Eletric water pump question.
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From: Jackson County
Eletric water pump question.
i know i should listen to what "they" have to say, but i was told with the race type eletric pumps you don't use a t-stat. i find that hard to believe but i'm asking now. any one ever heard of it, or have experience with a eletric water pump? mine is a moroso.
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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond Lodge 538 F&AM
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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond Lodge 538 F&AM
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Electric water pumps are normally run on a race motor to reduce parasitic losses and to allow cool down between runs. In order to get the cool down between runs you don't run a thermostat. As your car sits in the pits or in the staging lanes you run the pump to get the engine temp as low as possible. As long as your coolant bypass is still working it shouldn't hurt the pump to run with the thermostat closed. If you don't have your coolant bypass working then it could cause the pump to overheat.
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From: 51°N 114°W, 3500'
Car: 87 IROC L98
Engine: 588 Alcohol BBC
Transmission: Powerglide
Axle/Gears: Ford 9"/31 spline spool/4.86
I don't use a thermostat with mine.
The thermostat keeps the coolent flow restricted until the engine reaches operating temperatures. After it opens it will only close when the rest of the cooling system is sufficient enough to lower the coolent temperature below the operating temp (driving down the highway). It then closes, bringing up the coolent temp. Having a 180 thermostat will keep the temperature from dropping below 180 but if the rest of the cooling system can't remove the extra heat the thermostat will stay open and the temp will keep rising.
Now with my car the engine temp can climb to 160 in about 5 minutes if I leave the fans shut off. Since I don't do any highway driving with it, forced air flow across the rad won't cool the engine down. I then turn my fans on to try to maintain an operating temperature until I return to the pits. Once there I leave the fans and water pump turned on to lower the temp of all the cooling system. Just leaving fans on, cools down the rad and not the engine. By not having a thermostat I get better coolent flow through the engine when cooling it down.
The amount of HP loss from a belt driven pump is minimal however you have no way of cooling the engine down between runs.
The thermostat keeps the coolent flow restricted until the engine reaches operating temperatures. After it opens it will only close when the rest of the cooling system is sufficient enough to lower the coolent temperature below the operating temp (driving down the highway). It then closes, bringing up the coolent temp. Having a 180 thermostat will keep the temperature from dropping below 180 but if the rest of the cooling system can't remove the extra heat the thermostat will stay open and the temp will keep rising.
Now with my car the engine temp can climb to 160 in about 5 minutes if I leave the fans shut off. Since I don't do any highway driving with it, forced air flow across the rad won't cool the engine down. I then turn my fans on to try to maintain an operating temperature until I return to the pits. Once there I leave the fans and water pump turned on to lower the temp of all the cooling system. Just leaving fans on, cools down the rad and not the engine. By not having a thermostat I get better coolent flow through the engine when cooling it down.
The amount of HP loss from a belt driven pump is minimal however you have no way of cooling the engine down between runs.
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