Replacing the wp is cake man. You will need couple of O-rings tho. Check out shobox.com for pictures. No special tools needed but be care full not to spill anti freeze on the opti. Might as well change the opti while u down there depending on how much money u have.

 

alright good glad to hear it. thats what i was hoping, what o-rings will i need? somethin i can find in a universal kit or somethin im gonna need to buy specific for the car? the opti is only a year old so im plannin to reuse that. the water pump isnt actually dripping yet there is just some green residue by the weep hole so my goal is to replace it before it drips on the opti and save myself the 400 for a new one of those too. i figured i would wrap the opti in like a plastic freezer bag and tape it up good or somethin to help keep the water away, you have any good techniques to keeping the opti dry when pulling the pump off?

 

One thing to think about is the crank hub on lt1's are not like older sbc's, they don't have a key and are pressed on, in order to pull it you need a puller and something to put inside the hole of the crank that is small enough not to damage the threads, also make sure you put the number one on tdc and mark it just incase you move the engine which you probibly will when putting the hub back on. I would have a much longer bolt and some washers for when you put the hub back on so you don't strip the threads out from the bolt being to short and only grabbing a few threads. Don't worry if you do strip the threads you can always chase the threads back to like new. You can pull one of the brass block plugs on the back of the drivers side which will get most of the coolant out then take the lowest bolts out of the water pump first, well after you pull the block plug. hope this helps.

 

Don't ever use any bolt to pull the hub on. Use a high grade threaded rod and nuts/washers or use the proper install tool (which uses the same premise). Damaged crank threads can sometimes be chased clean, but stripped ones open the gates of hell for repair. You don't want to strip them.

 

i know its a super no no, but i used the crank bolt without the washer to pull mine on yesterday, just made sure the crank surface and the hub inner surface was clean, and made sure the bolt had at least 7-8 turns before i started cranking on it. it didnt feel tight until it got pretty close to being fully on, i also tapped on the hub using the crow foot, and tapping it with a hammer. i didnt run into any issues, but i only did it that way since the hub installer i had wouldnt reach the crank threads, plus i figured it was the same theory. i do consider myself lucky, since ive read the horror stories.

 

Yeah I have to agree the using the bolt is not the best idea, use the threaded rod.

 

well i had the car up in the air at work the other day and there is a little drip forming by the weep hole on the bottom of the water pump and the front crank seal has been dripping for a while now so i want to take care of them, especially the water pump before it kills my opti. i got the new pump and seal, and the seal i'm not worried about, the water pump though i was wondering if im going to need any special tools to change, i now it is gear driven on the back side but i've never seen one apart to know exactly what to expect. any advise, tips, tricks, or suggestions, or pics if anyone has any would be awesome.

thanks guys

I just changed my 96 LT1 WP yesterday and here're a few tips:

It's easier to align the new WP drive gear with the sleeve extending from the block if the sleeve is first slid off the block gear and re-installed on the WP gear. THEN align the sleeve with the block gear.

Be sure to keep the end of the sleeve that has the groove in it facing toward the engine side.

DON'T FORCE THE PUMP ON. Use only hand pressure to install the pump until it's flush with the block. DON'T try pressing the WP on with the bolts.

Incrementally Cross tighten the WP bolts. My FSM calls for 30 lb/ft.

I used a thin layer of RTV on both sides of the gaskets and thread sealant on the bolt threads after cleaning off all the old sealant with a wire wheel.

Hope this helps.

Jake