Water Pump Pulley - 57 Vette

[Fearless Farley]

Bummer, my pulley for the water pump came flying off while cruising down the highway this morning. Got towed to my mechanic who says the best way to fix this design flaw on early year 293 blocks is to tap the end of the shaft and then bolt the pulley back on. The original design is a friction tap-on. My mechanic also tells me the engine has to be pulled to replace the pulley regardless whether they thread the end to bold on or just tap it on as per the original design. 1) Is this the right fix? 2) Is it necessary to pull the engine? 3) Will tapping the shaft and bolting the pulley in place cause a loss of NCRS judging points? Jack Farley Greenwich, CT

[Easy Mike]

Originally Posted by Fearless Farley

...Will tapping the shaft and bolting the pulley in place cause a loss of NCRS judging points?...

Probably.

[JohnZ]

You're talking about the crankshaft harmonic damper, not the water pump pulley; Chevy made about 35 million 265/283/327 engines with the press-on damper.

On a C2, you can drill and tap the crank snout with the engine in the car (with some effort), don't remember if there's clearance to do it on a C1 or not. In any event, drilling/tapping the crank and using a 7/16"-20 bolt with the correct washers is the right fix. Don't sweat a judging point or two - you don't want the damper to come off again.

[gkvetteuno]

Fearless, to help you with your decision, this would be an informative read---- http://www.ncrs.org/forum/archive13.cgi?review=89759