During the 10 years I owned a Europa Twin Cam, the water pump never leaked. Not so with my current Elan. After one failed attempt to correct the situation I decided to spend the big bucks and buy one of Dave Bean's kit that has the water pump separate from the front cover. After completing the installation I believe it as well engineered as any aftermarket product could be. The parts fit quite well and it works.
Picture #1 shows the three major components and bolts that comprise the kit. Picture #2 shows the unit installed. One of the features of the design is a pair of tapped holes in the water pump flange which serve to extract the pump should that ever be necessary. The holes are difficult to see in the photo but there is one above and one below the pulley. The ability to repair the water pump without having to remove the head and pan is the biggest incentive to having this feature on your engine. The parts necessary for a rebuild of the pump are standard Lotus parts and are readily available.
The installation of the components is quite straight forward, but with a few words of caution. Much to my surprise there were no instructions supplied with the unit. Having such could save the installer considerable time. Photo #3 was taken from below the engine with the front cover installed. The oil slinger on the front of the crankshaft can be seen to adequately clear the front cover.
It is my understanding that there have been instances where this is not the case with some slingers. It would be well to check this before the final lock down. Also the two front tapped holes shown in the photo adjacent to the recess for the front seal were located about a sixteenth of an inch farther forward than desirable. This made aligning the pan with the block a bit more difficult than normal. Had I checked the alignment before installing the gaskets and seals I'm sure it would have facilitated the installation. The only other area that required special attention was the oil dipstick tube. The I.D. of the tube on the new cover is quite a bit larger than on my original. This allowed considerable oil loss up and out the tube. Had I realized this prior to installing the cover I'm sure correcting the problem would have been much easier.
I am very satisfied with the unit and am confident it will function
well down through the years.