As some of you already know, I'm doing a V8 conversion in my 914 with an LT1 from a 1993 firebird. The cam driven waterpump sticks out the front and gets in the way in a big way. In order to avoid extreme firewall modifications, I came up with a crazy idea... I'll install an electric waterpump kit in the stock waterpump housing... and mount the sucker up by the radiator! It will require a couple of custom flanges, and a couple hose "Ys" but it should work.. with one possible exception. The thermostat is in the water pump, and it's a fancy bypass thermostat. instead of blocking the water until it warms up, it bypasses the radiator until it warms up, and once it warms up it closes the bypass and opens the radiator. I'm worried that the engine may overheat before the thermostat has a chance to open, because it's farther away and will react later than usual. Has anyone ever done anything even remotely like this? Am I nuts?

--Royce

Royce,

All I've ever heard about the LT1 is that it won't fit in a 914 AND the LS1 or 6 are better engines and have less hanging out up front (RH claims it won't fit either). Have you considered one of these vs. going to all the trouble of moving water pump up front?

There is one who claims he has installed the LS1/6 in a 914 (aka Toyjet) but has not produced any pics/etc.. And, there is someone I know who has the capability, spare chassis and knowledge to perform the operation. Maybe this one will become reality in the future.

I've enjoyed my carbed v8 but a all aluminum fuel injected engine will be my next project.

John

Seems like the thermostat would be the easy problem. Some of the 4cylinder Ford Ranger pick up trucks used a inline thermostat that mounts in the water hose.
I don't think I'd bother with the the LT1 water pump housing at all and just use a Meziere inline electric pump.
Some other things to think about would be clearance for the Optispark distibutor and how to mount the throttle body.
I saw a new Ram Jet crate engine a few weeks ago that had the throttle body reworked and mounted on the side like a early Chevy Fuel Injection.

Have you got the engine mounted in the car yet and if so lets see some pictures.

Bob

Not sure what kind of room you might need, but it is possible to stretch the bulkhead (a lot if necessary) with very simple tools...depends on where and how much of course. You could stretch the metal 2"-3" out of your way if there is room in the cockpit for the bulge. See this album:

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/comm...d=9980138836765 and this one:

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/comm...d=9980160442904

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Cool, thanks guys. The reason I want an LT1 is the nice wide and smooth torque range. I don't like tuning carbs, and I can never get them to run good cold. The LT1 runs great at pretty much all rpm ranges, and at all temperatures. I'd go LS1 if I could afford it, but I can't. I got the LT1 for $1000 with all accessories and aluminum heads. I plan to turn the intake around and put the air cleaner in the trunk. I drive with my seat all the way back, so I really don't want to mess with the firewall at all. The optispark will fit into the depression in the firewall, but the waterpump is much too wide. The inline thermostat sounds appealing, but I don't know if the reverse cooling setup would be 100% compatible with it.

--Royce

Royce
I didn't know that you could turn the intake around on the LT1. There must be some mods you are doing to it. The front and rear intake seals are very different. I've seen some LT1 intakes with mods to take a standard SBC distributor. If they can do this, that means the block is cast the same as a older SBC.

Do you plan to use the stock large harmonic balancer and is there room.

Weiand the intake manufacter makes a remote thermostat housing . They use it on some of there supercharger intakes. You should check this out.

Hmm, I had been told that the intake could be turned around, but I haven't tried it yet. I guess I'll see what happens. I was planning to try to use the stock harmonic balancer, but I'm not to the point of test fitting yet. I'll look into that thermostat housing.

--Royce

Why do you need a thermostat? Temp switch turns the pump on and off - even better would be a sending unit that would raise the voltage to the electric water pump the hotter it got in the head.

I need a thermostat because of the unusual setup of the LT1 cooling system. They got away with 10.5:1 compression because they send the cold water directly to the heads. If I cycled the pump on and off, it would probably overheat shortly after the pump turned off, unless I mounted the pump control thermostat in the head somewhere. The stock waterpump setup cycles water through the engine when the thermostat is closed. The variable speed controller for the pump is a good idea, but it would be hard to calibrate, and probably expensive. Also, some electric motors will overheat if run on a lower voltage. I've pretty much decided on using the stock water pump body, but mounted in the front trunk. It should pump the recirculated water fast enough that the delay would only be a few seconds. I can even set up a relay on the fan thermostat to run the pump after shutdown to avoid afterboiling. I figure GM put a ton of engineering into this cooling system, and I don't want to mess with it any more than necessary.

--Royce