What the heck? The mounting assembly for the A/C compressor and power steering pump has an ear with a hole that fits over one of the bolts that holds the water pump to the cylinder block. It doesn't attach there, it only bolts into 3 holes in the left cylinder head. I see no reason for it, there isn't any threads on the extension of the bolt on the water pump, the hole in the A/C compressor and power steering pump mount doesn't even touch the bolt or seat on the head of the bolt.

It just doesn't make any sense.

 

...or maybe you just don't understand it.


Suppose you were assembling that engine on an assembly line. Suppose the compressor/PS pump arrived attached to that bracket, and were suspended above the line, and you needed to pull them down and hang them on the engine. Wouldn't your job be a LOT easier & quicker if there was some way of hand-aligning them so they'd stay close to where you needed to start the first bolt? And so that they'd stay aligned if you tightened that bolt before starting the others?

Not everything is designed for how it works 30 years later - some things are designed to make it easier to build, transport, or assemble. And that's why Ford has led the automotive industry since the industry's infancy.

 

Well it sure makes it a pain in the *** to change out the water pump.

 

For the amount of time you took to describe it, you would have gotten the a/c out of the way. You think yours is bad, go back the the V8's of the 70's. There were more brackets attached to the water pump fasteners than yours.This stuff has been going on for decades, I had to deal with it myself. Be thankful you don't have one of those new engines which the engineers decided to put the water pump inside the engine and drive it off the timing chain.

 

Absolutely. That's kind of ridiculous I think

 

Just remove the three bolts holding the bracket on and slide it off of the stud and leave it off to the side. That's what I did when I changed my pump a few months ago. And then I replaced all of the studs with standard bolts. Bunch of them broke upon removal anyways.

 

3 whole additional bolts? That don't rust or get covered in grime? Wow...

Pay attention to the locations of the WP bolts as you take them out.

(phone app link)

 

Can't you just wind two nuts onto the threaded bolt (stud) and unscrew it from the block?

 

The bracket sits on top of the stud. It has to slide off of the stud first for the stud to come out. Look at the pic in the first post again.

 

There aren’ t any threads on the part that projects through the compressor/pump bracket.

and the bracket has to come off before a wrench can be placed on the bolt.