Review on Gates 43302 Water Pump by Todd Phillips

This water pump appears to be in good condition and it was nice that it came with a couple of screws and all the gaskets. The price and shipping were definitely right. However, the quality of the casting is not impressive compared to the old Laso pump I had, and the way the pump is designed/shaped actually blocks access to one of the intake manifold bolts (on mine with 89 300 equipped M103 engine), unlike the Laso draft. I understand that for most people this won't be a problem as you will leave the intake manifold on while you remove the pump, but if you ever remove the intake manifold in the future you will need to remove the water pump which requires a lot of the extra work on these cars! If I could do it again I would probably spend a lot of money on one of the German made pumps.