Remote oil filter bracket and Edelbrock water pump
 

A couple of questions for those who have installed the Edelbrock water pumps on their FE engines.

This past weekend, I replaced my old water pump with a new Edelbrock pump, model 8805. The first thing I noticed was that the bypass port which connects the pump to the intake manifold is a "pressed-in" type of fitting, unlike the old pump which used a threaded fitting. Is there any reason for Edelbrock using a pressed-in fitting rather than a threaded one? Is a pressed-in connector any more or less prone to eventual leakage than a threaded one? Just curious on this one.

The second question deals with the mounting pads for the remote oil filter bracket. The old pump (a Dove remanufactured unit) appears to have had the lower threaded mounting pad on the left side machined down to accept the "original type" filter bracket. The bracket then attached to the pump with with two bolts which are installed from the front. The Edelbrock pump has not had the lower mounting pad machined down and the original style bracket will not fit on the pump. However, it appears that a flat bracket, constructed in the same shape but made of 3/16 inch stock and without the rear bracing, will fit if mounted vertically in front of the upper mount and behind the lower one. In this case, the upper bolt should install from the front and the lower one from the rear. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you solve it? Thanks.

Chopper-

As to your first question, the only answer I can think of is that a pressed fitting is cheaper to produce than a threaded one.

I just installed my remote filter bracket on my edelbrock waterpump and am familiar with your predicament. I followed the directions that ERA supplied with the remote filter bracket (I'm assuming you also have ERA's remote bracket) and it does work. You need to machine/cut/grind down the lower mounting boss on the waterpump to apx. 3/8" (measuring from the rear of the boss to the front) and then your bracket will fit. I used a cutoff wheel and file to do the job and it worked out fine. Truth be told, you could probably get away with leaving the boss 1/2" thick and it would probably work fine. However, I should add that my bolt configuration is as you described- the top bolt goes in from the front and the bottom bolt I did put in from the rear. With the bottom bolt, however, I put a nut on first and locked the bolt in place to create a stud, then put the bracket on and then locked the bracket to the stud with an egg corn nut (stainless by the way and looks pretty good).

Hope this helps.

Chopper Hi on the waterpump the nipple is pressed in, if you do not like it take it out and tap it and put a threaded one in. That is the dove problem you have. Why not call ERA, talk to PETE and get the bracket and adaptor to fit the way you want. Sell the Dove part to someone else. Rick Lake

Hey Rick- Where you been? I never got that private message you sent (or did you forget to send it.:p )

Thanks to Mr. Chaplin and Mr. Lake for your information.

In answer to Mr. Lake's question, I don't have any objection to the press-ed in fitting; I was merely curious as to why they would use this type of installation and then not at least press the fitting into the pump body prior to sale. It would have made some sense to leave the fitting out if the pump could be used on an engine which didn't require the bypass to be connected. However, if that was the case, then I would have expected Edelbrock to include a press-in plug with the pump. There was a threaded plug included for the heater hose outlet, but none for the bypass. My question was geared to understanding if there were some non-obvious reason that they did what they did, not a criticism of their manufacturing techniques.

Also, as to getting a bracket from Peter, I'm pretty sure the bracket which was on the car was from ERA originally. It's the same as the bracket which is available from FinishLine. As Mr. Chaplin pointed out, the lower boss on the pump has to be machined for that bracket to fit, and in fact the original pump had been so modified. However, in my desire to get the pump changed, I did an admittedly cursory examination of the Edelbrock pump, noting that there were the same number of threaded holes in the same general locations as the original pump. From this, I assumed it was all the same and bolted it on. It wasn't until I got to the point of installing the filter bracket that I realized it didn't fit, and I was sort of looking for an acceptable method of correcting this that didn't involve pulling the pump, expansion tank, etc., off again.

In addition to the above, I noted that the original filter bracket had a slight bend to it, resulting in the bottom of the filter being angled slightly forward of vertical. I don't know if this is the way the bracket was designed or the result of some damage. However, when used with one of the longer style oil filters, this slight bend resulted in an interference between the filter and the front suspension cross tube during removal and installation, and it made changing of the oil filter difficult without loosening the remote filter mount from the bracket. Even after installation, the filter sat about 1/16th inch from the suspension crossmember. So I was sort of looking for a way to resolve both problems at once. To that end, I had a buddy make a simple plate of 3/16th inch thick aluminum stock, in the same shape as the current support bracket but without the rear bracing. By installing the bracket vertically in front of the upper boss, and behind the lower one, I was able to move the entire filter assembly rearward about 1/2 inch, which gave me adequate clearance between the long oil filter and the suspension cross members. This should allow me to remove the filter without having to disconnect the filter mount from the bracket as I have been doing. It seems to work and I was merely wondering if anyone else had a better solution. I appreciate your interest and suggestions.

Chopper-
Machining down the boss also solves your second problem with the filter hitting the x-member b/c it effectively moves the bracket backward by the same amount that you cut-off. However, it sounds like you've found an acceptable alterntaive solution. And please, no need to call me Mr. :D