Hi: I have a 1985 380SE. I'm trying to replace the water pump but encountered some difficulty. Seems like the bolt at the bottom of the water pump will not come out unless I remove the main pulley. Am I corrrect? If so, I'm not sure if the bolt thread on the main pulley off the crankshart is left or right hand. THE BOLT IS VERY TIGHT, SO I DON'T WANT TO MESS IT UP.
Any help here will be much appreciated.
Thanks.

do not undo centre bolt on main pulley.undo all the small bolts 13mm [6] in the outer circle and your obstruction will be gone.taking off the pulley and hub with the main crankshaft bolt will give lots of problems when going back because of keyway on crankshaft that you cannot see.david poole european performance dallas tx.

If memory serves me correct, then you dont have to remove the pully at all, there is a recess in the pully, just turn the engine by hand till the recess in the pully coincides with the bolt of the waterpump, use a socet and undo the bolt. that is why there is a recess molded in the pully.

Hi Pilot Man:
I have to remove and replace the water pump on the 1985 380SE. The crankshaft pulley seems to be in the way of the bottom bolt of the water pump. I have already tried aligning the water pump bolt with the recess on the crankshaft pulley but still not enough room to remove it. Are there any other tricks to replacing the water pump without removing the crankshaft pulley? Thanks.

I got the waterpump bolt out on my 380sl, same motor, by aligning the recess and using a thin wall socet by wurth.

IIRC on the 380 you may be able to access the bolt but the bolt won't clear the balancer. On the big block (500/560), IIRC you can remove the water pump without removing the balancer (longer stroke=greater distance between balancer and water pump). Mark

Hi hookedon210s:

Can you tell me if the bolt on the crankshaft pulley is LEFT or RIGHT hand thread? Thanks.