The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Waterpump adapter plate plate install 235

I renently bought the water pump adapter plate for my 235 straight 6 in my 51 Chevy 3100. I'm having trouble getting the plate to seal to the block. The first time I may have been to conservative on the amount of silicone used. Just did it for the second time and was more generous. I'm going to let it cure 24 hours before I fire it up. I was just wondering if anyone has ran into this
Thanks

I did as well and had to remove it, scrape gasket, build a new gasket and resilicone. I wasn't thin or heavy with the sealer but gave particular attention around the bolts on the inside by giving them a little extra.

I haven't run the engine for as long as I did during the test runs so I'm not 100% certain it's 100% leak free yet. Once my wiring harness is in, I'll retest.

I had the same problem with sealing the plate, plus a few others. One hole, drilled exactly to the length stated, went thru into an oil passage. I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't leak after gooping the bolt up good. That adapter plate has issues that you don't discover until you install it..

I have only installed two of the plates (on 1959 & 1960 261 engines).

We followed the torque specs and bolt-length instructions in the instructions.

http://chev235guy.blogspot.com/search/label/Water%20Pump%20Relocation%20Adapter

We had no problems with leaks or bolt-length (but, we worried about drilling too far).

No problems with mine on the 56 261 engine.

If your second attempt fails as well, you might want to forego placing a gasket there and use only product instead. "The Right Stuff" from Permatex is a little pricey and cures kinda fast, but it is very effective at permanently sealing without a gasket, even with assemblies that have large gaps.

The drilled hole that penetrated the oil passage can be fixed by installing a stud, not a bolt there, with red Loctite on the threads.
Jerry

Maybe you misspoke Jerry, but there are no holes that go into a oil passage.
If the manifold side hole is drilled to deep you can go into the water jacket.

Just quoting another poster, who claimed he hit oil- - - -


I didn't think that was possible- - - -no oil passages anywhere near that part of the block that I'm aware of.
Jerry

The spark plug side hole can break through into the bottom of the front head bolt hole (which may have had oil in it), but that is the same as the 216's were done from the factory.

I used the adapter plate on my 1956 235,no leaks at all.

Tim

Just an FYI on silicone.

Should you be "Conservative" with silicone, or apply it "Generous/Heavy".

Here's what a radiator repair shop had to say....

The most frequent causes of radiator tube blockage is the
excessive use of silicone for water pump and thermostat gaskets.

The overflow or excess of the silicone to the inside
cannot be cleaned and eventually some of this will break free
with the water flow and carry on into the radiator,
in many cases lodging in the tubes and blocking them.

Silicone will not dislodge or dissolve once in the radiator
and dismantling it is the only way of removing the silicone
from a blocked tube.

Remedy, use proper gaskets with a good recommended
gasket cement.