Cool/Heat: SI Water pumps

[E. Davis]

Anybody had any experiences (good or bad) with the V/8 water pumps SI is selling. Understand they are from China.

[Mike Van Veghten]

Bought a couple over the years...no problems.

Mike

[BobPalma]

I've had one on my 1964 Daytona Wagonaire for a couple years. Doing fine. BP

[r1lark]

I always get mine from Phil at Fairborn Studebaker, never had a problem. Phil will be straight with you as far as where they are manufactured.

[stude dude]

Sold over a hundred of them, not one has failed so far.

Chris.

[E. Davis]

Thanks everybody...that's the information I needed.

Earle

[Bo Markham]

Anybody had any experiences (good or bad) with the V/8 water pumps SI is selling. Understand they are from China.

I've never bought one, but this year alone, I've had to replace 3 that failed. 1 failed after 2 years, 1 failed after 30 months and the other failed at 18 months. They all shared seal failure with leaking from seep hole. I replaced with American made pumps.

[SN-60]

About ten years ago, I installed a new water pump, purchased from one of our Stude vendors, (Not SI), on my Speedster. It had a bent shaft...The pump pulley actually scraped the water pump housing as it spun!.....I tried other pulleys...same thing.

Disappointing at the time, but that particular Stude vendor made good on this, and sent me a replacement pump right away......Have had no problems with it in ten years!

[jclary]

Gosh...what follows...inspired by a simple question about a vintage car's water pump

There is a "Truth" happening at the speed of life going mostly unreported regarding manufacturing, education, and economic development. It's not my intent to launch into a political rant, or diatribe. I hope the rest of us can resist the temptation, but someone needs to recognize the obvious. I was born during the midst of WWII, and recall all the activity around me as the area teemed with economic activity, busy textile mills, foundry's, machine shops, grocery stores, general stores, Sear & Roebuck, road construction, sub-divisions, shopping malls, etc. That was the peacetime scene here.

My first memory of goods from "off-shore" items coming from nations recovering from the ravages of war, were the toys in the "Dime" stores. Tin toys from Japan, electric stuff from Germany, and so on. The comments I'm hearing about stuff from "China," remind me of the comments I used to hear about items from Japan. Like any human activity, things progress. Now, some of the best quality goods on earth come from Japan. Why? Because, while they were recovering from the ravages of war, they also re-invested a portion of their profits,(and of course, what we called Foreign Aid) from "tin" goods, into new machinery, education, and infrastructure. That same thing is going on in China now. I have been informed by some former business associates who have made business trips there, that they are building new factories, buying new equipment, and educating engineers to operate them.

Here, in the good ol' US...we are dilly dallying with off the wall distractions. How long will we continue to dismantle our capabilities? How long will it be until we are "demanding" that a pump (any kind of pump) have the "made in China" tag, because we can be assured that it was made in the most modern facility, best machinery, programmed by an engineer with the intellectual capacity to make certain it is within tolerance.

Here, we may have workers receiving an artificially set "minimum wage," a degree from a "safe-zone" university, well versed in "diversity," and "sensitivity" training, and a whole wall full of "Participation" trophy's...but don't you dare ask him to break a sweat, pay his mortgage on time, or stoop to operating any kind of machine.

I once had a customer that rebuilt water pumps, generators, starters, and all sorts of automotive goods. Gone for over fifteen years now. The old manufacturing facility is now home to warehousing imported goods for distribution.

Sorry if this is offensive to anyone, but just look around. Your shirt may have a Vietnam label, shoes China, and even if you have a U.S. assembled car, the chassis could be from Mexico. Even this used hundred buck computer I'm using has a Made in Malaysia tag with credit for components given to six additional countries.

Gee...all this inspired by a question about a Studebaker water pump????

[unclemiltie]

I would hope that if you have a problem with any reproduced part purchased from a vendor you would contact them to make them aware of the issue. I believe we are very fortunate to have a great group of vendors whom are caring and will work to get problems resolved. They invest a lot of $ to reproduce our parts and want feedback. (PS for the larger vendors it is probably best to make sure the owner is also aware of the issue)

[E. Davis]

I've never bought one, but this year alone, I've had to replace 3 that failed. 1 failed after 2 years, 1 failed after 30 months and the other failed at 18 months. They all shared seal failure with leaking from seep hole. I replaced with American made pumps.

Were these pumps new or rebuilt??

[rkapteyn]

http://www.studebaker-info.org/text3/waterpumps.txt

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?92694-Water-Pump-Improvements&highlight=Water+pumps

Robert Kapteyn

[doofus]

Nice to know someone else sees whats going on,it's not just me. we own a '13 Hemi challenger that is a dud, even factory cant or wont solve the problem. i'll kick the soap box down the line. Doofus

[E. Davis]

These days in the "global" market I guess it all boils down to "you pays your money and you takes your chances".

[BobPalma]

I had an uneasy feeling about the statement (assumption) that SI's new water pumps were made in China; I seem to remember their being USA-made.

Indeed they are. I just found the box my new one came in, now holding the old one I took off my Wagonaire in the event the core is worth something someday:



So unless Ed Reynolds is misrepresenting the country of origin (and I doubt that!), they are certainly Made in The USA. The quality looks good, too. BP