This is a thread for those of you Fox owners who want to run a manual rack & pinion and eliminate all of the accessories on the driver's side.
Once the manual rack is in place and accessories have been removed i.e., power steering pump, and AC compressor and of course the bracket
. Now it's time to figure out your belt routing?? Well the reverse rotation water pumps will not work unless you put a pulley on the driver's side head somewhere. Since we want this thing as clean and light as can be we will leave the pulley off. Instead we will buy a "standard rotation" water pump from NAPA or the like for $49-$50.
Problem is it's never just that simple. After looking at the differences in water pumps I realized that 1, the water pump pulley bolt holes had to be elongated to fit the new pump. Easy fix if you have a die grinder or dremel.
Next issue I noticed was that the water passages on the pump were blocked off in the casting and the block plate holes wouldn't get any water. Therefore I had to modify the pump itself by cutting out the 2 walls on the backside of the pump to allow water to reach the block plate holes.
After that I figured to save any more modifying I would just use the block plate off of the reverse rotation pump since the holes were in the right place. After bolting it up with silicone David (Sinful) had stopped by and tried to turn the water pump. Turned out that the pump was grinding on the block plate from the old reverse rotation water pump!! Therefore I had to take it back off and use the original block plate that came with the standard rotation pump. Of course I had to cut the holes in the back plate now to make sure that the water would pass through so some more simple grinding with a burr bit did the trick.
Once all of the modifications were finished and the pump was installed I took a piece of string and wrapped it around the new pulley configuration and measured how long it was. Then I went to NAPA and told them I needed a belt 1/2" shorter than what I measured. Worked out on the first try.
Note: The ribbed portion of the belt will now go over the top of the water pump pulley.
This seems like more work than it is and was really easy to do if you have the tools. Hopefully this was easy to understand.
Once the manual rack is in place and accessories have been removed i.e., power steering pump, and AC compressor and of course the bracket
. Now it's time to figure out your belt routing?? Well the reverse rotation water pumps will not work unless you put a pulley on the driver's side head somewhere. Since we want this thing as clean and light as can be we will leave the pulley off. Instead we will buy a "standard rotation" water pump from NAPA or the like for $49-$50.Problem is it's never just that simple. After looking at the differences in water pumps I realized that 1, the water pump pulley bolt holes had to be elongated to fit the new pump. Easy fix if you have a die grinder or dremel.
Next issue I noticed was that the water passages on the pump were blocked off in the casting and the block plate holes wouldn't get any water. Therefore I had to modify the pump itself by cutting out the 2 walls on the backside of the pump to allow water to reach the block plate holes.
After that I figured to save any more modifying I would just use the block plate off of the reverse rotation pump since the holes were in the right place. After bolting it up with silicone David (Sinful) had stopped by and tried to turn the water pump. Turned out that the pump was grinding on the block plate from the old reverse rotation water pump!! Therefore I had to take it back off and use the original block plate that came with the standard rotation pump. Of course I had to cut the holes in the back plate now to make sure that the water would pass through so some more simple grinding with a burr bit did the trick.
Once all of the modifications were finished and the pump was installed I took a piece of string and wrapped it around the new pulley configuration and measured how long it was. Then I went to NAPA and told them I needed a belt 1/2" shorter than what I measured. Worked out on the first try.
Note: The ribbed portion of the belt will now go over the top of the water pump pulley.
This seems like more work than it is and was really easy to do if you have the tools. Hopefully this was easy to understand.
