I am trying to figure if I have enough room to run an electric water pump on my car...
I know that the water pumps stick out about 6.5" from the block...
Anyone here running a V8 know if there is enough room between the block and firewall after the engine is installed to do this?
I'm not interested in cutting the firewall -

Thanks -

TE

The belt drive water pumps are mounted to the side of the motor. Similar to the mounting of the alternator. I have seen the electric pumps. They may protrude to far forward and come in contact with the firewall.
I am sure they come in different shapes and sizes. There may be some one on here who is running one and they can interject there thoughts.
Any reason you don't want to run the belt drive pump?
2008 THE YEAR OF THE V8
CCL

There's not much room in front of the timing cover once installed, you'd probably need to cut the firewall if you want to mount it on the block.

The good news is that Meziere and other companies make remote mounted electric water pumps that are easy to install and work very well. I've been running one for a while without issue. I think they are good to 5000 hours or so. Here's a link:

Meziere Remote Pumps

You just need to make sure to wire the pump as a dedicated circuit. I'd also suggest wiring up an idiot light that goes off when the water temp hits a certain threshold, like 220 degrees. It's a good idea regardless of the cooling system design. That way if you throw a belt or have some other kind of failure it will get your attention before any damage occurs.

I am just trying to figure a more reliable way to move the water -
Although the belt driven pump from renegade and others work, they also
have some issues such as propeller implosion-
The only issue I have with the electric pump is making sure I get the right flow rate, and not cutting the fire wall.
Every V8 car I have seen with a cut wall looks like a hack job.
Again, IMHO.
Are there any reliable manufacturers that make remote pumps and cost less than Meziere?

I would avoid cutting the firewall if you have a stockish interior. It can be done very nicely, but it's a lot of work.

I know the Meziere pumps are expensive, but it's one of the places you don't want to scrimp.

I don't think the renegade manual pumps are a bad way to go. You just don't want to spin the engine up too high before the thermostat opens. I believe the impeller it uses is from a big block Chrysler, so it's pretty durable. I was spinning one up to 6500 rpms and had to upgrade to a steel reinforced output line directly off the pump, but once that was done, no problems at all.

I believe the issue I had was that there was a 90 degree fitting about 8" after the pump (911 V8 conversion) and there was a huge pressure spike due to the 90 degree fitting so close to the pump. I put in a high flow fitting and upgraded the hose in that spot. I was actually splitting Gates green stripe hose and upgraded to Gates Steam King hose. It was so tough I had to cut it with a pneumatic cut-off wheel.

Any of the higher flowing electric pumps should be more than adequate for street and occasional track use. With my setup even when it was 120 degrees in Vegas it cooled well. The only time I had any temperature increases was when it was 120 out and running the A/C. It was fine cruising along, but sitting in traffic or climbing a steep grade it would creep up to 220 or so after a while. That's a pretty extreme test for any cooling system. I'll probably add an oil cooler and that should make it bullet proof.

One down side to electric pumps is that they have a finite amount of flow. A manual pump will continue to flow more water as RPM increases, up to the particular pumps design limits. For a dedicated race car that sees sustained high RPM use I'd think a manual pump would be preferred over an electric.

there's no way to get an electric pump installed on the front of the engine.

fortunately there are several places to install a a remote electric pump.

I've actually had mine installed in two different places

One lesson: The lower the water pump the better.

Steve - Thanks for all your input !

Roger - Where is yours currently installed? - I have seen them installed
in the front trunk with the radiator, and also mounted to the engine bar
down low on the passenger side...

I have the remote Meziere 55GPM pump and it is fine including that I beat the hell out of my 525HP car on the track. Before when it was a tub car, I didn't use the POS relay board anymore, so I made a simple bracket to mount the pump to and attach in the original brackets for the board. Worked just fine.

Another Tim in AZ works (or worked) for Ron Davis Radiators has a V8 A/C car and he also had no issues in extreme heat and regular commuting.

mine is close to where bynbads pump is. bolted to the sheet metal lip underneath where the relay board was. lots of room there and the water comes almost directly from the rad to the pump, then straight across from the pump to the engine. nice and straightforward. no waisted turns.

i can get a pic for you tomorrow if you like. i'll be working down there in the afternoon getting engine ready for re-install.

lemme' know. =)

Roger -
If you are there, and have the time that would be awesome -

Hey guys, while we are at it, are any of you using the mechanical fuel pump on the block, or is everyone using an electric fuel pump?
Just wondering if the mechanical gets in the way....

If it was me.

I would run THIS ELECTRIC PUMP Before I would run a Meziere pump.
These pumps run longer. More GPMs and are trick as shit.

We ran one a BIG 528 CI BB Chev. in a 55 tubbed Chebby.

Had the Meziere in the first incarnation. And the sucker would overheat on the road.

We plumbed in the Davies pump with the beta iteration of the micro processor control unit.
And the problem went away instantly. That was 2 years ago... And the owner hasn't changed the pump yet. Its a nice piece.

We also eventually changed out the anti-freeze/water coolant for FOR THIS coolant.

This particular coolant has dam near zero expansion. You could run it without a radiator cap at max load and it won't boil. Hell.... You could stuff a rag in the radiator cap flange and it still won't boil out.... very Kewl.....
This stuff is simply trick.. AND expensive. As ya get what ya pay for...........

The combo of two items above. Would be my best case scenario.

ALSO.... The Mezire pumps weren't made for Synth coolant. At least they used to built that way.
And unless something changes.
Your stuck with regular coolant and water. NO Synth additives. (No water wetter)

The above is simply another option that is worth looking at.

Cheers,
Clayton

Clayton - actually that pump flows less than the 55GPM Meziere. Craig's big one flows 110L/min, or 30gal/min which is your typical small Meziere or CSI. If the Chevy had a 30 or 35GPM pump on it, yeah it will overheat like a mother. I built a ton of hot Mustang engines thru the 90s and every time the guy complained about overheating he was driving around with a CSI pump on it. The 55gpm remote pump from Meziere is the only Meziere I would use.

I talked to the Craig Davies guys at PRI a couple years ago and just didn't get a warm fuzzy about that pump, so it is nice to actually hear someone say it worked well. I have heard of people using them as booster pumps.

And the NPG+ stuff is the sheot!! I would use it but most race tracks allow you to only run water for easy cleanup. So when I lived in SoCal I ran straight water - now in CO I run some coolant in there cuz F them, I am not having a split block or draining the water and re-burping the system every fricken time I wanna race in the Fall and Winter

That said, thru the summer months it gets pretty hot and I may just completely flush the system and use the NPG+ as I have yet to ever put coolant down on a track. 'Course I probably will first time I go for it and have to pay some brutal cleanup fee to the track for oiling their track down.

Hey Tom:

I also am using a 55 GPM Meziere remote pump and found plenty of room to the left of the engine, mounting it to the front firewall. Since I plumbed my header tank and fuel pump on the right the left side was my choice. Depending on your packaging, you could also look at the right side.

Tips: I bought a 1" pipe tap and threaded DIRECTLY into the water inlet holes in the block. Then I threaded in 1" 90 degree elbow from Aeroquip, allowing the hoses to run close to the block and DIRECTLY into the 1" outlets of the pump.

I chose the Meziere pump because it costs about the same as the mechanical pump, delivers MAX flow while idling in traffic and can be rebuilt by the San Diego factory for a reasonable price after 10,000 hours. So far, I've been running the car on the pump since 2003 and no problems.

BTW: I have a 383 built to 500+ HP and with 2 strong fans on the radiator, the car is fine in SOCAL traffic.

Best,
Terry

I'll vouch for Terry's car. Summertime track days at Willow Springs; no cooling system issues whatsoever.

Andys

Hey guys -
Thanks for all the input -
I finally cut holes in the car this weekend for the radiator and exhaust, after having them drawn on the sheetmetal for over a year...guess I wanted to make sure I had them right...LOL -