Anybody in the Hou. area using an electric water pump on a "traditional" thirdgen SBC (Non LT-1 or LS-1).

If so, I would like to look at your car and discuss any difficulties encountered with installation.

Craig

 

i am not using one now but i did have one on my 383 in my other iroc and had nothing but trouble, infact i dont think for the little bit of power you get it is worth it. a race only car the electric waterpump is a good idea but for a street driven car i had nothing but issues especially since it flowed the same amount of water at idle as it did cruising so mine would act fine at idle , infact it would act great then you start driving anywhere and you would start overheating. i even invested in dual lt1 cooling fans and a be-cool radiator and still the same prob. motor was only 10 to 1 so i dont think it was the compression or the gear 3:42 that drove mine to overheat because as soon as i put my stock pump back on it started working great like before that stupid electric water pump. i have also had a friend with the lt1 version of the electric and his was even worse. these were not cheap pumps either , 370$ meziere pump on mine , i punted that thing off my car , i thin ki sold it to some guy on ebay for 140 bux. but atleast i learned my lesson. some people might have had different experiences but mine and my friends were pretty bad

 

also i installed it mezieres instruction and had a seperate relay feeding it from the alternator so it got plenty of power, just couldnt flow enough to keep up while driving

 

remember what the flow rate was ?

 

mine was 300 series (55 gpm)

 

I agree. Too risky to run on the street. If it's a trailer car, OK.

 

yeah i mean it would be great for a trailer car or a show car but if you go driving 25-50 miles away from home on a 100 degree houston day .........good luck

 

Mine keeps mine cooler than the stock waterpump did. But then again, I have a LT1. Mine is a CVR.

 

plus its a t-56 and i remember my t-56 ls1 running like 1600 rpm in 6th gear. so it might be easier to catch up then a 4l60 /700/th350. i know my friends lt1 was a th-350 car and he hated it, so i dont know, like i said some people have had great luck with them, some havent.

 

That may be true, I never go above 2200 rpm when driving normally. I keep them as low as possible and under load.

 

yeah , i dont know, but in zaps case if he already has it then he might as well try it, he might have good luck with it.

 

I would, im working on keeping a spare in my trunk. It seems to work really well, the best part is I can turn the key with the car off and its cooling the engine. I need to wire a switch so I can also turn the fans on too while its doing it and just watch the temperatures drop. I say go for it, I know on lt1's its a good gain for up to 10rwhp since the waterpump is run off the crank itself.

 

No, don't have one--YET--was just considering it. Since I still don't have it back together yet from the head job (Hey Beavis--he said head job!)--uh valve job, I was thinking about it. I don't drive it that much on a daily basis, more on the weekends to car shows or a cruise or the track.

I was looking at the Proform 35 gallon one for about 150.00 and if it is a straight bolt-on and just get a shorter belt, I'm still thinking about it. After all 10 HP + or -- for 150 bucks is not a bad deal. I fully realize that it puts more of a load on the electrical, but 5 amps is not that much and with the toggle switch on the alternator for when I get serious about making a pass, I don't see that it is anything but a plus.

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...ric+water+pump
PRO-66225R

Overheating soes not seem to be a problem with my car since i did the aluminum rad and the dual 14" fans with shroud--the hottest it's gotten in anycondition in the middle of the summer is 210.

Am I wrong?

 

Like I said earlier, i'd go for it, I got mine on my daily driver and im not worried.

 

Anyone know what an OEM pump is rated at? GPH?

 

dont have any idea on the oem pump. i would just try it and if you dont have any probs then your good to go, i know with my stock water pump , be cool radiator and lt1 fans i never ran over 180 in the summer and that was after 4:10's and a th-350 with 3500 stall so i guess what i had was a little much for the electric