68 power steering pump

[rskev]

I was curius to know if power steering pumps in 68' were numbered and date coded like alternators, water pumps and such. I'm looking to replace/rebuild the mine due to an oil leak. Thank you!

[bertfam]

There's nothing stamped on the pump (or the housing) on mine, and it's the original. (sitting in a box in the garage, but original!)

Ed

[Marty]

I have had a few of these pumps and most had a date code stamped in the housing. Sometimes it's faint. I can't remember what the format was. I'll look for some old notes.

Rebuilding them is easy, just remove a couple bolts and replace some rubber gaskets.

Martin

[bertfam]

Martin, where was the date stamp? I've checked mine from stem to stern and can't find anything.

Ed

[Marty]

Ed, it's been a long time and I can't remember which side but it was about half way down from the top. I recently sold a rebuilt pump and all I have left is the one in my car and one other that has thicker paint and some surface rust. I'll try to clean that one up tomorrow and see what I find. I will also try to find it on the one in my car but that might be tough.

I have a 6-cylinder pump off a 69 Nova I can look at tomorrow.

Martin

[bertfam]

Thanks Martin. No hurry...

Ed

[rskev]

Martin, you mentioned taking them apart is easy. That's good because I was thinking about taking mine apart so I could freshen it up and paint the tank. Any special steps after putting it back together and reinstalling it once on the car? I heard that you have to lift both front wheels off the ground and turn the wheel back and forth about 20 times to bleed the air out of the system before starting the car. Have you heard anything like this? Curious about the code and location as well. Thanks a million!

[Marty]

OK, I got the 6-cylinder pump out of the shed and my V8 pump out of the garage. The 6-cylinder pump has a stamp that looks like 0 4 9. The bottom of the characters is very light if there at all. The V8 pump took some very fine steel wool and I found a complete 8 with a possible character before it. The stamping is upside down when looking at it from the side. The pump in my car is too hard to read.

The location on both is on the engine side at about 10 o'clock. Set the pump in front of you with the pully facing you. Then look at the housing on the left side between the upper bolt hole in the cast iron housing and the top inlet.

I've heard that you need to turn the wheels to bleed the air out. I did that so long ago I can't remember much but I think I did it a couple times and didn't have a problem. To rebuild it, there are instructions in the Overhaul Manual or just take the 2 rear studs and 1 fitting out and the housing should come off. The cast piece has an O-ring and there are other gaskets where the studs are. I bought rebuild kits years ago from a parts vendor, I think they used to be around $12. Make sure the housing isn't distorted (it needs to be round) or it will leak.

I hope this helps.

Martin

[big iron]

I believe the only thing you can find is the o-ring set. I have not been able to find a rebuild kit for over a year now.

Bob

[bertfam]

Martin, success!! Exactly where you said it would be.

However, now that I know what the code is (332LB6), exactly what does it mean??

Ed

[rskev]

Thanks for the info guys! I'm surprised there's no reference info for these codes. This may be a whole new topic of interest for the purists.

[bertfam]

Well, I haven't been able to find anything on power steering pump date coding, so I can't say for sure, but I'll give it a guess and say "332" is the Julian date (Monday, November 28th), "LB" is the Broadcast code and the "6" is the year (1966).

If that's the case, then this ISN'T my original pump.

Ed

[JohnZ]

Jim Shea, retired Saginaw Steering Gear engineer, has all the date code info, and posted the code for the pumps a couple of months ago, either on the NCRS board or on Team Camaro; you can reach him at Jiml82@aol.com, and his username at Team Camaro is JimL82.

[bertfam]

Thanks John. Found it on NCRS from Jim:

Stamp Date pump is tested on the reservoir body near the filler neck.
000XYZ Where;
000 is day of year (001 thru 365)
X is Assembly Station (L or R)
Y is Assembly Shift (A, B, or C)
Z is Last Digit of Year (6 for 1966, etc.)

So I was close in my guess (and my pump isn't the original for my car).

Ed

[rskev]

Thanks Ed & John. Very helpful information.