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Water Pump Studs
I'm trying to patch my 81 Tbird back up. Got a radiator leak so I put in a new HD radiator, then after 2 days of running and only losing about 1" water from the resivoir, I go out one morning to add a little 50/50 and the whole damn system is bone dry! Apparenly there was a bad seal or crack on the water pump and when it got cold it opened up and dumped.
So I take the radiator, shroud, belts, fan, Altenator off. Then comes the brackets for the A/C and Power Steering and finally I get the pump off. joy of joys ... the timing cover's cracked too at a bolt hole. Now getting a timing cover and water pump is not a problem (other than cost) but there is a problem I can't seem to solve.
Where on God's green earth can you get replacement STUDS for the water pump. There's TONS of bolt kits out there but if you have an A/C and Power Steering they're not bolts, they're STUDS. I've been hunting the net for 3 days now and can only find a couple "stud kits" that appear to only have the stud for the altenator bracket. I'd reuse the studs but they are so pitted they'll surely break. It's a miracle I got them out in one piece. I'd use all-thread and just change the nuts on the bracket end to the same thread but #1 it's tacky, #2 it's bound to overtorque the pump while mounting the brackets and crack it all again and #3 I worry about the sealing in the exposed areas. Then of course there's the Ford dealers but nobody has stock listings on anything that old anymore.
Any suggestions on replacements?
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