Water pump....questions

[sfwilliams@comcast.net (Scott F. Williams)]

Patrick asked:
> Working on my 2L project and thinking...could it be possible
> to not install the pulley driven Water pump and install a type
> of electrical water pump instead and gain some HP?

How ironic... Patrick, did you read last week's posts about my plans to do
exactly what you're talking about? I've purchased an electrical water pump
as well as an electrical power steering pump. Keep in mind that instead of
directly sapping the output from your engine via a pulley and belt, the
electrical components do it via the alternator. So, the gains are not to be
had simply by way of the electrical conversion.

Rather, they come from the fact that the necessary output of those pumps may
not be matched well to their operation speed. This is because the ratio of
pump speed to engine rpm is fixed.

For example: Suppose you are idling at the staging lanes at the drag strip.
Your engine is fully warmed up, but not overly hot at all. You raise the
revs to 4500rpms and prepare to launch. Your water pump works like mad to
push the coolant through the block. Since engine is not actually in need of
all that cooling yet, the thermostat restricts the flow. In this case, then,
you've got a loss of efficiency. The water pump works far harder than it
needs to.

A more ideal situation would be to eliminate the thermostat completely and
simply run the electric water pump faster or slower based on a temperature
sensor. Thus, the engine's output climbs due to the increased
efficiency -but, not *always*. Does this make more sense? For more info,
here is the link to the system that I purchased:
<http://www.daviescraig.com.au/newproduct.html>

Later,

P.S. Keep in mind that the typical electric water pumps that you find from
Edelbrock, Moroso, etc., are really intended for dragrace cars with very
limited operation times. They are *not* designed to replace OEM water pumps
and will fail under extended use. We don't want your challenge to me during
the Cincy caravan to be thwarted because of an expired water pump. :^)
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
'99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."