440 water pump to housing gasket

[dave73chally]

Are there any other options out there for a water pump to housing gasket other than the thin fel pro ones? I have a mancini aluminum water pump and housing on my 440 and I cannot for the life of me get the water pump to seal to the housing without leaking. Maybe some of that crush type material for that some of the header gaskets are made out of?

I've pulled the pump and installed it twice. First time was with a fel pro gasket and gasket sealer on the water pump side. Second time was same gasket material with sealer on both water pump and housing side. I can see the small pinhole leak on the drivers side top dripping down on top the balancer and slinging everywhere

[cudabob496]

drain, dry it all out, put on gasket with a thin layer
of silicone sealant on each side, tighten down halfway,
wait a few hours, tighten to spec. wait 24 hr before filling.

can also use two gaskets.

[70chall440]

I would recommend you remove the housing as well and have the mounting surface lightly cut. I had one like that once that would not seal no matter what; had it cleaned up on a mill and it never leaked again.

If that isn't something you want to do, then you need to start looking at alternatives to the felpro gasket such as making your own with thicker gasket material and/or gasket maker to try and seal up the offending area, however you will not know until you fire it up and the system builds pressure.

[HP_Cuda]

Definitely pull the housing and see if you have any warp-age.

Use the gasket and Permatex high tack to hold it in place if you want. Otherwise you can go the FelPro Ultra Black gasket maker route.

[twalker]

Permatex high tack is your friend ... but that assumes your surfaces are true like mentioned above


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[dave73chally]

Thanks guys. I'll pull it and check it out and see what it looks like 

[dodj]

FYI, stacking gaskets will change your impeller clearance with respect to the back of the pump housing, affecting max flow capability of your pump. IMO, find the surface imperfection and fix it. 

[cudabob496]

FYI, stacking gaskets will change your impeller clearance with respect to the back of the pump housing, affecting max flow capability of your pump. IMO, find the surface imperfection and fix it. 

but there has to be some allowed tolerances.  Can't see
two thin gaskets hurting flow that much. But you make
a good point.

[dodj]

but there has to be some allowed tolerances.  Can't see
two thin gaskets hurting flow that much. But you make
a good point.

Not saying it will change flow by 50% or anything. Just that it will affect it, and, sometimes on hot summer days you want to have your cooling system working as well as you can. I believe most pump suppliers recommend a certain thickness gasket.

[brads70]

FYI, stacking gaskets will change your impeller clearance with respect to the back of the pump housing, affecting max flow capability of your pump. IMO, find the surface imperfection and fix it. 

It will also throw of your pulley alignment( to crankshaft) some....

Are you sure the water pump is not bad?  Also use thread sealer on the bolts as they sometimes go into water.

[moper]

I was going to say - new don't mean good. If it can be sealed, you might want to pressurize the system using a coolant system tester and see if it's really the problem.

[73440]

I just bought the same Mancini housing and pump.
Maybe I will lap the surfaces on a glass plate before installing.

[cudabob496]

is surfaces are not true, thats where the silicone
gasket maker film, on each side of the gasket, comes
in handy.

I had a badly leaking valve cover, and silicone RTV sealant
on each side of valve cover gasket solved the problem, as the surfaces
were not true. Key is to tighten down lightly, and wait a couple of hours, then
torque to spec.

[dave73chally]

Thanks for all the input. Picking up a new gasket and permatex ultra black over the weekend and I'll give it another go. Will check the surface prior to re-installing to make sure nothing wacky is going on. 

[cudabob496]

always have some of this in my coolant for last 20 yrs. Maybe use about 20% of a bottle like this. Prevents header bolts from weeping, and any other
water leaks. Just little very tiny pieces of alum that float in your coolant, and plug any leaks.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=oV2pIMXm&id=DA99BFCBFC5A17734C4AE53DDFA961EEB2E54CA9&q=alumaseal&simid=608044001775652375&selectedIndex=18&ajaxhist=0