I finally sealed up my water pump by roughing the block surface, it was actually, get this, too smooth to seal...it was glazed over or polished or something...I know, it sounds crazy, but as soon as I roughed it up a bit with 320 grit it sealed perfectly. Here is a pic of my last pressure test set up: http://tinyurl.com/oup4n4j (before I pressurized the system)

Well, if you read my water pump leak saga, you know that during my most darkest hour (and mind bending moments) I considered using a silicone gasket for the water pump - no more sealants!

Well, Real Gaskets went out of their way to make me a couple sets (I paid them of course) but now that my water pump is leak free, I'm loathe to open it back up and try these: http://tinyurl.com/p5zt4zu

As you can see, they even created a part number for it, RG-12593. If anyone has their water pump off and wants to try these, I'd be happy to send a set to you for free. The only catch is, you have to actually try them and let me know if they work. If they do, and I think they will, you can keep them! Real Gaskets will produce them if we provide feedback that they work.

Keep in mind, since these are silicone, you can't torque them down like you would a normal gasket, so you'll have to use lock tight on the bolts so they don't come loose. The only possible issue that I see is perhaps some lateral movement from the belt tension on the water pump pulley, but the bolts should seat against the water pump body through holes. In fact, I would make sure the pump holes are seated against the bolts on the side facing where the belt engages the pulley, that way there will be no chance of lateral movement. Somebody on the boards mentioned their thickness, that 1/8" (total) would place the belt (pulley) out of alignment with the dampener and alternator pulleys, but that shouldn't be an issue. I've accidentally put my belt on the outer of two pulleys on my alternator before and it works fine and that was like 1/2" out of alignment with the other two pulleys.

Just PM me if you want to be a guinea pig for this experiment. I make no promises or warranties, this are to be taken "as is." I know, I'm crazy for even having these made, but I'm a scientist, I can't help myself...

Brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2