WHY you should always replace your water pump when doing an engine swap

[Eikon]

If I were smart enough to order a new RB20 water pump ahead of time and have it installed when my swap was being done.. It would have saved me over $1500.00

No joke.

I had the swap done.. then flew 2000 miles hoping to drive the car home. Wound up having to get last minute plane fare home, then later spend another $600 shipping the car home. Then spent money on the pump, and the labor to replace it. All told, probably more like $1500. Plus, by the time I got the pump replaced, it is 0 degrees outside, and no point in driving a convertible.

You can plainly understand that with a bad water pump, you don't get circulation, and without circulation, you don't cool the engine.

Here is a pic from phase2motortrends website showing a new waterpump.. In other words.. what it should look like.

Here is what mine looked like...

a close up of where the fins are supposed to be...

sorry my camera is a little blurry with closeups.

Anyhow.. Please!!! spend the extra $130 to $150 dollars on a new water pump. Swap it in while the engine is very accessable. Save yourself lots of potential headaches.

[420_240]

courtesyparts.com has rb25 pumps for 80... just have to wait whenever they're on backorder

[Yellow4g63]

looks like the N-1R water pump. lol

[Carl H]

wow. that is beyond belief.mine was replaced not long before the car was cut, so i know its still good, but WOW.

[Eikon]

yeah... look at the buildup inside the entire pump. That is the reddish remains of what used to be impeller fins.

I don't know if you can tell from the pic or not... but that is all build-up. It's like a nice thick glaze.

[JonPowell]

"Nah, I am gonna wait on the waterpump...it looks brand new"

If I had a nickle for every time I hear this.....

[themadscientist]

yeah but think of how much you reduce the parasitic drag after the impeller comes apart.

[JonPowell]

3, maybe 4 additional horsepower there baby!

[accel junky]

was that impeller eaten away by rust?

[Eikon]

Not positive... but from what I understand, the impeller fins are not metal. They are actually some sort of composite metal like substance. They are designed to be submerged in fluid.

Again.. just my theory... With a lot of the clips that we get here in the US, the fluids have been drained for quite a while (at a junkyard in Japan, in the car in Japan, at a wharehouse in Japan, on a boat coming here, in a wharehouse here). When they are drained, they are exposed to new elements that they are not really designed for (salty air for example). When this happens they just break down and corrode away.

that's one guess I have.

Another guess is... the value of used cars is very low in Japan. It could be that this engine was driven until it had some overheating issues.. they diagnosed the repair cost of a new water pump (timing belt, tensioners, etc... ) and decided that given the value of this used car they were better off getting a new one. So it's possible that the pump just wore down before being drained, shipped...

Anyhow.. just guesses at this point.

[accel junky]

My front clip had the coolant still in it. Although it came out rusty when i drained it.

[Joe]

My front clip had the coolant still in it. Although it came out rusty when i drained it.

most do, they sit for years.

i pulled my water pump and it looked brand new, along with the timing belt. didnt change eithre and it has been flawless so far. *knock on wood*

[jamesblonde82]

most do, they sit for years.

i pulled my water pump and it looked brand new, along with the timing belt. didnt change eithre and it has been flawless so far. *knock on wood*

timing belt??? hmm

[Joe]

yea, RB's have timing belts.

[jamesblonde82]

i know that, lol, but acidentally clicked the rb thinking i was in the KA topic. my bad

[nizmo zilvia]

And a thread thats 2 years old? But hey at least you seached!!!

[Carl H]

2 years? try nearly 3.

[Eikon]

What a noob!!! I can't believe that OP.. They should have flamed that guy right out of here.

[lucky7]

lol, since we're on the subject. my water pump is brand new. the old one looked fine when it was pulled off. but whatever, i tossed it, and now i have a new one. lol.