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Group: Administrators
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Just out last year is a revised water pump spacer for the early Thunderbirds. This looks like it may address the poor low rpm cooling that comes about due to Ford using a passenger car/truck water pump in conjunction with the one inch spacer on the ’55-57 T-Birds. In the past I’ve been removing those 1” spacers due to low rpm heating problems and then spacing the water pump pulley back out that missing 1” to get the belts to properly align. That was one fix. The other option has been to use the Casco water pump with the extra thick water pump impellor which is designed for use with the oem one inch Thunderbird spacer. This latest spacer design by Chris Ames (Paragon Industries) is intended to replace the factory one inch spacer and looks to be a step in the right direction while still retaining the stock appearance. While I can dyno test the spacer on an engine, the results regarding improved low rpm cooling will be inconclusive on my end simply due to the dyno water system easily masking any potential heating issues that can occur in a vehicle. Here’s the link to the website giving more information as well as details about the casting flash issue within the timing covers that should also be removed and/or cleaned up. Be sure to read the downloads at the bottom of the linked page as there’s some new information regarding casting flash in some of the timing covers which can be overlooked if not specifically looking for it. The casting flash issue can easily pertain to all Y-Blocks, not just the ones installed in Thunderbirds. If anyone does run one of these new spacers on their early ‘Bird, I (as well as others on this site) would be interested in any comments you have. https://thunderbird.us/ Casting Flash Cooling Research Detail [ As of July 2019, the website address for the Paragon water pump spacers has changed. This post has been edited to remove the old website link and display the new one ]
  Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)
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