Fulvia water pump

[ben]

  As part of the ongoing reassembly of my 1600 Sport I decided to overhaul the water pump and quickly ran into a problem that I now know has been discussed before on this forum---namely non-availability of replacement seals.
  The simple way out is to fit a new pump and they are available from Omicron or direct from Italy for around 130 euros which seems very reasonable when one studies the relatively complex nature of the beast.
  However it makes no sense that the seals are not available as the suppliers making these replacement pumps must get the seals from somewhere (assuming these new pumps still use the same type of seal---? I have read that the current new pumps are not as good as the originals--they don't look as good in the ebay.it pictures and I cannot believe the quality of the originals could be matched at that price!)).
  The seals in both pumps that I have stripped are carbon face seals. Both pumps had both been lying around unused for some years. On one the spring loading was seized up and my attempts to free it resulted in cracking the carbon. On the other the carbon was already broken. Also both had fairly severe circumferential grooves worn into the mating face on the impeller rotor.
  So:
        Has anybody discovered a source for these seals since the discussion about the pumps in Neils ongoing Fanalone thread back in 2010?
        And if not can Neil provide more info on where to source the "GSD 170" seal that he used in his modification.(Which is presumably still unproven?)

        Or alternatively has anyone tried simply replacing the carbon face seal with a lip seal eg Gaco,etc.  It would seem to be a simpler option as they are available to fit directly into the 25mm housing bore and a short collar of say stainless steel could be fitted over a suitably machined location on the mushroom shaped spacer that buts up to the rotor for the lip seal to run against.
        My worry with this option is that these lip seals are primarily sold as oil seals so will they work as well with water/antifreeze? Are they to be found in other automotive water pumps?

        I look forward to your thoughts (if you are not on your way to Turin yet!).

                                                                            Ben Courage

[davidwheeler]

I have fitted lip seals (two as there is plenty of room)

[davidwheeler]

...to my Aprilia pump a couple of years ago and so far they are doing fine so I guess yes, they will work.