Boxer Water pump replacement guide (Including cambelts)

I took few pictures during the work of replacing the water pump.




Couple of tips before replacing the water pump. if you havent changed the cambelts for long time or they should be changed in short time it is better to do them now as it is the same procedure with the water pump. Another thing is that is a great oportunity to clean the refrigerator from rust and dirt with water presure from a hose and maybe using a cleaning product withou harming the coolant hoses.Last thing , just have a can of paint ( thermal resistant) black or whatever to just simply paint the plastic covers.
So here is the proceduer on a 1.5 8v sprint engine.My pump was damaged when it snowed here and all water were frozen in the engine.

We take of the first hose and let water out..
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/mxprs...m8j6_thumb.jpg
2nd out also...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/pefa4...pa9z_thumb.jpg

Disconnecting thermo sensor and fan ..
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/tvk75...7vz1_thumb.jpg

The fan finaly out.....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/nhp32...y4lr_thumb.jpg

Frig has only one bolt on top .Removing that and you have to pull it out of the box.it requires a little attention not to harm it on the generator...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/93hei...eyg8_thumb.jpg

Then we take out the covers and the belts..
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/wcnkt...q6jp_thumb.jpg


here we have opened the covers of the heads to check the timings.....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/ph5vb...elcd_thumb.jpg

Thats the left cover along with the pump puley......
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/dt06d...etv7_thumb.jpg

Thats the tensioner of the belts. We checked him and we found out to be little loose and noice.Tha made us to check cambelts which were a little dry so we decided to chenge them also ....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/2l5b2...1sgl_thumb.jpg

Thats what left when all parts where removed....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/yvr1j...a7lz_thumb.jpg

Thats the broken part. As you can see original part is from plastic.Fortunately i found a pump with all parts from steel so i think it will last...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/zobb5...cslv_thumb.jpg

Full set , pump abd broken mill..
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/gbkyy...c89z_thumb.jpg

During the time we waited for the belts i found the opportunity to use the water hose and clean the frig. Unbelievable dirt and rust , almost 10 minutes of cleaning. If i had a cleaning product i would have better results....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/cbjyb...c0ba_thumb.jpg

Thats where the pump is...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/6dej3...ucln_thumb.jpg

A quick glance at the staus of the heads.I know i have to replace the engine oil...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/30gvk...9qru_thumb.jpg

Thats where the new tensioner is from the grill..
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/pvl3u...xoi1_thumb.jpg

A more clear view of the tensioner....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/xgzhf...sjrc_thumb.jpg

We have installed the pump and we are in the proccess to correct the timing of the engine.It is done seperatly for each head with each cambelt...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/gsxpe...auek_thumb.jpg

We decided to change also the generator belt also. Fortunately i had a thermo paint (black ) and i freshed the covers. They look better in reality that in the photo.
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/8c7jx...rn2n_thumb.jpg

The difficult part of placing the frig back to the frame...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/o39p2...po7c_thumb.jpg

With a little luck , cursing and love and the frig is in place unharmed...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/zpqr0...sr5v_thumb.jpg

Installing lower hose ....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/gll3f...0x3m_thumb.jpg

Thats the difficult part of finding the bolt since it is not a steady one. Luckily we had enough expierence (and luck) to do it quickly...
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/f8mxf...oopl_thumb.jpg

last we install the fan back.it was a good chance to clean all the pastic parts....
http://www.imageshack.gr/files/pfl4y...0d9k_thumb.jpg

After that everything went smooth. We filled with untifreeze , we fired up the engine and waited to see the fan starting up on the the expected temperature. Also we checked timming and we synch the carbs.
We also changed the valvolines in the gearbox and few minor thing.


Everything went ok and now temp is arount 70-80 C and the fan kicks in at 85 but rarely.I think it is an improvement....

well done top job

Thanks Kev...

Ok , few comments .

When we were changeing cambelts we discovered that the right side of the engine had wron timming by 2 teeth. We fixed that and doublechecked everything.
Also we checked the synchronization of the carbs and we found that the left was opening a little faster than the right so the were balaced to match.The result was that the car had it power back and i tested it on the highway. i got a top speed of 185+ although it could go even more when before that it barely could reach 170.Temperature never raised above 85C and that only in heavy traffic but generally i had a average temp of 75C with enviroment temp at about 27-29C.

The Sud/33 cambelts are amongst the easiest to change. I recall seeing a Sud Ti that had recieved new belts by Les Dufty in Bristol where he managed to get the timing wrong (!) on one bank. I reset the timing and it went a whole lot better - it felt like 20 bhp more and the gearbox rattle at idle caused by the rough running had gone. According to this gent, the car 'needed a new gearbox'......

Well done and Thanks for the photographs! Glad there was no more damage following your unexpected freeze......

Yes , and furthermore i have to say that boxer engine is really bulletproof.
In addition to the damaged pump , couple of weeks later i had a water tappet damaged , the one in right and back under the block. So the engine had no water and if it had any it couldnt be circulated. So for about 3 months the car was working as an aircooled!!! like beetle before if repair it. I was driving it is a daily use but thnakfully my job was only 19minutes away from home .Also i have few picture of replacing the right front drive axel so if there any interest i can load them also.

I once had to do a repair to a mate's 1977 Alfasud which involved removing the radiator. I spent a day carefully welding the new front crossmember in, painting and waxoyling, refitted the radiator and drove around 10 miles home. As I got back, I remembered that i hadn't refilled the rad. The poor thing was quite hot but it suffered no ill effects and motored on for at least another 3 years......
I used to enjoy working on Suds - even the dreaded front calipers were very easy once you overcame your initial 'It's not a Ford Escort' fear.