an another after-thought to my somewhat recent rebuilt slightly modified engine, but was contemplating putting on an electric pump in the near future. i know they're probably better so water can circulate after engine shut-down (if set up that way), but any other benefits to them as opposed to mechanical? i'm running a stewart high-flow right now...

also, what would need to be done as far as the belts and pullies? for an SD TPI w/serpentine belt?

 

Another benefit is that they don't suck power from the engine like a mechanical pump does.


I still don't trust them though...

I like your sig by the way.

 

Electric pumps work good on the street. They tend to be a little on the short side if you are going to road race. Above 4000 rpm the flow is less than a belt driven pump.

 

not a great idea if using on the street though because if it dies and your a little ways away then you have problems especially if you have aluminum heads. at least with a mech pump it will still work, just leak.

 

It's kinda like an electric fuel pump. One day it will just stop. No warning.

 

I allways herd that electric water pumps were not recomended for the street.

I have an electric fuel pump. A holly 250 GPH pump. It is rebuildable too. If your fule pump dies it is just like running out of gas. If your water pump dies and you don't take notice to your temp guage, and are not using a computer, there is a good chance you can seriously hurt something.

I would stick to mech. water pumps and electric fuel pumps, but thats just me.

-Dennis

 

my point exactly run out of gas oh well get some start up run out of coolant flow overheat crack heads block etc. not pretty. but hey it's your cash do what you want.

 

honestly I almost wonder about that though. the energy needed to power the waterpump comes from the alternator and the alternator doesn't provide free power. it comes from the motor spinning it. when a higher electrical load is placed on the alternator it becomes harder to turn. also things generally do not get converted at 100% or even near that in most cases. since you have a few conversions taking place. mechanical energy being converted into electrical energy then back into mechanical energy I'm almost thinking that at some times the electrical waterpump might actually draw more energy off the motor then using a mechanical one.

not saying that means it's useless though.
might come in handy as someone said to run while the car is off to prevent hot spots, or maybe if your doing a track run to shut it off right before you launch but keep it on while moving to the stage lines, burnout, staging and waiting for the other guy to stage and so forth. also at some points the electrical version might be more efficient as it is a steady pump speed so at higher engine rpms be a little better though at lower rpms I still would almost think the mechanical one would be better as it is spinning at a lower speed then the electrical one and only goes from mechanical energy into mechanical energy not converted from a to b back to a again.

no proof or anything just thoughts.

 

Good point. I suppose either way it's going to suck power from the engine. Well now I don't see any point to the electric one whatsoever...

 

doesn't mean there isn't any use.
guess it just all depends.
part of the reason they might be so good on a race car at least. they won't cavitate foorom overrevving the motor. remember they spin at a steady rpm. at higher rpms they won't draw as much e=nergy from the motor (or at least shouldn't) as a mechaniccal pump so in the end they might be ok.

but again depends on the use but easily being more gooder for the racer

sorry about the grammer when I poost it takes about 2-3 sseconds for me to see what I'm typing so I don't always catch my error or forget where I was to correct the error since I'mtyping blind.

 

the electric motor has a life. 5-7-10K hours, depending on brand
do the math on how much you drive your car and see how long its designed to last for.

 

if I drive on avg 35mph at 5000 hour life that is 175,000 miles

should be long enough and seems like a decent repair interval to my opinion

 

hmmm... now that i finally got the chance to revisit my own thread, sounds like a mech pump is the way to go... man, i hate not being able to get on this site during the week. got internet access, but this site is "blocked" for some stupid government reason. anyhow, thanks for the responses.

 

i think your math is off a bit.

 

5000
x 35
========
25000
15000
==========
175000


or you can try the calculator if you like

 

that math is correct.
the problem is the error.

you cant mix MPH vs hour life.
lets use 5000 as an easy example.
you drive an hour to work, and an hour home.
2 hour total drive a day for 5 days a week.

2x5=10 hour a week
5000/10= 500 trips to work on this pump.
no way a electric water pump will last 175000 miles.
ive seen people far exceed the life expectancy. an electric motor is just like statistics. plenty of folks out there living after 74. its just an average.

 

your math is a little off. it wouldn't be 500 trips total

as you said 1 hour each way so two trips is 2 hours a day and for 5 days would be 10 hours a week
you came up with the answer of 500 trips as 5000/10 but it would be 500 weeks worth as you said it's 10 hours weekly so another words almost 9 and a half years worth of travel

correct math would be 5000/2= 2500 trips total


also if you know how much your are driving or what your avg mph is then you can calculate your mileage on the trip
lets say your trip for that hour is 63miles
that means you avg 63mph
if all you do with your car is that trip back and forth and your water pump is to last 5000miles that means you get about 315,000 miles out of the waterpump.

still not too shabby

granted though most trips are not freeway runs at 65mph and it's not all city traffic either and sometimes your not even moving just letting the car idle which uses the pump but doesn't gain you much. I just chose the 35 the first time around as a round about number. so if you are averaging 35mph then what I said above is correct. if you avg more then 35mph then you will get more then 175,000 miles if you average less then 35 mph then you will get a little less then 175,000 miles


and your right it is an avg and you can go well above that or well bleow that. still though the numbers don't sound that bad to me. for a 5k pump avg life span. for myself I prolly avg around 35miles per hour or more anymore since most my traffic is just freeway work with a little city. so for me that 35mph avg I posted would be a little off. but I don't see anyreason this can't be just as reliable if not more so then a mechanical pump. your own thing shows taht it should be fairly reliable.


still doesn't sound to bad to me though. that sounds about right to you doesn't it?

 

the real question is why are we so worried about it if you are driving to work then you are on a speed controlled road so what are you gaining??? nothing can you buy an electric pump cheaper that mechanical? NO. so it is pointless worrying about it. if you are taking it to the strip it doesn't take a whole lot of time to change a pump and pullies. So I don't see the argument unless you have a track only car stick with mechanical pump. Cup cars run them so they can't be that bad, Huh? Edelbrock makes the RCR series which is a great pump and they also use the Adams pump which so far is a great pump (I have one now) these are race quality pumps and are still normally around $75-$100 cheaper than a good electric pump.

 

I use a mezziere electric water pump on my car and it works great. It keeps my car cool when I drive from work, and it's perfect for cooling down my car when I'm at the track. Me personally I wouldn't go back to mechanical. But my car is not a daily driver...... They are expensive for TPI's, if your gonna keep the serpentine setup. It's all about what you car is most commonly used for. Street or Strip.

 

just using work as an example.... people do drive there cars on weekends racing too.
an electric pump is lighter, and frees up horsepower, you can run it in staging to cool your motor at the track.
its worth it, IMO.

rx7= your right, my math was off a lil bit. either way its good to have one.

 

it's cool we all make mistakes. I make lots of them .

myself with the electric waterpump I not sure if I want one. they seem reliable enough to me but the catch is how inefficient I am ASSUMING they would be at lower rpms do to the energy conversion/waste and so forth and with me not racing enough it would be a very iffy situation. that plus cost.

now I know my pump isn't the greatest and have been known to start mild cavitation at around 4000rpms so if I did a lot of road racing I would get one for sure being the waterpump should hold a fairly steady flow without cavitation. or if I spent a lot of time at high rpms but for me high rpms is freeway driving at 2700-2800rpms or the fewtimes I go above 3000rpms just cause I need to move a little quicker for some raeson.


I'm lame and have no fun in my old age anymore

 

you can buy a conversion kit from summit, to go from mechincial to electric and use ur same water pump. if ur gona run on the street i would use a mechincial... if ur gona race alot i would use a electric.

 

the conversions are old school and dont really free up any power.
you have a giant electric motor turning the inefficient propeller in the pump, plus all the engery wasted turning the belt.


stweart makes some nice high flow mechanical versions.
good luck.

 

like I said I have had my 18 degree motor to 7500 rpm quite a few times and am using the same kind of pump on my 406 and am starting an sb2.2 motor and will be using an Adams mech pump and have had no problem. great pump and from what I have heard virtually no loss in power compared to csi and edelbrock's electric which the same was said about the stage 3 stewart pumps.