1968 Pontiac Firebird project LeBronze making a driver quality ride. replacing a faulty leaking water pump on a vintage Pontiac engine and tips on preventing overheating too.
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1969 Trans Am video https://youtu.be/3v46u6SXHK4
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Hello-
This is Joe from Houston Tx. I love your videos. I'm changing my Father-in-law's Water pump on his 1976 Pontiac Firebird trans AM. The long bolt on the driver side broke off leaving about an inch of thread inside the engine. Any helpful suggestions on how to remove it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks and KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
64 has 2 gaskets
i never thought about the water pump clearance been fighting my over heating problem , installed dual fans and a .750 tube two core rad. i might give that try before i go two number 3 radiator
How did you charge to replace that water pump?
Great video! Which leads to my water pump question. I have a 68 Firebird with the 350, Edelbrock 4 barrel intake. My water pump is good however I have the dreaded leak where the water pump and the intake meet. I have coolant dripping from this area onto my valley pan and from there it dribbles downward making its way to my garage floor. Research tells me there is an intake to water pump seal that causes this and that the intake needs to come off along with the water pump and then reassembled for proper installation of the seal. Have you ever done one of these on your other Firebirds?
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Found a solid 66GTO roller. Rebuilt 389 is gonna have a new home. I sent the 400 Trans to the builder and didn't mess with the turbo 350. Mama wants to drive the Cat.
I did the WP rebuild on my OEM 69 400HO, A local shop went thru it for me and put a better impeller design on it.
Was able to achieve just over 0.030" gap on the plate/impeller spacing.
Engine always ran out 180-195-ish generally even in Hot summer so About the same afterwards. Then had the Rad refitted W a 4 core on the OEM tanks , that made a nice difference in cooling too.
Very satisfied with this little projects results.
Great job on the new water pumper!
Good Video. Just subscribed and believe you will be up to 1,000 subscribers in no time.
I wasn't aware you may be selling the Red Bird. I would like to be second in line just in case John falls off.
Good luck to you!
Does this bearing have a water system seal on the wet side of the bearing. Most due, it keeps the bearing from getting wet, so assuming this does too I will continue. The bearing for the pump is steel ball bearing and races. When the seal leaks those bearing parts get washed or steam cleaned grease free by the coolant. So the steel readily rusted. Now we operate the engine some more and the bearing starts to wiggle and rattle. As well as any flow through the bearing carries rust particles and crud through there making the display on the inside of the pulley.
Thanks for the water pump tip. Def looking forward to the power top vid!
You didn't sell my red Firebird, did you?
3:53 Looks like a post-'68 timing chain cover. the earlier covers do not have the insert sleeves. Must be a 1969 or younger unit O-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n.