Rubber Fitting for Small Block Water Pump

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MuuMuu101

MuuMuu101

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I decided to start the car up today and load it with tools as I was planning on driving it from my mom's house to my new house in 2 days. I had the car idling for about 10 minutes and I noticed my engine started to get very noisy (lots of metallic sounds). Well, when I went to the front of the car, water/coolant was squirting off the top of the water pump. Hopefully, I didn't damage/overheat the engine. When I checked my water temperature gauge, after I shut the car down, it read 160F.

I'm glad this didn't happen when I was driving. All of the hoses are about 2-3 years old. I think it may be this rubber plug on the water pump spout. It's cracked to hell. Anyone know of a good replacement? Hopefully not rubber.

Could it be something else? Shouldn't the radiator cap bypassed the pressure to the catch can? Well, I guess if the cap gave out, there would be no pressure.

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That's a plug for the heater hose nipple. You obviously don't have a working heater. Getting the nipple out of intakes is a booger. Sometimes heat helps. Sometimes you have to cut them out. Then you can seal and install a metal plug. But yours is part of the water pump and can't be removed. Good luck. You can find one at the parts store.
 
toolmanmike said:
That's a plug for the heater hose nipple. You obviously don't have a working heater. Getting the nipple out can be a booger. Sometimes heat helps. Sometimes you have to cut them out. Then you can seal and install a metal plug. Good luck.
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We removed the heater core so no need for that hose. Do you know where to get a new plug?
 
pipe wrench the spud out and install an allen plug. If your lucky it'll still have the integrity to come out in one piece.
 
pishta said:
pipe wrench the spud out and install an allen plug. If your lucky it'll still have the integrity to come out in one piece.
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It looks like it's part of the water pump. Cheap *** replacement pump.
 
toolmanmike said:
It looks like it's part of the water pump. Cheap *** replacement pump.
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More like, small block pump of any variety. Seriously, they’re almost all like that, cheap or not. Flowkooler, milodon, GMB, Mopar Performance and all the stock replacements have the ports cast in.

The edelbrock victor series is the only one that has removeable ports for the small block, but at $255 it had better do a lot more than just pump water.
 
I'll assume there isn't enough wall thickness to the integrated nipple to thread it inside or outside for a metal cap or plug. If the rubber cap is the only solution I would look for highest quality,,, silicone maybe ?
 
I just ran a tap into the nipple, I think it was 3/8" npt and put a brass allen socket plug in with a little peratex.

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No I know why many just loop some heater hose from pump to intake nipple.
 
Just as Steven190 stated. My neighbor runs nothing but small block drag cars and he taps and pipe plugs them all. There is enough meat, just use sealer and don't over tighten.
 
Steven190 said:
I just ran a tap into the nipple, I think it was 3/8" npt and put a brass allen socket plug in with a little peratex.

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Darter6 said:
Just as Steven190 stated. My neighbor runs nothing but small block drag cars and he taps and pipe plugs them all. There is enough meat, just use sealer and don't over tighten.
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3/8 NPT? The only tap I have at my work is 1/8-27 NPT. What do you do about chips falling into your water pump?
 
Put grease on the tap and clean after a few turns and re-apply the grease.
Measure the hole to see what is the closest tap size. Do you have a caliper?
 
Steven190 said:
Put grease on the tap and clean after a few turns and re-apply the grease.
Measure the hole to see what is the closest tap size. Do you have a caliper?
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Dicer said:
Pack your tap with grease, it will catch most of the metal chips.....
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Any special kind of grease? I have calipers at home. I believe someone else told me 3/8" NPT.
 
Nope nothing special in my book, can O grease or grease gun.......I would think the thicker the better.
 
Good grief. For all of that work you could just replace the heater core. Even in SoCal a defroster comes in handy once and awhile if you're driving the car enough.
 
I also tapped mine with a pipe thread and put in a pipe plug.
 
Pretty much any way you look at it those rubber caps SUCK, and don't last very long before splitting.
Even a faked heater hose capped just inside the firewall with a PEX brass plug would look fine and be a lot more trustworthy.

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The only water pump I like is the Edelbrock Victor water pumps. They did a good job on those. Pipe tap that sucker and let 'er rip.
 
I used a 1/2-13 tap on mine but just got a edelbrock style and it is very nice having a threaded option.

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