Water pumps

The original water pump was a two-part assembly comprising (i) a cast bronze mounting bracket bolted onto the timing chest and containing the main rotary seal, and (ii) a cast aluminium pump body that encloses the rotor and incorporates the outlet passage that bolts onto the cylinder block. 

Many owners have found that their aluminium pump body castings have corroded over the years, sometimes to the point of being unrepairable.  This is due to the electrolytic properties of aluminium relative to both bronze and iron.  In the 1960's, Barry Cooke, who then owned the Le Mans team car, chassis 6794, had patterns made to a modified design and cast replacements in bronze.  The modifications included a separate closure plate to the forward side of the pump body (allowing the rotor to be fitted to the pump shaft after the body) and the separation of the outlet pipe into two components, thus allowing the outlet flange to be bolted up independently of the pump body. 

At least two other patterns have been made to the original design, one in Australia and one in the UK, and replacements have been cast from these, in aluminium.  The images below show examples of both types.

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Original water pump on Peter Livesey's car (chassis 7308).	Original water pump on Chassis 7231, when owned by John Ham.
Original water pump on Alain Cerf's car, chassis 7193.	Replica of original aluminium one-piece pump body on the Honda Museum car, chassis 7315.
Bronze three-piece pump body on Barry Stapleton's very early FWD, chassis 6722. This is an example of the modified "Barry Cooke" design.	Close-up of the bronze pump in the preceding photo.
Another example of the "Barry Cooke" bronze pump, on chassis 7191 while owned by Tony Cox.