Water Pump Pulley Spacer

[rb6667]

Pulled the water pump pulley off today, and surprise, an aluminum spacer was behind it, and fell off onto the floor.  It can go back on the pump either way.  One side has a series of recessed ports. The other side is smooth.  Which side goes  towards the pump flange.  Solid or Recessed? 

Thanks in advance.

Rb6667

[Tomnistuff]

I suspect that if you look very closely at the waterpump hub and the fan flange, you will see on one of them, the light outline of the edge of the recesses.  It will probably take a mirror and good light.
Tom Kizer

[Tomnistuff]

I don`t know your number but on the EPC exploded views, a 280SL has the recesses of the spacer oriented toward the fan.
Tom Kizer

[rb6667]

Thanks for the reply Tom.  This is one of those things that may not make any difference......but we all have made mistakes by thinking we know all.  It does appear that the spacer had been Glued into the pulley by a PO/Mechanic.   Not real sure on this but, it looks like some RTV or something similar was used in the past on the smooth side, thus this would have mounted contrary to what the EPC is showing. This would put the recesses towards the pump flange.  I did notice that the spacer is the same diameter as the flange on the water pump if it's mated with the side that has the recesses.   Flip it around and it's a little larger in Diameter.

I can not see any difference in the spacing on the pulley regardless of which way it's facing.   The water pump pulley lines up with the crank and tension pulleys perfectly either way.

Hopefully a member that has been down this road before can shed some light on this.
   

Thanks again for the reply Tom.

RB6667

[mdsalemi]

Maybe the answer is too late; maybe you are too far in to the process to change, but the recommendation by Joe Alexander (which I followed last year) was to get a water pump that is the LONG NOSE variety that requires no spacer; it also requires shorter bolts for the fan clutch assembly I believe and is a bit easier to mount.

I removed my short nose with spacer water pump last year, and replaced with the long one.  No spacer required.

[rb6667]

That  is good information to know Michael.  There is nothing wrong with my existing pump.  I removed the clutch and fan to detail these items.  Fan will be blasted.  The clutch will be cleaned of all the gunk. 

What I really hope is that someone has put everything back together and found out there is a correct or not correct orientation of this spacer.  As mentioned, It may not make any difference.....but since this job is no fun to begin with, I sure want to get it right the 1st time.

When and if I do need a new pump, I will use the long pump so I do not have to fool with that spacer! 

Thanks Much,

RB6667

[ja17]

Hello,

I always put the open side on the pump flange. Not really sure which direction was originally installed. keeping the spacer in align is a bit challenging.  Line up the holes then use a little tape on the outer circumference to keep the spacer holes from getting out of alignment.

The engineers in the group will tell you why the longer water pump can handle belt loads better than the shorter pumps. Its also much easier to install the fan/pump assembly without that spacer. Something to think about next time.

[rb6667]

Thanks Joe, I used a low tack glue to position the spacer inside the pulley.  I faced the hollow side towards the pump flange.  I think this was the way it was on there to begin with.  Your idea of using tape would also work, but I saw your post too late.

Thanks again.

RB6667