Anatomy of a Waterpump

[shoon]

Got some free time before I go back to work, so I dismantled my old water pump to see what goes on. These waterpumps appear to be a really crappy design; either that or just poor material. The only thing stopping coolant from coming out of the weeping hole is some crappy (possibly rubber) seal, that has a separate spring tensioned teflon ring riding on it. My waterpump was 2-3 years old with low miles, and the rubber seal was extremely dried out, cracked all over, and extremely brittle. For anyone else who might have been curious, but just did not have the time or did not want to mangle their core; here are the pictures. Enjoy.

 

[sperold]

Great post. Thanks for the info.
My 89 has the original water pump and it has been there for 320,000 kms.
Both my 90 and 95 have new water pumps within the last few years.
You never know how long one of these things are going to last.

 

[gmail]

kinda sucks we never had a option for a high performance water pump..

where the impellers are designed differently, they add flow and hp..

not use we get the old school design

 

[Ishodu]

I pulled one apart last year and was shocked to notice that the only seal against the shaft and the mechanic seal is the metal sleeve there should be a o ring or sealant in there or there will always be a small amount pass there.

 

[Ishodu]

FYI i had one of these fail in less than 60 miles the hub for the pulley fell off its just pressed on there like the sprockets on the gen 3 cams

 

[itwonder]

I had a Cardone rebuilt WP fail in less than a thousand miles. It is a crap shoot.

 

[firebat45]

kinda sucks we never had a option for a high performance water pump..

where the impellers are designed differently, they add flow and hp..

not use we get the old school design

Make your own impeller?

 

[eLindemann]

I see this thread as the potential start of a great engineering project.

 

[rubydist]

that is standard water pump design - how would you suggest to change it to make it better?

keep in mind you must have a decent bearing on the shaft to take the belt load and allow the shaft to spin. you also must have the impeller on the shaft and in the water. therefore you must have a seal on that shaft keeping the water out of the bearing. recognizing that even on the best seal, a little water will leak past, they put a weep hole in there to allow that coolant to (hopefully) drip out safely.

if there's a crappy design anywhere, its putting the crank sensor right below the water pump, since you know eventually there will be water dripping there.

 

[needaQuaife]

How about a adapter plug / tube that redirects weepage coolant past CPS to terra firma

 

[hawkeye18]

Agreed... the solution isn't to redesign the water pump - the solution is to redirect the flow of coolant away from the CPS.

 

[jimtash]

Agreed... the solution isn't to redesign the water pump - the solution is to redirect the flow of coolant away from the CPS.

A small tube of some sort could do it.

 

[firebat45]

A small tube of some sort could do it.

Drill out and tap that hole, thread in a small barbed fitting, and run a drain hose to a safe location. I think I'll be doing that next time I change a waterpump.

 

[hawkeye18]

the weep hole appears to be about 6mm in diameter. You could probably wedge some 6mm OD tubing up in there with thread-locker as a sealant.

 

[chrism3784]

Yeah, seems another breakthrough to keep our shos running. When the seal fails and water leaks through, at least this time it wont disable the car by dripping on crank sensor.

Funny thing, I just bought a 2000 Crown Vic cop car, stupid little heater connector in the back connecting into the intake manifold likes to leak, right on to the the rear coil, shorting it, causing to misfire. I'm dealing with that now, and I just bought the car. I may need a new intake, or good junkyard one at least. Also sucks I didn't know 2001 crown vics they put the PI heads in, 25 hp more I could be driving. Im stuck with a 2000 with non-pi heads!

 

[gmail]

actually this is what i was talking about... they even got dyno proof of it on a 4.0 jeep

http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoWaterpump.htm

this is just another idea here.. could be something someone could build im sure
http://www.quadratec.com/products/51212_58.htm

the bottom one looks like nothing more then adding a plate to the impeller blades on the stock setup...



the top however is more of a serious upgrade that could net a few hp and a lot more cooling flow... probley enough to make it so you didnt need a dual core rad..

i know i got a old 4.0 water pump around i might take some measurements and see if they water pumps are about the same and if they are maybe this upgrade might be easier

 

[HotRodKid]

Larger diameter impeller with more sweep to the blades, and maybe an extra blade would probably do a lot for cooling.

plus make sure there's almost no gap between the impeller and the other half of the water pump housing so there's no "escape" path for coolant

 

[Enzo731]

I like where this is going.

 

[gmail]

Larger diameter impeller with more sweep to the blades, and maybe an extra blade would probably do a lot for cooling.

plus make sure there's almost no gap between the impeller and the other half of the water pump housing so there's no "escape" path for coolant

exactly you see what im talking about...
the best bet would be a custom made impeller like the one in the link from a CNC machine...

if the one from the 4.0 is close to the size just a bit bigger then it could be ground down some and if the shaft is the same size as well as it being close to the housing both front and back then your in business...

chances of that being close are probley next to none but i do remember when i changed my 4.0 pump i was thinking about this upgrade and to be honest the water pumps are pretty close to the same size..
SHO might be slightly smaller...


just remember tho whatever is done this needs to be perfect and not fly apart at 7k+ rpms or you dont have to worry over a few hp



EDIT: or anyone being able to make up a custom impeller it would be you with your machine shop access...

 

[firebat45]

I just want to point out that increasing flow does not necessarily do anything more for cooling. Doubling how much water gets pumped will not cut the temperature in half.

And on that note, the SHO cooling system is overkill for all but a very few cars. You don't need your car to run at 140 degrees, in fact, that's bad for it, and that's why the thermostat will not allow that to happen.

Changing the impeller to lessen parasitic drag on the motor has some merit. Doing it for "better cooling" is a waste of time though.