Electric Water Pump

[Magz]

Anyone here ever implement an electric water pump such as at the link below, in a TR6? For my Rotrex S/C install going to an electric pump in the coolant hose and blanking off the water pump opening on the engine will free up the necessary space for the S/C on the right side of the engine, while potentially providing improved cooling for my boosted engine. 

https://daviescraig.com.au/electric-water-pumps

Any experience sharing is appreciated!

[john.r.davies]

.

I fitted my 2.6L Vitesse with a Davis Craig pump about fifteen years ago, and it has functioned very well.    Once, on my return from Le Mans about five years ago, it started to leak from the axle bearing, which is not replaceable, so I replaced the pump.

You say you will be "blanking off the water pump opening on the engine"!   I presume you mean to remove the mechanical pump and just have a connector fitting.     I considered this, as DC recommend that you do not use the mech pump with their device, but this makes difficult getting the fan belt correctly tight as pivoting the alternator without the pump provides a small range of adjustment, so I retained the pump and ground off the vanes inside.  But perhaps the supercharger will be where I fitted the DC pump, and the SC pulley will take its place?

John

 

[roy53]

had one on the race 250 for 5 years

removed old pump and blanked off

this enabled the use of a shorter belt which was a problems for some when exceeding 7000 rpm

Roy

[Magz]

41 minutes ago, john.r.davies said:

.

I fitted my 2.6L Vitesse with a Davis Craig pump about fifteen years ago, and it has functioned very well.    Once, on my return from Le Mans about five years ago, it started to leak from the axle bearing, which is not replaceable, so I replaced the pump.

You say you will be "blanking off the water pump opening on the engine"!   I presume you mean to remove the mechanical pump and just have a connector fitting.     I considered this, as DC recommend that you do not use the mech pump with their device, but this makes difficult getting the fan belt correctly tight as pivoting the alternator without the pump provides a small range of adjustment, so I retained the pump and ground off the vanes inside.  But perhaps the supercharger will be where I fitted the DC pump, and the SC pulley will take its place?

John

 

Yes, I would want to remove the water pump and housing and replace it with some sort of smaller/redirected connection for the hose. The S/C would indeed be where you mounted the water pump so I'd need to choose another location for that. The S/C uses a multi-rib belt so I'd probably go with a second crank pulley exclusively for the S/C. Also will need an idler/tensioner to get proper belt wrap on the S/C.

Lots to think about...thanks for your feedback!

Edited Wednesday at 04:27 PM by Magz

[Magz]

14 minutes ago, roy53 said:

had one on the race 250 for 5 years

removed old pump and blanked off

this enabled the use of a shorter belt which was a problems for some when exceeding 7000 rpm

Roy

Thanks for the feedback. I won't be exceeding 7000rpm on the road, and have no intentions of racing it competitively.

Glad to hear the pump worked well for you!

 

[Magz]

Those who have used them and electric fans...did you need to upgrade the alternator for the increased load?

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

7 minutes ago, Magz said:

Those who have used them and electric fans...did you need to upgrade the alternator for the increased load?

You just need to read the current consumption spec for your chosen cooling fan. And add that to all the other electrical items you fit.      
 

My car runs a fan that wants 10 amps.   That meant changing to an alternator from a dynamo.   My chosen alternator is said to deliver 45 amps and delivers precisely what I ask of it.    That is probably what a regular TR6 alternator will provide.    My alternator is tiny and comes from a Kubota garden tractor, is made by Nippon Denso.   This allows space between it and the rest of the engine + ancillaries.
 

Consider what other electrical drains you might fit.   Electric cooling pump.  EFI fuel pump. Drown out the world  stereo.  Air conditioning.   

[Magz]

9 minutes ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

Consider what other electrical drains you might fit.   Electric cooling pump.  EFI fuel pump. Drown out the world  stereo.  Air conditioning.   

I think I might stay with the original 8-track in the car just for nostalgia's sake. No A/C...it actually had A/C but the previous owner removed it, and I have no use for it in a convertible.

[Magz]

My thought at this point is to buy a stock water pump housing and fabricate a blockoff plate with a hose fitting straight out the front that fits where the stock pump goes. Then that hose could feed the electric pump directly in front of the housing which then connects to the radiator lower hose fitting. 

The existing pump fitting that tilts down from the housing could then be mostly cut off and then blocked off completely to yield lots of room at the engine right side.

Just a thought.

[Trumpy3]

I fitted one to my TR3A about 20 years ago and it has worked fine ever since. My only problem has been over cooling but I think that is probably due to the radiator I run (Volvo 440). I removed the original water pump and fabricated a simple blanking plate with a coolant inlet pipe. I run a 50amp alternator to ensure I have enough power for the pump, fan, EFI system, Vac pump, lights, instruments, etc.. The pump it self is attached under the LH side of the brace between the suspension towers, well out of the way.

Adjusting the alternator belt was an issue so I fitted a small idler pulley from an early Suzuki Swift air con system.

Brian

 

 

 

[Magz]

8 hours ago, Trumpy3 said:

I fitted one to my TR3A about 20 years ago and it has worked fine ever since. My only problem has been over cooling but I think that is probably due to the radiator I run (Volvo 440). I removed the original water pump and fabricated a simple blanking plate with a coolant inlet pipe. I run a 50amp alternator to ensure I have enough power for the pump, fan, EFI system, Vac pump, lights, instruments, etc.. The pump it self is attached under the LH side of the brace between the suspension towers, well out of the way.

Adjusting the alternator belt was an issue so I fitted a small idler pulley from an early Suzuki Swift air con system.

Brian

Cool. Useful info, thanks. Do you have any pictures of your setup?

[john.r.davies]

This is an earlier iteration of my electric pump project.   Two water hose connectors top right.

John

[Magz]

4 hours ago, john.r.davies said:

This is an earlier iteration of my electric pump project.   Two water hose connectors top right.

John

Hmmm...interesting. I was just going to use an altered pump housing as I described so I can keep the thermostat and not get into a completely computer-controlled setup; I understand the advantages but the water pump part of my project is simply a means to an end, to free up space for a supercharger. I expect I could shoot off on a very time-consuming tangent just modifying the cooling system!

On the other hand, lots of boost means lots of heat, and an improved cooling system might be warranted.

I can see this is going to need a lot of thought...

[Trumpy3]

Extra power.......more heat. It should always be remembered, you burn more fuel, you produce more heat. As a rough rule, of the heat produced in an ICE, about 1/3rd is lost through cooling, 1/3rd through the exhaust, and 1/3rd is converted to mechanical power. Of the latter 1/3rd you then loose to friction and all those other mechanical losses before it gets to the drive tyres. Then of course you have the losses caused by the tyre itself working. Do not know the figure for car tyres but truck tyres take about 3HP each just to roll along the road.

A turbo recovers some of that exhaust loss but adds to the cooling requirement. Double your power and you double your cooling requirement.

Brian

[jerrytr5]

I run a DaviesCraig EWP on the 7 Sprint. Very efficient & reliable so far. Useful display that tells you what the pump & fan are doing and real temperature which you will need to find space on the dash for.

Jerry

[Magz]

3 hours ago, jerrytr5 said:

I run a DaviesCraig EWP on the 7 Sprint. Very efficient & reliable so far. Useful display that tells you what the pump & fan are doing and real temperature which you will need to find space on the dash for.

Jerry

Sounds good. I suppose I could make a little flip-up wood veneer cover for the display so it looks traditional until I need to check it.

Any pictures of your setup, especially the display on your dash?

[jerrytr5]

The EWP display is the black square box. Not too bad in a 7 as it is pretty much a black square box itself.

The small bore pipe on the pump is the heater return.

Jerry

[Magz]

3 hours ago, jerrytr5 said:

The EWP display is the black square box. Not too bad in a 7 as it is pretty much a black square box itself.

The small bore pipe on the pump is the heater return.

Jerry

Thanks for the photos. Very useful to see the various implementations!