At 12:56 PM 8/24/04 -0400, Glenn Johnson wrote:
>"Do you remember talking to me about how you extracted a seal from a new Moss washer pump and used it as a replacement on your pump?"

Yup. I think that was in early 1989, and it's still working.

>"I have an old Tudor washer pump that although new-looking, leaks from the back."

If it leaks from the back, it may only need to be crimpped a little tighter. If it leaks from the front, the rubber diaphram is probably shot and needs to be replaced.

>"I just got a Moss pump and would like to use its seal to go in the Tudor pump."

The new replacement type pump has a shorter diaphram. It can be transplanted into the original Tudor pump. It will then have a shorter stroke, where the push knob does not return quite as far forward, but works okay otherwise.

>"The back of both pumps look identical. How did you get the back off? Does the seal come right out or is there stuff to disassemble first?"

You have to carefully un-bend the crimped edge of the aluminum shell all the way around so the plastic rear plate can pull out. Ditto for both units. Then put the rubber diaphram from the B unit into the A unit, and crimp the flamge back down tight again. The edge of the diaphram serves as the seal once it's crimped into place. End result is a slightly shorter stroke, but it still pumps enough to do a nice job.

See picture . Notice I have plumbed in three small aquarium check valves. That works like a charm, no run back, instant squirt with the first push even after months of non use, and the foot valve in the reservoir doesn't even have to work. This pump has one inlet port and dual outlets. Some Tudor pumps of the same period may have a single outlet. In that case you need a "T" fitting in the outlet line to split the flow for two squirt jets.

For the concours enthusiast, the logo on the push knob might be all white or red and white. This changed at least once, with no particular record when it was which color. Such variations apparently happened on the fly without notice, along with single or dual tube outlets.

Notice the way the pump is attached to the dash with two nested metal cups, one inserted through the dash from the front, the other installed from behind. The neck of the pump with the mounting nuts secures it all. This puts the entire assembly farther back so the push knob doesn't protrude so far in front of the dash.

The wiper drive spindles on the MGA are 15 inches apart and near the base of the windscreen. The jets should be positioned 7 to 8 inches apart, centered in the body cowling about 2-1/2 inches aft of the bonnet to body seam, where they can spray over the parked wiper arm. The spray stream can be directed straight up or just slightly outward to land near the top of the glass when the car is stationary. At speed on the road air flow will force the liquid to flow lower on the glass and just a bit farther to the sides.

The reservoir for the washer fluid is mounted on the heater shelf in the engine bay just ahead of the control box (opposite side from the driver). There will be two holes in the heater shelf for screws for the standard Tudor bottle bracket. The bracket is base mounted in the MGA but is also formed and punched for side mounting in other applications. The early model bottle has the small cap shown here. Later issue bottle (and current replacement part) has a larger diameter cover. The hose runs through a grommet in the bulkhead nearby, just below the bonnet hinge.

There is an inlet check valve (foot valve) on the hose in the bottom of the bottle. For the manual pump to work there must also be an outlet check valve in the pump. These check valves may be loath to work properly after 40 odd years. While the foot valve can be replaced, the outlet check is part of the manual pump (which is not intended to be disassembled for service). The aquarium check valves are a cheap and reliable solution to this problem, although not concours, of course.