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I decided to go the home grown route on the water pump so I obtained a new shaft and bushings from Phil Peters. I installed the bushings with a press and reamed with a piloted 5/8 ream, .625. The chrome shaft is .624. After hand reaming, I chucked the reamer in the lathe and power burnished the bushings for a minute or so.
The only problem I ran across was that the impeller was not drilled on center. The impeller pin hole in the old shaft was noticeably drilled off center. I aligned the new shaft hole in the impeller as best I could and ream drilled after alignment. The securing pin drove in tight and ought to hold OK.
Three pieces of 1/4" packing rope made for a nice seal and a fresh 1" expansion plug over the end of the shaft finished up the assembly. After a coat of black engine enamel, I'll mount the pump tomorrow.
Now, what do we use for water pump grease these days?
Where Are You From? Texarkana, Tex
Do You own a car built by Durant? And Now, A 1929 Durant D60
Got a few more things taken care of this last couple of weeks. I started to drain and refill the transmission when I found the input shaft extremely limber. This indicates, at least, a bad front bearing. I'll take care of that later. In the meantime, I used the already built tranny from my '27 Star project.
Now, I'll clean and relube the driveshaft and reinstall it.
I replaced the rear spring shackles with 35-42 Chrysler style and they turned out perfect. If I can find a set for the front springs, I'll replace those also.
Work has halted on the engine until I can get some parts from Uncle Gary later this month. I have a roadtrip planned after Thanksgiving to Gary's house and then to an undisclosed location for a pile of Star parts.
Where Are You From? Texarkana, Tex
Do You own a car built by Durant? 1923 Star C touring, 1927 Star M coupe, 1929 Durant D60 Express Wagon
I had a brand new rear seal assembly so I used that. The front felt seal was replaced by a Timken seal #471870. This was the only seal that would fit in the chain cover.
See pic, I carefully cut the spot welds on the felt seal retainer. That left a formed retainer that the Timken would fit snugly into. To secure the seal I spot welded three equal places on the new seal to keep it in place.
This seal is sized for a 2" shaft so the vibration balancer journal, which is 2.086" must be cut down to 2" on the lathe. This will give a perfect sealing surface for the new seal.
I can't believe I don't have a pic of the new seal installed. Anyways, anyone performing this modification will know how to orient the seal for proper operation.
