66 Power steering pump

[John F.]

I'm rebuilding the power steering pump on my 66 coupe, and a couple of things have come up. I purchased a seal kit from LIC and the shaft seal appears to be too small - 1.25 o.d. vs. 1.30 i.d. for the seal seat. The pump I have has a casting number of either 5898118 or 5898119, hard to tell. Do I have the correct pump for the car and the wrong seal, or the right seal and the wrong pump? Also, does any one know where I can get other pump parts - namely the shaft bushing and filter cage and filter? Thanks

John

[Joe L.]

Re: 66 Power steering pump

John-----

The 63-66 and 67+ pumps were different with respect to main shaft and main shaft seal. I believe that the pump which you have, which if it has GM casting number 5698116 on the housing, is the 67+ style pump. You may have been sold the 63-66 pump seal kit under the assumption that you had a correct 1966 pump. For all practical purposes, the pumps are pretty much indiscernably different when installed on the car. However, there may have been some slight differences between the resevoir used for 1966 and the ones used for 1967-74. The resevoirs are interchangeable between pumps, so it's possible you have the correct resevoir but an incorrect pump. I would not rule out the possibility that some late 66's received the 67 pump; as I say, they are completely interchangeable as a unit.

Anyway, if I'm correct and you have the 67+ pump, then you require pump shaft seal GM #26043126 which currently GM lists for about 15 bucks. You can also get one through NAPA under their number NOS7475.

As far as the internal filter and filter housing you can pretty much forget it. These parts were discontinued by GM way more than 30 years ago and are not reproduced or otherwise available, as far as I know. Corvette and some HD truck pumps were the only ones that received these parts; other Chevrolets used identical pumps but without the filter. I believe that most rebuilders just leave the filters out.

[Joe L.]

Addendum

John-----

One more thing to help you positively ID the pump housing which you have. Carefully inspect the OLD seal which you removed from the pump. Look at the steel frame of the seal and check for any stamped numbers. If the numbers are "5688020" or "6765", then you have the 63-66 style pump housing. If the numbers are "7808195" or "7475", then you have the 67+ housing.