Help replacing water pump! 93 v8i

Some cars have particularly narrow gaps to put a fan spanner in. Grinding down a nearly-fits spanner with an angle grinder will require you to wear earmuffs to hide the screams of the devout spanner set worshippers. :angel: Not that I know any, just warning you in case you see one nearby. :) Oh and you can remove metal to widen the jaws of one too, if that's what you want. Just don't expect it to accept monster torque on a real bolt later on without breaking and then pass a warranty inspection at the tool shop. :p

However if the thickness of your ordinary shifter or other suitable spanner fits without fouling on the pulley bolts, just do it. Oh, and car parts shops sell fan spanners too. :cool:

Grinding a spanner you butcherous little so and so, they dont go and put that protective finish on them for nothing and precicion make these things just so you can go and have at it with a grinder and a cutoff wheel to enlarge it to something it was never ment to be.. and then to just calmly reccomend slithering it down to a fraction of its original thickness just ot make it fit..

They make the right tool for the job dont be cheap go and get the right tool for it so next time I have to get in there with my right tools that were professionally and precisely engineered to remove those bits I dont have to fight against rounded and hacked back butchered and ruined nut and bolt heads from stripey apron cowboy back yard hacks...

(oh who am I kidding, anyone whose seen my "specialist tool box" or some of my threads have seen the things Ive hacked and butchered to get it done)

Do yourself a favor, if your going to grind the spanner use some template metal thats the right thick ness cut out roughly the shape of the spanner and put the spanner in it, work the grinder back and forth in long sweeps with a large contact patch on the disc so you get a fairly level spanner, do it on a metal bench and quench the spanner every 15 to 20 seconds or so.

when its down to the thickness you want go and get a square object that is the width of the nut or better yet a nut of the right size and carefully cut the opening of the spanner to size make sure you take the same amount of metal out of each side of the opening so you dont leave a weak spot and make sure your cuts are perfectly parallel.

It can help (if you have the tools to do so) to drill corner holes in the depth of the spanner so when you cut down to them you have some reliefe in the metal and no sudden sharp edges.

So thought I'd just go out and buy the correct tool, second smack of the hammer and she's off! Thanks for your help really appreciate it!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bee utey

Some cars have particularly narrow gaps to put a fan spanner in. Grinding down a nearly-fits spanner with an angle grinder will require you to wear earmuffs to hide the screams of the devout spanner set worshippers. :angel: Not that I know any, just warning you in case you see one nearby. :) Oh and you can remove metal to widen the jaws of one too, if that's what you want. Just don't expect it to accept monster torque on a real bolt later on without breaking and then pass a warranty inspection at the tool shop. :p

However if the thickness of your ordinary shifter or other suitable spanner fits without fouling on the pulley bolts, just do it. Oh, and car parts shops sell fan spanners too. :cool:

---

So how much do I actually need to remove to get this dam water pump off ???

Fan, belts, water pump pulley, power steer pump/brackets...alternator?? (its been a while). Some of the PS pump bracket bolts are a tad awkward from memory.

Thanks mate! Love how they make it a simple job. :-/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lars04

... Love how they make it a simple job. :-/

---

They did.



In 1994. :p

and when youve got it half way off you;ll need to put it allback enough to put the belt on to hold the water pump pully so that you can remove it so you can get the clearance to get at one of the bolts to undo it.

Dont ask, I just know ok. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

and when youve got it half way off you;ll need to put it allback enough to put the belt on to hold the water pump pully so that you can remove it so you can get the clearance to get at one of the bolts to undo it.

Dont ask, I just know ok. :)

---

And where is this bolt? I need to know!!!!

its on the water pump (the power steering pump suffers the same problem)

the lesson is...

before you remove the belt, use the belt to help you slack off the water pump pully (and steering pump pully) bolts so you can undo them and remove the pullies as soon as you have the fan out of the way.

You can already see the bolts I'm talking about once you have the fan and belt out of the way.

Best of luck getting spanners and sockets onto them if you dont pull the pullies. (It can be done BUT I only try it if someone says something like "bet you a carton you cant" or I feel like being a smart ass and proving it can be done)