Pre-War water pump photo needed for Bugle

[Pete Phillips]

Does anyone have an old, rusty, worn water pump impeller and shaft from a 1910s, 1920s, or early 1930s Buick that you could photograph and send to me? I need it to illustrate a Buick Bugle article on over-heating of late 1920s/early 1930s Buick engines, for the March issue. The more rusty and worn out it is, the better. I used to have one around my shop, but it is gone now. This is for the water pumps that are shaft-driven, and mount to the lower side of the engine. I'll give photo credit in the magazine to the first person who can get me a photo of this. MANY THANKS. Digital photo or print, either one, but it is needed pretty soon!

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Buick Bugle Editor

314 N Walnut St.

Sherman, TX. 75090

pphillips922@earthlink.net

[Mark Shaw]

Pete,

Does it really need to be worn out? I have three spares, & can take some photos and send them today.

[Brian_Heil]

Mine must be in good shape! When I drove straight (308 miles in one day) from Rochester, MN to the ferry boat in Manitowoc, WI in 100+F heat, my 1923 never missed a beat and only registered about 2 mm higher on the monometer from the normal spot. I checked my monometer out years ago with a modern thermoclouple temperature device and it still is correct. My radiator is original too.

When I hear someone comment that the old Buicks don't cool I have to just smile. I've seen timing off by 30 degrees, timing advance weights that don't move or advance, gunk filled blocks & radiators and water pumps with 'nubs' as the only memory of what the impeller blade once was.

Speaking of gunk, I know of a fellow who had so much gunk in his block that when he drained the water out for the coming Michigan Winter, the three inch deep 'donut' of gunk around each bore in the water jacket, retained the water and froze, cracking the 'dry' block. Always store with 50/50 coolant if you don't know what's in your water jacket or as I like to say ' you will find out what's not in your wallet'.

My other favorite cooling issue I helped correct was a chap who added an electric cooling fan in place of his engine drived fan to correct his 'cooling problems'. The beast would idle all day but would boil over down the road every time. He had wired the fan backwards so it acted like a pusher fan from behind the radiator at idle and did a fair job but down the road the ram air of driving would balance out the pusher effect with the result being no air flow across the radiator. Turns out his engine driven fan had been installed backards for years too which was his original problem to begin with.

I've seen water pump impellers pressed on backwards too and even left out all together.

Slipping/loose leather water pump / fan drive belts as old and shiny as my head. Get a modern wide rubber belt from the the NAPA store, they sell them in very short lengths. First tour in the rain and your expensive leather belt will stretch then be slung, bending your fan blades along the way even if it is not shiny.

And last but not least is the poor fellow who paid far too much for a full engine rebuild. The rebuilder was so thorough, he put little plastic shipping caps in each of the water pump inlets/outlets. Problem was, he never told anyone they were in there. He must have had a problem with mice in his shop? It took me a week, but I found them when checking to see if the impeller was missing. The happy ending is the owner who had asked me to do what ever it took to get it to just cool so he could sell it, has been enjoying it for years now.

[Pete Phillips]

No further photos are needed. I've had two excellent responses from this inquiry already, and I thank them for their quick response (they know who they are).

Pete Phillips