L98 Corvette aluminum water pump

Heres a cheap and easy way to shed about 10 lbs, and thats opting for an aluminum waterpump. Any corvette with the l98 has an aluminum water pump from 1985 to 1991. So you can get a cheap reman from the local auto parts store or for a few bux more a brand new one. The l98 is still a small block it just came factory with a roller cam, aluminum heads, and tpi fuel injection, the pumps are all the same. Now theres that option for the Heavy Duty version and the standard version, and to be honest i dont know what the difference is except in price, maybe someone here knows?

Aluminum body is the top of the line first you can get cast iron heavy duty with an cast Aluminum impeller vs stamped steel

weighs less transfers heat faster is the idea. The pump you are talking about it's the Heavy Duty Aluminum Body

pump. You'll also notice a Heavy duty pumps weighs a little less then a regular and obviously the Aluminum body makes it

weigh about half of the regular. I bought the this one of Rock Auto Airtex AW1121HX I am not recommending the brand

I have used this style of aluminum pump on 305 chevy before with excellent results. It's an all aluminum pump vs a heavy

cast iron pump with steel impeller basically. I should say it's not a must have unless you are running a big cam ,forced

induction or nitrous on a regular 350 the cast iron pump works fine weight difference though between the regular cast iron

and the heavy duty Aluminum pump significant but not huge cast weighs just under 15lbs and the Aluminum weighs just

under 9lbs.

Yeah i was just posting this for the weight savings, for someone who wanted an aluminum pump without the high price of aftermarket pumps, not that there was anything wrong with stock iron pumps, ive never had a problem with the old iron pumps, in fact when i bought my 79 caprice 3 years ago it still had the original pump on it with 101,000 miles, not a leak to be found any where, i kept the original motor and everything on it when i put the new crate motor in.

In my case when they lifted this crate motor out of the truck they broke the pump. I should have taken

pictures of that you wouldn't believe it without them. When I looked at this motor it was in a beater 1980 C10?

Anyway when I came back for the motor they had everything off it the bed ,the cab, gas tank and they used a

excavator to yank the motor lol these locals around here kill me. You can imagine how the pump got tweaked

ROFL. Anyway I said to heck with and bought aluminum everything pumps, pulleys ,etc.

I actually bought an aluminum short water pump for my 327 build a few years ago, but it wouldn't work with my alternator bracket and intake. I might be able to use it on the Caprice 350 though. A word about stock cast iron pumps. When you buy a new one, don't buy a NEW one. Get a reman. That way you are getting exactly what came off your car. The Chinese seem to think that all early small block Chevy water pumps are created equal and have the alternator tab in the same place etc... ...and they don't. I learned this when trying to buy a new pump for a few cars. Go with a reman. The new ones are "hit or miss."

I know what you mean about new Made in China oem parts. Although one reman to stay away from are late

model Cardone Power Steering pumps especially for the Impalas. I bought three reman pumps 1 from a different

store and they all would not stop making noise after bleeding etc etc. I went to a yard and bought a low mile

used and never had a another problem. I never had a problem ever with a reman water pump that I can remember.

Is the corvette pump a long nose pump or a short one? A bolt in with no issues with V style pulley or anything like that?

Its about a half inch shorter than a standard long iron pump so a spacer would be needed to line up the pulleys, but the more i read about this pump, the more i think it wont work, because the corvette used a serp belt setup beginning in 1985 so that means the pump is reverse rotation, so it wont work on an old v belt system, might as well delete this thread.

With the weight savings and reduction of parasitic drag on the engine, I'm surprised nobody's gonna use an electric water pump.

GM B-Body Forum wrote:Its about a half inch shorter than a standard long iron pump so a spacer would be needed to line up the pulleys, but the more i read about this pump, the more i think it wont work, because the corvette used a serp belt setup beginning in 1985 so that means the pump is reverse rotation, so it wont work on an old v belt system, might as well delete this thread.

Nahhh, don't delete it. We learned something here. Others can see how we came to the conclusion.lol On another note, a person could use a serpentine set up with the brackets on their old SBC Chevys and then you could use the pump. Of course the brackets add more weight, so not sure how that will help in the weight department.

Sweet Seventy9 wrote:With the weight savings and reduction of parasitic drag on the engine, I'm surprised nobody's gonna use an electric water pump.

I actually thought about doing this on my 327 at first, but I would have had to add electric fans to the car. However the Caprice would be a good candidate for an electric water pump and electric fans. Something to ponder.

The electric fan is good for weight but I think unless it's high quality fan you need two. A lot of people I notice use one

most car maker use two unless it's 4cyl that's why I always found it odd that a lot of customs use one.

Fan tech has come a long way, but I agree a 2 fan setup is always better. If for some reason one goes out you still have the 2nd one to limp back home on.

Ponder this: When going electric for the fan(s) and water pump, not only do you save weight and increase your HP from less drag, but you increase your mileage too. What you pay a little bit more for initially pays for it's self multiple times over in the long run.

I actually switched to electric fans, well fan for now, ill be putting the other one on soon once i figure out what size and way i want to do it, mainly because i bought a Hayden 16" fan from my local parts store, and i was quite surprised with it. Quality is good, its made in the US, but it is actually enough to cool my current set up. I put it on about 4 months ago in the dead of summer in 95 degree weather and only one fan was enough to keep my car cool, im still going to add another. My radiator is 28" long on the actual radiator part, i was going to put two "14 fans, that would fit perfect, but those wont, and arent in stock and would have to be ordered, so i just picked up the 16. I decided to put one 16 as a pusher and another as a puller, but id have to put one in front of the radiator, but after now that i see the 16 is well capable of handling the cooling by itself, im still decidng if i should put a smaller 12" next to the 16 so it will fit, or just put another 16 in the front of the radiator, hmmm decisions. Probably should have just got two 14's to begin with.

Most newer cars have 2 fans, one dedicated for the ac condenser when ac is on, and one dedicated to the radiator even though they are side by side.

This is my current set up:
Ive also got a huge tranny cooler on the front of the radiator in front of the fan.

Your car seems pretty well set for cooling I have heard from others that with one good quality fan water temps stay low.

I want two so it will ensure low temps for the transmission, transmissions fail from one thing 80 percent of the time

heat. That's why I like a cool transmission they tend to last 2x 3x staying cool. I have a nice size trans cooler for that

2004r that will be going in. Although one thought I had was using what I have which close to what you have a nice radiator

and 16" fan and then using an industrial fan about 6-8" right on the trans cooler. What kind of pump and thermostat setup

are you using?

I had thought and actually might do what your talking about, i was thinking of taking the tranny cooler and mounting an 8 or 10" fan right on top of it, but i was trying to find a good location to do it. I was thinking in the space in front of the radiator and the header panel or bumper, but still have to do measuring for that. I think ill have to make some brackets if i do that.

Im running a stock reman iron pump, and a 180 degree thermostat, i put my temp sender unit on the radiator for now and it stays under 150 degrees, so im sure its running 180-190. For some reason the gauge pegs or maxes out when i had the sender unit on the cyl head, and i knew good and well it wasnt running 260 degrees all the time.

That's odd that the cylinder head location was making your gauge max. I was planning on putting mine in the block which I

read is better than the manifold. In the past I just had flexi fans(weird too that people complain about them coming apart

never had that problem maybe later Chinese) I never used an electric that wasn't factory. But the factory twins seem to

work so well. With airflow you're right the more space the better sticking a fan in a tight space where no air gets in won't

help. I haven't figured out how I will mount the cooler, but as you say it will take a tad of custom mounting and little bit

of planning. When I say industrial fan I mean those thick small blower type fans that you could dry hair your with and

they can be stepped up and down in speed.

GM B-Body Forum wrote:

This is my current set up:
Ive also got a huge tranny cooler on the front of the radiator in front of the fan.

That chrome radiator support cover sure looks nice on there!

Thanks, im glad i got it, it saves alot of room compared to the old fan shroud. I just need to get the engine bay cleaned up and the surface rust taken care of

GM B-Body Forum wrote:I actually switched to electric fans, well fan for now, ill be putting the other one on soon once i figure out what size and way i want to do it, mainly because i bought a Hayden 16" fan from my local parts store, and i was quite surprised with it. Quality is good, its made in the US, but it is actually enough to cool my current set up. I put it on about 4 months ago in the dead of summer in 95 degree weather and only one fan was enough to keep my car cool, im still going to add another. My radiator is 28" long on the actual radiator part, i was going to put two "14 fans, that would fit perfect, but those wont, and arent in stock and would have to be ordered, so i just picked up the 16. I decided to put one 16 as a pusher and another as a puller, but id have to put one in front of the radiator, but after now that i see the 16 is well capable of handling the cooling by itself, im still decidng if i should put a smaller 12" next to the 16 so it will fit, or just put another 16 in the front of the radiator, hmmm decisions. Probably should have just got two 14's to begin with.

Most newer cars have 2 fans, one dedicated for the ac condenser when ac is on, and one dedicated to the radiator even though they are side by side.

This is my current set up:
Ive also got a huge tranny cooler on the front of the radiator in front of the fan.

Where u find that at chrome shroud it looks good

I bought it from summit 20 bucks http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g3921
only the two inner bolts line up the outers would have to be redrilled, but i didnt want to do that, the two bolts in the middle are plenty enough to hold it all down

GM B-Body Forum wrote:I bought it from summit 20 bucks http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g3921
only the two inner bolts line up the outers would have to be redrilled, but i didnt want to do that, the two bolts in the middle are plenty enough to hold it all down

Sweet thanks man Ima def gonna get one
Also if u do drill it just lay painters tape over the hole and the chrome wont get messed up just a clean hole