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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Water Pump Replacement

The water pump on my 1971 1275 is leaking at the weep hole. I've never changed the pump. Are there any hints or words of wisdom to ensure success.....or is it straight forward?
Kth Hurt

Its straight forward, no big surprices

I would replace the belt at the same time

Ohh, the little bolt hole ear is not as strong as it looks and ive heard of people busting it off
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Change the bypass hose, as well.
Dave O'Neill 2

take the opportunity to fully clean the coolant/heating system including engine block, heater matrix and rad and refill with fresh coolant/antifreeze

email me for a simple thorough cleaning system

whilst the rad is out also take the opportunity to get at anything that needs doing at the front of the engine (unlike me as I forgot)
Nigel Atkins

why would one take the rad out Nigel?
David Smith

(if following the simple thorough cleaning system I use) for a more thorough cleaning and draining
Nigel Atkins

sorry I was rushing previous post

no the rad doesn't need to come out for my simple system of thorough cleaning but that is included in the more thorough cleaning

with the rad out replacing the water pump would be easier and less chance of damage to the rad

I take it that you mean you can get the four long bolts out far enough to remove and replace the water pump with the rad in situ, I don't know as I had the rad out anyway
Nigel Atkins

yes the pump and the 4 bolts just need retracting far enough to clear the impeller from the block, then the pump slides sideways. Whereas the rad is held in with 8 fastenings, 4 of which are usually what the cousins call 'a bear'.
David Smith

"4 of which are usually what the cousins call 'a bear'."

Unless you've modified the radiator fixing for a very quick and easy removal :).
Lawrence Slater

I've taken the rad/cowling out three times on my present midget and each time no problems with the bolts, I was expecting a bit of hassle first time but it was easy, even for me

I will admit the last time I put the cowl back in it was a bit of hassle due to a previous owner's repair as one of the sliding captive nuts wasn't held properly, previous times muck must have held it in place but this time I cleaned the cowling too
Nigel Atkins

The engine block is iron and the new pump will be aluminium alloy and while the bolts don't pass through coolant it's one of those places where the use of a ARP stainless bolts makes sense if you plan on keeping the car a very long time. If using regular bolts grease really well with copper grease.
Daniel Stapleton

Thanks for the feedback. When I purchased the car the belt pulley was made for two belts....guess it use to have an air pump? Any way, I changed that to a single belt pulley. Plus, I have a yellow plastic fan. The fan is about 3/4" away from the radiator. Looks like it would be impossible to pull without removing rad. I have a fiberglass bug eye nose on the car, which pivots at the front and can be taken off easily, so removing rad shouldn't be to difficult. I flushed the cooling system a couple of weeks ago. I put in a portion of a can of rad flush fluid, ran the car for a while then disconnected the rad hoses and use house water hose to flush it out......I was also changing the thermostat, which was out while doing this. The leak from the water pump occurred shortly after this. Could the flushing fluid have damage the water pump seal?
Kth Hurt

clean and flush is a very good idea but it doesn't fully get out the muck/grit/crud and coolant and cleaning residue or possibly the more solid muck/grit/crud in the engine block particularly - taking out the engine block drain plug and scraping it with a stiff bit of wire whilst draining and flushing can get out a surprising amount of muck/grit/crud

however by cleaning and flushing you've already done more than many/most classic car owners so you're ahead

I'm not sure that a cleaner would damage the water pump gasket, possibly removing some of the muck/grit/crud by cleaning might have removed what was sealing it but that might not be the case

I bought my car with an engine that was reconditioned by the previous owner and then only putting a few thousand miles on it I was very surprised how much muck/grit/crud came out of particularly the engine but also the rest of the system, it wasn't a huge amount but much more than I expected considering

when I done a more thorough cleaning of the coolant/heating system last summer I was more surprised at how much reside coolant, cleaning or flushing water was left in various parts of the system which I had to syphon or blow out each time, it was the heater matrix that took the most flushing to fully clear out this time

I had the rad fully out of the car and turned it all ways, shook it, tried blowing it out but still some fluid remained inside for some of it to slowly dribble out when I laid the rad on its inlet and outlet pipes

I've had to do a few coolant changes and part changes over the last 7 years but it was only last summer's more thorough cleaning that really cleared the system out best I could
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 28/01/2015 and 29/01/2015

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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