My water pump is going out and thinking about replacing it with a electric one. Is this a good idea? I autox the car and drive it 9 months out of the year as my DD. Also which one would work best.

 

I hate to be one of those crotchety old guys that says "use the search", but you should. This has been covered here recently pretty well. What I took away from it is that (although I think they are cool) electric water pumps seem most appropriate for drag use, where they can be turned off during the run. There was a huge debate on it, but there doesn't seem to be any significant advantage to street use because, not to reopen the debate, there is in fact no free lunch.

 

I did it and it works great. Here is how I did it:


https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=231&TopicID=2

It's long but I think I covered most things. BTW, it is more efficent than the gear driven water pump so it doesn't pay for all your lunch, but it makes it much cheaper.

 

I copied and pasted everything below from another post I had. My car is a daily driven street car. I drag race a few times a year and run it on the road course now and then. Some others have recently reported that they prefer the mechanical pump if in extremely high temp climates and if auto-x or road racing. Since the install, I have not been in either of those situations yet. I think it is perfect for a street driven weekend drag car. IMO

I just installed a Meziere HD EWP about six weeks ago. It was a PITA for me but just because everything seemed to go wrong on the install. It should have only taken about 4 hours. If you pull the shaft and seal the timing cover like you are supposed to then expect it to take a lot longer. I'm waiting for the cam swap, opti swap, and Cloyes timing chain install to do this.

Factory mechanical pump installed. Belt, coolant hoses, MAF, and air ducts removed. The belt has to be removed to get to all the bolts. The coolant should be drained.


Old Mechanical pump and housing removed. Notice the two guides where the pump housing meets the block. The pump housing may need to be wiggled off some. I left the mechanical drive shaft installed for now. I was worried about it rubbing on the freeze plug but it doesnt. Others have reported that leaving the shaft in can create a leak at a later date. Some remove it and JB welded a .50 piece or freeze plug in place.


Mechanical pump guts need to be removed from housing. I used a punch and a 20lb maul. Lots of patients needed.


Mechanical parts that I removed from pump housing.


Seal plug installed. You will need to scrape off the old housing gaskets and replace with new ones.


EWP installed on housing.



Meziere Installed on car. Be carefull not to pinch or cut the vacum line that runs back up to the air duct. Mine was already cut from one of the pulleys.


Wiring Relay for Meziere.


Pink Wire used to switch on pump with Accessory-On key position.



The biggest change I noticed is that temps are always consistent. No more temps creeping up at a red light or in traffic due to consistent rpms. Other advantage is that you can run the pump by itself to cool off the engine between runs. Also + 7 to 10hp increase for switching to EWP. Future pump changes should now be much easier. I can just unbolt the EWP from the housing without removing the housing.

 

For a DD I would stick to the stock water pump. A stock pump will give you warning when it is going out. An electric pump will leave you dead on the road when it fails.

 

For heavy long term use I would suggest the mechanical water pump.

 

why reinvent the wheel?

 

One of the things I like about my electric is I can run it after I shut down the engine and keep the heat soak under control.
I wouldn't trust it for everyday but for the weekend thrashing it has done a good job.

 

I spoke with a tech from Griffin a couple years ago. I asked him about electric pumps on the street. He said....If electric pumps are the answer, then why aren't they the number one choice on production vehicles? They certainly would make packaging a lot easier in the smaller, more cramped engine bays. He recommended I look into Stewart pumps http://www.stewartcomponents.com/
I installed one on my 67 Chevy II and I could not have been more happy with it.

 

dont forget while you have the pump off you just as well replace your opti if you havn't already. if its not bad now, it will be eventually. especially if your water pump is leaking out of the weep hole.

 

 

In fact why do any mods to your car if you are happy with the factory performance.?

 

I'm one of those older guys who believe the mechanical is much more reliable than the electric as far as longevity goes. I'm sure there is some performance (hp) gains with the electric, but I'd have to see a dyno to believe you'd get 7-10 hp!! I might believe .7-1 hp.

To each his own I guess, nice post Rick.

 

http://www.ws6.com/mod-14.htm

Also scroll to bottom of this page...
http://www.ws6.com/kelley-wp.htm

I've seen some others on Z28 forum showing 7-10hp.

 

Sorry, but like jsup, I'm a little sceptical about some vendors claims, and in small print they said average gain 2.9 HP, still have to believe that's pushing it. While it takes some HP to run a mechanical, it also takes some to run an electrical, so there probably is a small gain. Basically I think to each his own. But I also don't like the idea of putting such a critical component onto an electrical system....just my opinion.

 

One thing to think about is an electric pump flows the same at all RPMs so even idling at a stop sign its pumping at full capacity.

The only reason I run one in my other car is space. There just isn't enough space to run a belt drive so electric it is.
If I could fit a belt drive I would, I would feel more comfortable on a long trip with common replacement parts. Kind of hard to replace an electric motor if the local parts stores don't have on.

 

I'm also skeptical when it comes to vendor tests. In this case neither dyno is from a vendor. Those are owners who installed an EWP then dynod. The first dyno shows 6.2rwhp and 5.2rwtq max gain. The second dyno shows 9.6rwhp and 10.7rwtq max gain. Neither gain is bad for a 4hr mod that will also cool the engine better in a drag race or street driven application. IMO You will find about the same gain when speaking to others who have swapped to an EWP. Almost no performance product vendor will measures gains in average hp over the rpm curve. They always compare in Max power. That includes turbo kits, blowers, nitrous, etc.. It's a lot easier to get someone to spend 5k on a blower by telling them they will gain 125hp rather then telling them it's a 65hp average gain.

 

Lets talk about reliablity. The Meziere HD pump is designed to last at least 2500 hours. After doing the math, that's a lot longer than the mechanical pump lasts before it starts leaking on the opti. How about the electric fans? They seem to last a long time. They used to be belt driven. How about that electric fuel pump of yours? They used to be manually driven off the cam. What happens when it fails? Yep, you're on the side of the road. If you are worried about the pump failing, just buy a spare. It is very easy to replace. Two EWPs cost less than a mechanical pump and an opti. I know some of you don't trust them and don't want to change something that is working fine. But is it working fine? My LT1 was warming up in the summer when in stop and go traffic. Now it doesn't. I went one step further and installed 2 switches to manually turn on the fans. With the motor off, I can really cool down the engine with the pump and fans running. I guess you can see what I suggest when it comes to EWP vs OEM pump.

 

Thanks for all the info guys and hope to start on the car this weekend. GM wanted 400.00 for the mech. pump and Summit has a GM pump for less the 200.00.

 

Once again I don't care which way a person chooses to go, that's their choice.

I'm not however sold on Stricks post, simply because some guys have had Mezieres fail on them. Just like some guys have reported buying new fuel pumps, MAFs, alternators, ECMs etc. just to have them go bad quickly. I'm not knocking Meziere, or anyother MFGer of electric pumps, one thing I will say however is look at the rating (hours) on light bulbs, most have 1000 hours, but I've found few that last that long. I don't have an OPTI, so that's not a problem. And believe it or not Strick, it's cheaper to install some electrical components than mechanical. And I don't want to have to carry an extra pump just because it makes me feel secure knowing I have a replacement.I have close to 106K on my 87 with original WP.

Once again, it's personal choice, do what you like.