Electric water pumps for street use?

[Headrope]

Do electric water pumps work for street applications?

Now that I've got my '66 running again I can get back to trying to sqeeze every horse out of the motor.

Swapping out the mechanical cooling fan and pulley for an electronic water pump seems like it could yield a substantial gain, but I wonder if the engine would be able to keep its cool while waiting for stoplights to turn green and such. Obviously temps would rise if the car wasn't moving forward, but would it get any hotter than it already does? Air doesn't really seem to "flow" in the engine bay of a first gen; the fan just pushes the hot towards the fire wall.

Thoughts?

[68ChargerJMP]

I dont have any first hand experience, but Ive read that they have came a long way in streetability. Meziere, I think, is what most people use.

[Silver R/T]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/440-Big-Block-Mopar-Billet-Electric-Water-Pump-Dodge-BB_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33604QQitemZ8046936991QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
just dont get one of these, its only for track use

[Chryco Psycho]

Meziere is what I would use as well , you will need to be creative fabing alt brakets etc

[700HPCharger]

I love my Meziere, I think that you would be ok running one on the street.

[Blown70]

I have a Remote Mezinere,  Should work well.

I had a CSI (name?)  It was going to rub the blower belt.

Tom

[firefighter3931]

For a street car i wouldn't bother. There are much better places to spend money to make increased power. Cam, headers, carb, ignition etc...

Ron

[Mike DC]

       
I dunno about that.

A lot of manifolds & mufflers & cams are regarded as "good deals" because they give you 10-20 horsepower for $200-350.  I'll bet the electric water pump ends up being in the same hp-per-dollar range.  (And the extra power would be spread evenly across the powerband, unlike a lot of peaky traditional mods.)


An electric water pump would probably draw some decent electricity, though. 
Seems like most cars' alternators are over-juicing the battery as it is, so I'm guessing that's probably not an issue as long as the water pump is wired correctly.

     

[firefighter3931]

       
I dunno about that.


     

I do 

On a 500hp combo the electric pump was worth all of 10hp as measured on the dyno vs a belt driven mechanical in back to back runs. An electric pump has limited service life on a street car....most are rated around 400-500hrs use. An x-pipe is worth at least 10hp at the rear wheels and will cost less than $100.00 at Summit racing.  That's just one simple example....there are many others. 

Ron

[Headrope]

I didn't realize the 400-500 hour lifespan. That would seem to be a pain in the ass to keep track of. Important but still a pain in the ass.

The x-pipe is actually what made me think of considering a electic water pump. Adding an x-pipe seems like a no-brainer but could cost the cool nosies my exhaust makes, according to most everyone I've talked to about it. For me the way a car sounds is a big part of the cool factor - which might be worth more than 10 extra horse power.

Thanks for the replies, folks. I've got some thinkin' to do.

Firefighter, could you PM me some of the "many others' you hinted at? Now that I've built my engine I want to tune it.

[NorwayCharger]

       
I dunno about that.


     

I do 

On a 500hp combo the electric pump was worth all of 10hp as measured on the dyno vs a belt driven mechanical in back to back runs. An electric pump has limited service life on a street car....most are rated around 400-500hrs use. An x-pipe is worth at least 10hp at the rear wheels and will cost less than $100.00 at Summit racing.  That's just one simple example....there are many others. 

Ron

This is what Meziere say about it..

Features:


Fully polished or anodized in your choice of 4 colors (Black,Blue,Red,Natural).
All stainless steel hardware included.
This pump is suitable for street use – 2500+ hour life expectancy.
Fully CNC machined one piece main body.
The complete standard Big Block MOPAR unit weighs only 7 pounds, more than 20 pounds savings over the cast stock unit.
35 GPM free flow rating. The heavy-duty versions flow 40+ GPM.
Pump will clear cam belt drives and most blower drives.

[John_Kunkel]

I know that lots of folks run the electric pumps on the street but one thing that puzzles me is the fact that the electric pump always turns the same speed and flow rate  regardless of engine rpm. It seems to me that the pump speed should increase with the engine speed since more combustion cycles create more heat.

If the electric really does work on the street it must overly efficient at idle and borderline at high engine rpm's.

Just thinking out loud.

[Blown70]

I know that lots of folks run the electric pumps on the street but one thing that puzzles me is the fact that the electric pump always turns the same speed and flow rate  regardless of engine rpm. It seems to me that the pump speed should increase with the engine speed since more combustion cycles create more heat.

If the electric really does work on the street it must overly efficient at idle and borderline at high engine rpm's.

Just thinking out loud.

Well Hmm, they can be restricted and or turned off.   Good thinking.  However I would guess the specific heat and or RPM is not an immediate increase in the tempuature.  Esp. Knowing the specific heat of water with antifreeze.

Good one to ponder.

Tom

[Blown70]

Indy has a good idea for electric water pumps
With an adapter you can reverse water flow and cooler water is fed to the heads for cooler combustion area. Bigger increase in hp.

I started a topic on that a few months ago and people thought I was NUTS...... Thank you .

Tom

[RD]

there are alot of racers that do the reverse cooling on their rides.  one right off the top of my head is the guy who has the 9 sec dodge ram pickup who is going to the HR PGDrags.  I believe he stated it gave him an extra tenth, but I have no way of confirming that.  Anyway, you would think the cooler temp's up top would do some positives.

[firefighter3931]

Reverse flow cooling does work well and allows "street" guys to push the compression ratio envelope. As for Meziere claiming 2500 hrs for their pump all i can say is good luck. I know guys who haven't got anywhere near that amount of life out of theirs. 

I luv my Milidon HV pump, even if it robs 10-15hp....i'll make up the power somewhere else. 

Ron

[Mike DC]

     
None of the OEMs have tried equipping anything with an electric water pump yet, have they? 

That's probably worth noting.