I have a similar problem to Ernie on my 55 400, the gas oil press and temp gauges seem to work at first then as things warm up all either drop to zero or sometimes work intermittently. I'll check earth connections.

Would substitution with a modern 12v/5v DC regulator work or would these gauges not work on stable 5vDC or worse could it fry the gauges..?

Well I tried... Got the use of a hydraulic press today, the pump shaft pressed out of the pulley hub quite easily.

I then supported the pump body on 4 small steel blocks positioned between the bakelite impeller blades so as not to push on the flange outer which could break and checked the impeller wasn't touching anything. The bearing, seal and impeller also pressed out smoothly but I found the impeller was so brittle pieces had just broke off for no apparent reason and that's before I had tried to remove if off the shaft.

A replacement pump or repair kit with impeller now on the shopping list. Wouldn't care but the bearing was still OK, but maybe a good thing now knowing how brittle these maybe 70 year old plastic type impellers are I would feel better knowing there was a cast iron one in there...

Thanks for all help and advice...

Thanks again. I see this now, after removing the hub I can slide something over to press on the bearing while supporting the body around the flange face to hopefully prevent the casting from breaking and press everything out. Then find a way to get the impeller off the shaft without breaking that. As I said I have nothing to lose so I'll give it a shot... Cheers, Dave.

Hi, thanks for reply... pressing the pulley hub off the shaft should be OK, am I right in thinking that the shaft and bearing press out forwards by pushing on the shaft centre of the impeller..? the shaft at the impeller end looks to be a smaller diameter.

Thanks, I saw that Max had pumps in stock which is an option. Core charge doesn't really matter for me as I'm in England.

Does anyone have experience of pressing out the water pump shaft with the plastic impeller which mine has. I saw somewhere this usually breaks when plastic as the metal centre doesn't extend far enough through to support..? Also does this usually wreck the bearing..? I've got nothing to lose by trying and the seal looks to be standard 5/8" which I'm sure I could find a match. Any advice appreciated, thanks.

Thanks, is Patrician industries on eBay as packards1...? I couldn't find a direct website.

Hi, Does anyone know if Kanter are still doing 55 water pumps, I looked on their site and there didn't seem to be much at all...?

Update: I made a new gasket which fixed the inlet glass filter bowl weep and took her out for a spin. She ran nice and smooth and accelerated well from any speed with no hesitation or spluttering, got up to 75 MPH on the motorway with the modern traffic just sailing along... So I'm gonna have a go at setting the idle mixtures next week and then leave this alone now as the stuck check ball doesn't seem to make much or if any difference. Maybe a thought for anyone else who encounters the same problem.

Cheers, Dave.

Hi Craig, Cheers for the reply. I thought about drilling the bottom out as its about the only option however as it had ran OK up until recently I decided to re-assemble it as it was. I checked the adjustments as per the manual, well best as I could figure them out anyway and all seemed OK so I reinstalled the carb and soon as the fuel got through she fired up and ran smoothly and sounds great. Revs freely with no splutter or hesitation and the choke came right off correctly on warming up...
Haven't had chance for a road test with some load as yet as I have a slight weep from the filter bowl gasket to rectify first. If all is OK then I'm going to leave well alone. As you say fuel must be getting in somehow probably from the long slot in the side of the accelerator pump section...
Im getting a vac gauge this week to set up the idle mixtures as per the procedure I think previously posted by Owen. Will let you know if it runs OK...

Thanks, Dave.

Due to poor running and that I had a rebuild kit on hand I have removed and disassembled my 55 400, 4GC carb. Found several issues with dirt but main problem appeared to be the accelerator pump seal to be partially disintegrated and both primary and secondary float heights set too low which I have now corrected. The carb is still disassembled as I now have another issue that the accelerator pump inlet check ball is stuck in it's seat, no amount of soaking in various solutions or trying to blow out with compressed air or tapping seems to help, as everything else came apart so easily I am now of the opinion this has been driven hard into the seat during a previous rebuild. This makes me wonder how it ever worked properly in the past...?
The carb is the correct model 7007230 though almost definitely has been replaced or rebuilt at some time due to general good condition and still fresh looking gold anodising.
I have read back through several posts where the same problem has been encountered, does anyone have any opinion as to if I definitely have to get this out as I am now tempted to reassemble as it is and see what happens...
Makes me wonder if one of the professional carb rebuilders is doing this for some unknown reason...?

Regards, Dave.