My water pump just started screeching. It's not puking water yet, but the bearing has gone bad and it's hard to turn by hand.

So, time to get a new one. Who sells 1969 short pumps with cast impellers? Who puts decent bearings in them? This pump was only 3 or 4 years old!

You may be fortunate enough to have a small rebuilder nearby. I found one near me that does alternators, another radiators, and another water pumps. The nice thing is that I get my core back, fast and with good service. Just check the yellow pages under auto parts rebuilders.

Great suggestion. Everything I found online had a stamped impeller. Thanks.

I know that cast impeller '69 water pumps are available for the long nose version, but I haven't seen listings for the short version.

Does anyone know of a replacment fan pulley for the common long nose pumps that would set the belt back to short nose length?

I took the water pump off and found out what the screeching noise was. The cast impeller was rubbing against the divider plate. Looking at the end of the shaft versus the end of the impeller, it looks like the impeller walked on the shaft until it hit the plate. I don't think the bearing is bad at all. It turns smoothly. Should the end of the shaft be flush with the impeller hub?

John,i checked the one i have,short shaft -cast impeller and the shaft is is approx 1/16" shy of being flush.

Thanks. I tapped it down flush and reassembled everything. I drove the car once and it was screeching again when I returned.

I've ordered a replacement pump. I may take it to a machine shop to have a cast impeller put on it. There are no rebuilders that do water pumps in Green Bay. I am going to find out whether the impeller is the same on a regular long nose pump. I've got one of those.