Proper/best water pump for a 1985 LTD LX? How to tell rotat

[zak]

Had no idea what a trek this would be.

Per the thread in the Mods & Maintenence section (Anybody ever see a 5.0 water pump do this?) I blew out my water pump seal by leaving it under pressure for too long. I suspect pump and T-stat issues may be contributing to my 12 mpg average.

NAPA listed quite a selection (www.napaonline.com) plus they are the only ones that carry a proper heater core to water pump molded hose, so I've started with them. No less than 5 pumps are listed for the 85 LTD LX (followed by what I've learned about them having taken apart 3 so far)

Duro Pro 1251440 cast iron housing (heavy) with contoured internal flow paths, Police/taxi version, needs 2 extra 2 inch long 5/16-18 bolts (holes are already drilled taped into our timing covers). 85 stock water pump pulley does not fit, holes in pump flange are inboard

Duropro 1251700 Light aluminum housing, no extra bolts needed, pulley still does not line up per above. No internal flow contours, smaller 6 vane impellor.

NAPA New 554024 ALuminum housing, standared 5 bolt, no internal contouring, small 6 blade impellor. This is what I have in hand at the moment. Listed in NAPA catalog as clockwise rotation - is this correct for my sotck serpentine belt setup? Pulley fits, blades have "side edges" running in the same direction as the pump I took off, however that was a rebuild so I can;t trust it. All pumps discussed above have the same blade orientation.

motorcraft.com indicates a PW222 is for the 85 LTD LX. Maps to an updated 1986 part (86 was an upgrade pump year acording to 5.0 Bible). However, local ford parts counter indicates PW201 is the proper one, does map to the 85 Mercury Marquis LTS.

Any advice appreciated, only one NAPA pump (554035) is listed as counter clockwise. A few have P suffixes which apprently inciate Performance.

zak,

[zak]

napaonline site is indicating that a PW201 is the same as their 554024 pump, so maybe I'm on the right track. Still, its listed as clockwise rotation . . . .

zak.

[zak]

Final note: Motorcraft.com site (already not to be trusted) indicates that 86 to 90 Mustang 5.0 uses PW291 (maps to a 1990 Ford part number so an updated peice). napaonline maps this to a 554038, which lists as counterclockwise, and again this p/n is listed under the 85 LTD LX.

I give up for the night - zak

[LTDScott]

I ran into this before. So many different choices for the correct pump on these cars. Basically, the pump must be reverse rotation (counter clockwise). But apart from that, I think any pump would work.

On my old CFI LTD, I just stuck with the stock design pump. On my SEFI LTD, I used a Mustang pump since that's the engine I have.

Unfortunately I can't remember which pump had the internal flow channels and which one was wide open. Actually now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the older CFI pump was wide open inside with a larger inpeller, and the later one had the flow channels with a smaller impeller. I remember because I had a heck of time getting the correct pump to plate gasket for the older pump since it was open inside.

Not much help, I suppose!

[sbcstang]

Do you have one serpentine belt or 2? The single belt I believe is a reverser rotation. I used a setup from an '87 Crown Vic on a 4 cyl to 8 cyl conversion. That had 2 belts. One went from the Alt, WP, Crank, PS while the other was for the AC and the oxygen pump. That water pump was normal rotation.

[LTDScott]

Yup, serpentine belt/reverse rotation. Same as the Mustangs of the same year.