical there was a note that said standard pump, and for the 83 tbird pump it didnt say standard or reverse or give any kind of direction.

 

[Cobra912]

What were you going to run to keep tension on the belt? An adjustable alternator bracket or the stock tensioner?

I couldn't find a spacer for the FRPP standard pump, there may be something like that available.

 

[Cobra912]

It's changed a bit since I put my blower on but this is what it looks like:

 

[mob]

That still looks real clean with the march pulley.

Making a spacer for the pulley on the frpp pump wouldnt be too difficult getting the width right would be crucial though.

I am going to be running a march bracket for the alternator, but I may have to use the stock tensioner until I can afford the extra hundred bucks for it. I may just spend the money and get that breeze kit though, I've been eyeing it all night.

 

[Cobra912]

yeah I checked out that kit too. Someone else had mentioned it. It's the one that moves it to the driver's side correct? If so that one is sweet. I wish I had gone to that set-up in the first place as I had a polished alternator and it would have looked real good sitting there. But now you can't see mine so I sold it and bought a crappy looking stock one.

 

[white 89 GT]

I thought there were two different timing covers std rotation and reverse rotation.

 

[mob]

Alright so I am pretty much set on getting the breeze automotive bracket, but I thought I'd fill this thread with more information and pics I was able to acquire from my work.

The part number from advance auto parts is wp641 or from Napa is 55-4052. I know it goes on many cars but just ask for a water pump for a 83' Ford Thunderbird 302 and this will be the pump.

Now I measured the length of both pumps and they are both the same length so the pulleys should line up. The pulley flange on the t-bird pump though is a smaller diameter so you will have to drill new holes in your serpentine belt pulley to line up with the pulley flange on the t-bird pump. Here is a pic:

Here is how the holes line up.

You will need to line it up like this and drill new holes to make it work. Red dots are approximately where the holes will need to go.

Now here are the two pumps lined up, the tbird pump on the left and the mustang pump on the right.

Here are the two pumps with the backing plates on so you can see how the backing plate on the tbird pump wont work on a mustang timing cover because the "d's" are at a different angle and wont line up

Here is the tbird pump with the mustang backing plate on it, and you can how the holes will line up perfect with the tbird pump, and since it is the right backing plate for the mustang it will line up, so the water will just be coming from a different direction but will line up.

Now for future reference I have not tried this so I cannot tell for sure that you wont have any overheating problems because of the rotation of the pump but everything should line up fine.

 

[mob]

I just noticed that there are 6 fins on the 83 tbird pump compared to 8 fins on the mustang pump, anyone think that will affect cooling?

 

[bentley429]

I have ran both those water pumps. The standard rotation one from the t bird does seem to run a bit warmer but at the same time I added a auto so theres a trans cooler up front which I am sure isnt helping much.