One more nightmare on new engine startup

[Steven Papatrefon]

Well thanks to several List members who took the time to guide me through the
timing chain issue with my new motor, especially Rob Cadle, everything was
looking good.  This afternoon I finished hooking everything up, put all fluids
in car, primed the motor as recommended, got fuel pressure with no leaks, etc.
Turned the key and she fired right up, a little noisy and the idle speed was
pretty high but I'm sure that would have settled down a little bit given a
minute or two.  Then my mechanic yelled to me to shut it down.

It turns out coolant was leaking out from somewhere on the pulley side and not
just a little bit.  I first thought and hoped it was a loose hose connection.
Nope.  The mechanic and helper then watched the area carefully while I started
the car again.  Coolant was literally flowing out of the small holes that are
above and below the spinning part of the water pump!!!

This was a brand new pump that I had ordered from Nissan and had it shipped
directly to DPR Racing for installation.  Now I don't understand what these
holes are for but my mechanic said they were like escape valves in the event
of an internal water pump failure.  Can anyone shed any light on this?  I
don't think I can blame this on DPR.  Could it be anything else?

Right now I feel like throwing up.  Everything was going fine and now this.
If I do have to replace the water pump, which seems likely, it is a bitch to
do with the engine in the car from what I've read and see.  Also I don't know
if any local Nissan dealers have that item in stock or if I will have to wait.
I've been using my company's pickup truck all week and now it looks like I'll
be using it a little longer.  I could always reuse my water pump from my
original motor but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Steve