Undersize water pump pulley for SBC?

[donsrods]

Odd that a water pump would explode, when a 16" heavy duty old beater of a mechanical cooling fan can run at 6000rpm. I'd guess my after-market water pump will be good for high revs, and I'll never go past 6000rpm, so I think it'll be okay for me.

Yeah, when I say two pumps blew apart, I mean they BLEW APART ! These are Ford Racing aluminum pumps, and the diffuser ring welds came apart and the vanes dug into the housing.






Of course, the fact that I shift my motor at 7,000 and the pump was probably going 10,000 might have been a factor.

Don

 

[King Herald]

Of course, the fact that I shift my motor at 7,000 and the pump was probably going 10,000 might have been a factor.

Don

That could be something to do with it.

 

[dutch]

were you running a fan shroud before? I used a factory fan and clutch on my cuda but it kept overheating at idle because the shroud gapped a bit to the rad. I thought not much of it but after sealing all small gaps, I never had another heat problem. ( I used the same rad as your new new one) I also switched from the stock pump to a Milodon HV, which helped a bit too.

 

[King Herald]

were you running a fan shroud before?

Yes, I had a full shroud and a big mechanical fan, but basically my radiator was a cheap local made one, nowhere near efficient enough to cool this motor. The tubes were 5/8" apart and the 'fins' were very spartan. I thought I could get away with it, but on those really hot days, in very slow traffic, the same old story.

Despite all my careful trial fitting and measurements, when it was all fitted and welded and tightened down, there is only about 1/4" between pump bolts and fan motor.

Why the hell does it always seem to turn out like that with everything I do?? So many careful plans, and it turns to s**t! Seems to be the story of everything I ever built.

I will endure though, I will sort this out, what doesn't kill us just makes us stronger. [cl

 

[BlueNorther]

looks like it would clear better if moved to the top of radiator.

also that looks like a pusher fan, does it pull the air through the radiator??

also i would build a shallow shroud so it pulls air though the whole radiator.

or mount up a light fiberglass fan to the water pump and build a shroud for full core air flow.

I had a flex-o-light fiberglass fan with a huge pitch blades that needed a 1" spacer for the blades to clear the fan belt, when I revved it up, I would swear the car would creep forward.

 

[King Herald]

Definitely a puller fan, and sold as such, not mention of it being reversible.

It makes little difference if I raise the fan up, just means more of the motor is close to the water pump.

If I had just another inch space I could make a simple flat shroud, but it is all too tight. At the moment there is only 1/4" gap between fan and core.

I will carry a spare mechanical fan blade, so if it all falls to bits far from home I can pull the electric fan out and fit the mech one. In fact I might even try it just to see how it performs.

Friend of mine has a coupé with a hotter motor, a similar rad and a plain mechanical fan, no shroud, and he runs 160 all day long, even in solid traffic.

 

[King Herald]

It runs good, sits at about 175 in the driveway. It is 100 in the shade and there is no wind around here, so it should be better on the road. I have a 160 thermostat in it so 170 is okay. Road test will reveal more....

Also need to see about fitting the rad cowl back on, as it won't fit properly right now.....

 

[Old Iron]

I'm glad it worked out for ya. Nothin worse than seein the heat just keep building up.

 

[dutch]

trans cooler in front, and no full rad shroud... Wonder if that will keep er cool on hot days.
You`ve got a pretty cool ride for a guy who says all projects turn to .... ( whatever that was...)

 

[King Herald]

I did a quick test run last night, bit it was a lot cooler out, temp cycled around 160-170, fan switched on and off just driving along slowly.

BUT, I hear a sort of erratic 'whistling' sound when I put it in gear. That was never there before, not that I could hear, sounds like transmission. All I've done is fit a bigger cooler, nothing else has been changed.

It is right on the lower mark on the dipstick, so I'll add a drop of fluid today, see what happens. I've noticed a while ago it 'judders' a bit sometimes when pulling off.

 

[soltz]

Glad to see things are going your way, sort of [S

Hope dutch was being funny when he said "when it gets hot"
100 in the shade, not hot [S

 

[dutch]

j/k,
Just sayin, I don`t think you`re using max cooling capacity

 

[King Herald]

j/k,
Just sayin, I don`t think you`re using max cooling capacity

I hear what you're saying. Right at the start I had a smaller $60 fan on the old under-performing radiator, and made a very slim flat 'shroud' so I sucked through the whole rad. It overheated; too small a fan, to rubbish a rad.

If I could get just one more inch clearance I could do that again this time, but my new SPAL fan is 4" thick at the motor.

Original setup.

New setup.

 

[donsrods]

Just a thought. You really do not need that huge of a trans cooler blocking the air flow. All we run is one of those dual pass coolers that mounts to the frame and it does the job well.

I bet if you pull that off it will run even cooler.

Don

 

[King Herald]

Just a thought. You really do not need that huge of a trans cooler blocking the air flow. All we run is one of those dual pass coolers that mounts to the frame and it does the job well.

I bet if you pull that off it will run even cooler.

Don

In had one half the size on there before, but the trans started playing up and I was worried it was overheating.

Anyway, I was out and about today for an hour today, engine temp hovers between 160 and 170, fan shuts off almost as soon as I hit 20mph and air starts moving.

But, the trans is still playing games, seems to shudder a bit pulling away, reverse seems very loose, and I notice lots of tiny bubbles in the oil when I pull the dipstick. Level is okay.

 

[dutch]

do you have any idea how hot the trans gets? if it overheats you pull a lot of heat through your rad...

 

[donsrods]

I think your trans issues are totally unrelated to the cooling issues. You have something going on inside the transmission.

We have run those double pass, round trans coolers on 4 cars so far, and they work great, even cooling ones with high stall convertors. Yours is blocking a large portion of the air that should be coming through the radiator.


Don

 

[King Herald]

I had thoughts about running one of those double pass SummitRacing coolers along the underneath of the radiator, as there is a suitable gap there and it would look pretty cool. I'd use the longest I could fit in, maybe 24" long.

Anyway, pulled the pan off the trans today, lots of silvery grease in there, and a few patches of small fibres and various particles on top the filter..... I think it is doomed.

I cleaned it out and put the pan back on, bought a bunch of ATF, but I'm not sure it is worth even refilling it... if it has to be torn down eventually. I was hoping beyond hope it might just be the filter blocked.....

 

[donsrods]

Those fibers sound like parts of the clutches. You might try a bottle of Lucas transmission additive. I put one in my daily driver because the shifts were getting slightly sloppy, and within a few miles it was shifting better. Might not totally fix it, but might buy you some time.

Don

 

[King Herald]

Those fibers sound like parts of the clutches. You might try a bottle of Lucas transmission additive. I put one in my daily driver because the shifts were getting slightly sloppy, and within a few miles it was shifting better. Might not totally fix it, but might buy you some time.

Don

Tranny has been out, overhauled, and is currently going back in. [cl

It was toast inside, been damaged a long time by the look of it, bushes, bearing, thrust washers, hard parts etc. My builder says it looks like someone did 'half an overhaul' on it once.

So, should get it hooked up by tomorrow and we'll see how it goes. My tranny guy says I should go back to the smaller cooler, no need for the huge thing I fitted, so the small one is back on. That should help the motor cooling.