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Looking for some input on electric water pumps on the street. I have some 'unique to me' issues that I'm looking to resolve. I'm referencing a high HP turbo'd vehicle that spends most of it's time on the street, but gets cranked up somewhat regularly. The motor is a large cube SBC with a remote thermostat housing. Presently, it cools properly when it's run hard, cruising or put into mild duty. The issue is that it runs too cool when ambient temps are below 50 degrees or when extended cruising in sub 65 degree weather. Another issue is that it heat soaks badly (ALOT) due to the excessive header heat from the turbo. We have been running a Stage 2 Stewart water pump that has worked flawlessly for more than 2 years on a 1:1 pulley setup. We have a triple pass AllStar Perf 31" dual core rad.
The thought with swapping to an electric pump is that we can run both the water pump and the fans after the motor is shutdown to eliminate the heat soaking issue, and also slow the pump down when the motor is running to cool to help heat it up - kind of a win win situation. We're running an ECU that has the ability to control the fan via a solid state relay and control the water pump speed via pulsewidth. The concern is reliability. To those of you running these, how is the reliability? And what flow rating?
Looking for some input on electric water pumps on the street. I have some 'unique to me' issues that I'm looking to resolve. I'm referencing a high HP turbo'd vehicle that spends most of it's time on the street, but gets cranked up somewhat regularly. The motor is a large cube SBC with a remote thermostat housing. Presently, it cools properly when it's run hard, cruising or put into mild duty. The issue is that it runs too cool when ambient temps are below 50 degrees or when extended cruising in sub 65 degree weather. Another issue is that it heat soaks badly (ALOT) due to the excessive header heat from the turbo. We have been running a Stage 2 Stewart water pump that has worked flawlessly for more than 2 years on a 1:1 pulley setup. We have a triple pass AllStar Perf 31" dual core rad.
The thought with swapping to an electric pump is that we can run both the water pump and the fans after the motor is shutdown to eliminate the heat soaking issue, and also slow the pump down when the motor is running to cool to help heat it up - kind of a win win situation. We're running an ECU that has the ability to control the fan via a solid state relay and control the water pump speed via pulsewidth. The concern is reliability. To those of you running these, how is the reliability? And what flow rating?
a friend of mine that lived in AZ had one on his sbc in a Tbucket. he said he didn't have any issues in the hot AZ. he got the car with it on so no manif info.
If it's running cool, what temperature thermostat is in it? And are there holes drilled in the stat or anything else that would allow water to bypass it and get to the radiator?
180 degree t-stat installed. It'll run 155-160 when ambient temps are below 50 at highway speeds. Yes there are holes in the thermostat, but there has to be inorder to get the thermostat to open for the first time during the warmup cycle - that's some f the inherent issue with a remote thermostat. The housing is fed coolant from the side of the block. Without holes in the thermostat wouldn't open when it hit 220, hence I started drilling holes in it after doing some research. 3 1/8" holes seemed to do the trick to get it open prior to 195 degrees. It also has the the normal LS steam ports at each end of the head that feed into the upper radiator hose elbow (bypassing the t-stat.)
It'll be interesting to follow this thread and see what happens.
rslifkin - here's a pic taken in the dark ( :/ ) to give you an idea of how it's setup - excuse the lack of cleanliness. If you google pics of a Motwon LS you'll see where the coolant is exiting the block to the remote housing. I guess I can attach a picture if you can't find a photo.
There are items I could change around such as the steam vents' location by putting them below the thermostat, but I believe they are not supposed to be there - I'm using the term 'believe' loosely. I could play around with a cooler thermostat. If I had to I could swap back to a single pass radiator as well, but I'd really hate to try that because this setup presently cools great on a hot day when it's cranked up.
FWIW, I'm trying to resolve a light throttle cruising issue on a late fall/early spring day and have the same system function exactly as expected at 800whp. Obviously I can't compromise on the top end.
At the moment I've decided on either a CSR or Meziere pump; I'm going to contact each and see what they have to say.
Tech - still looking for input, but I'll update once the pump is on, unfortunately it's getting close to the time of the year to park it. This is a winter upgrade, same as rear discs, transmission and rear tear down, TC upgrade, and my kid actually mentioned PAINT!
I run an electric water pump with 180 degree thermostat in a SBC and it runs at 180 in ambient temps as low as 40 degrees. It will go to 190 in traffic with 90 plus degree ambient. Check your thermostat in a pot of water on kitchen stove with a thermometer to see at what temp your thermostat opens.
You mention heat soak from the headers/turbo: have all the proper heat protections been put in place to reduce the heat soak? Headers, hot pipes and turbo wraps, heat shields, maybe even some engine compartment air outlet (wheel wells...) to help the hot air get out?
Obviously the heat soak is an issue that occurs when ambient temps are high. It's really not much of an issue at 30-40 degrees.
To answer your question, yes, everything is wrapped to the point that I'm buying stock in DEI Titanium wrap. The manifolds are flipped truck manifolds, but I have the factory heat shields on them. Turbo has a blanket. Cowl induction hood. The downpipe is wrapped until it gets out of the engine bay and past the starter.
A positive note about the heat soak is that it starts and idles perfectly when it's heat soaked - the EFI thing is a big plus. It takes some driving at cruise speed though to get the intake tems back below 120, or a WOT blast with the meth injection for 3-4 seconds will drop it into the 80's
I'd say the 3 1/8" holes are just too much bypass. Is there any reason you can't put the thermostat back on the engine or move it closer? Or try less holes (like just a single 1/8" hole)?
Can't move it onto the engine - there is no where for it to go. This block requires a remote housing - see photo - that is not my motor, but the same block.
And tried it with 1 and 2 holes - it gets too hot prior to initial thermstat opening. I am considering a hotter thermostat.
I run a blown SBC with electric water pump and electric fans in my T-bucket. No thermostat. Jeg's fan controller, which varies speed of the fans to control temp. And I use a timer to run both the pump and the fans for one minute after shutdown. Great on street. The water pump is actually a marine bilge pump that has been running for 25 years! I wouldn't slow the water flow rate much for fear of hot spots flashing to steam around the exhaust valve and combustion chamber.
Do you have any kind of water bypass when the t-stat is closed other than the holes in the stat? If not, I'd consider drawing coolant off the t-stat housing just before the t-stat and returning it to the water pump as a bypass. Keep it pretty small so it doesn't hurt cooling under load, but it should give faster, more even warm-up with the extra flow and it'll move more coolant near the t-stat so it'll open closer to the right temp without a bunch of large holes.
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