superfastrx7

I was trying to replace the gasket between the rotor housing and the water pump housing. What I am calling "water pump housing" may be called something different. This is the piece that you bolt the water pump to and has water hose to radiator connection, sensor on the back side near the rats nest.

Anyways, I have removed the water pump, sensors, radiator hose and turbo hose but can't seem to be able to remove this piece. It appear that there are four studs that hold the this pump housing and the water pump together.

I tried moving it back and forth and it is loose but one one of the studs almost seems like it's stock or has rusted enough to bond against the housing. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Can this stud the removed or broken loose?

Thanks

jd to rescue

iTrader: (3)

I don't want you to feel dumb, but the replacement of the water pump gasket is a fairly straight forward process. I do not think you even need to remove the upper radiator hose to do it. The water pump housing is more like a plate that bolts to the front of the engine. Once you have the IC piping and the belts out of the way, you should be able to unbolt the water pump housing. You may need to loosen/remove the alternator as there is a bracket that may be in the way. Otherwise, it should not be very complicated. I think you are trying to remove the coolant inlet by the sounds of it and it is not necessary to do that to replace the WP gasket. By the way, use a good silicone sealant with the gasket for a good long-term seal.

superfastrx7

You are correct... removing the water pump wasn't any trouble but I decided to removed what you called the "coolant inlet housing" and this is the piece that I am having trouble removing. This is the piece behind the water pump and it too looked pretty much straight forward but once again I think one of the studs is stuck against the housing. From the looks of it, it should just slide out but it's not and I don;t want to force it out. I'm begining to think that it may just be best to leave it alone. Thanks for the reply.

jd to rescue

iTrader: (3)

Well, of course, I was not able to pull up the on-line shop manual, so I did not get a refresher look at what you are dealing with. You may want to check on the stud that is stuck to see if there is a nut on the back side of the housing that is simply turning once you have it loosened.

CantGoStraight

In order to remove the water pump housing you have to double nut the studs and remove them from the front housing. When you get them out you'll have plenty of rome to lift it out. It's not a direct lift and you can break/damage your oil lines from the oil metering pump. It will require a lift , twist , tilt and lift again till it clears the lines. Once you get it out you'll have to take note of a very thin shim that goes behind the water pump housing. I'll see if I can find my thread with pictures. Jack

superfastrx7

Thanks Jack.... I figured it wasn't as easy as it looked. Please post a reply with the thread and or e-mail me at morasj@aol.com

Thanks again and now it makes sense why the damn thing wasn't giving. I guess you had to remove all the studs first then work it side to side, lift, etc. And yeah those oil lines are in the wrong place. I will have to be extremely careful not to bust them.

CantGoStraight

Here's one of the links with a picture in it. Of course your looking from the back side of the water pump housing.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/coolant-leak-486744/
I'm still searching the other link/thread where another member went through the exact same thing your doing. It's next to impossible to remove the water pump without damaging the gasket between the water pump housing and the front cover. I'll continue looking for the other thread. In the mean time if you have any other specific questions let me have them. Jack

CantGoStraight

Here's the other thread, see if there's anything in there to help you out. Jack
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...housing+gasket

superfastrx7

Thanks a bunch for the info. I searched but no success so go figure. You rock bro.

jd to rescue

iTrader: (3)

I thought this might be what you were dealing with. Glad to see you got some help.

CantGoStraight

Any thing specific I maight be able to help with ??? It's been awhile but it wasn't that bad and I didn't have to take allot out of the car to work on it, IC for sure but that's about it unless your running a stock air box. Jack

superfastrx7

Removed it last night and I am glad I did too (I almost said F#$it at one point). After looking at the gasket, you could tell the gasket was no longer holding water. Once I removed the studs I just pulled the housing off.... carefully that is not to damage the oil metering lines. I am also installing a down pipe, doing a vac. job, Effini Y pipe, new radiator, AST, etc. so fortunately all the crap was out the way already. Jay

CantGoStraight

Glad you got it out all right. One thing I did (not sure about oter folks) was to apply a little silicone sealant on the threads of the studs and the pivot bolt for the alternator when I reinstalled them. The pivot bolt for the alternator deffinately goes in to a water jacket and has been know to leak a little if left lose. Jack