I will be running an electric waterpump on my RX. This left me with a problem of mounting the alternator so I have been making my own.
I have now got some of it together and is in the car on a trial fit. I will need to add a fixing on the right hand side back to engine, it is a bit flexible at the moment. However very pleased at how it is coming together. Slowly.........
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Thats some beautiful machining there. Would that be a nice part to get laser cut ? Just out of interest is there any legs in running the whole lot off one belt and pulling the alternator out to line up with the other ancilleries ? Could make the bottom block more solid at the back and have just a sigle belt !
Shaun
Cor look at that! Lovely stuff. Got a feeling this car\'s gonna be special, I love seeing custom work. What are the advantages of using a leccy pump then? Higher flow and less cavitation?
The standard waterpump is belt driven, which obviously speeds and slows with engine speed. Electric pump is constant, so there will be a good flow runing through the engine after a full boost run.
I want to try and reduce clutter in the engine bay as much as possible. The waterpump/themostat housing is large to say the least. The picture below is the inspiration for what I would like, but I am stuck with the alternator up top.
That 4-rotor is insane! Have you seen the video of it making a run? Sounds like an F1 car! Are the two holes immediately below the alternator for the rad hoses? What sort of pump/flow rate will you be using?
Yes I have seen that video, the sound is awesome.
The two holes will be for the rad hoses, but still need final sizing. Not bought a pump yet, but will probably go with the Davies Craig.
Kev
I had an electric waterpump fitted to my fd but kept the thermostat housing and the stock alternator position. I found it wasnt worth the grief of worrying if its working or not! A good mod is the electric power steering pump, easy to fit and you can hide it. lot less clutter
Electric power steering pump eh? That sounds like a good idea. Did you have one fitted antnicuk? What sort of money do they cost?
Just did a bit of rummaging around, apparently there\'s a load of modern cars fitted with leccy power steering. The Pug 106 & Citroen Saxo to name but a few. I wonder if pumps off these cars would be up to the job? There\'s tons of em down the scrappies.
Yes, i fitted one to my FD, it was very easy and made room for large I/C pipes. Also removed another pully and belt. I didnt notice any difference in the steering.
I have just got another one for my TII, the p/s on these is even higher than the FD so its a must for the 3" i/c pipes.
The saxo and 106 pumps are the same, thats what i use, ussually about £75. Make sure you get the pump end of the stock lines, then you just adapt the other end to fit your rack,
I havent fitted it to my TII yet, the rack is slightly different, there are two pipes feeding the rack and one return, the FD just had one feed, the TII has one large and one small, so there will be a little trial and error, i will try blocking of the small first and see what happens.
The pic is of my FD, i fitted it where the stock bracket goes using the pump rubber mounts.
The other good thing is that you can put a switch to the relay and switch it off if you need, (drag strip)
I only know of the craig davis pump, the problem i had is that if you dont use the electric controller, in the winter the car wont get upto temp and you dont get any hot air and cant demist your windows. If you use the controller, its not that good and the temp seems to move quite a lot before the controllers changes the pump speed. For the additional grief of fitting and wiring and sorting out a warning mechanism so you know if it blows a fuse and the fact that it only has life of 2000 hours. I wont bother again, i have one sitting in my garage as i started to get problems with my temp just before ten of the best so i just bought a new pump and later found out there was nothing wrong with the old one.
I dont think it gives you better performance or cooler running, unless you are going for an all out track car that will speand hours flat out, i wouldnt bother. But, thats just my experience.
QuoteOriginally posted by MillSpeed
Just did a bit of rummaging around, apparently there\'s a load of modern cars fitted with leccy power steering. The Pug 106 & Citroen Saxo to name but a few. I wonder if pumps off these cars would be up to the job? There\'s tons of em down the scrappies.
some of those are 100% electrically assisited and don\'t use hydraulics though.
I think thats mainly the Vauxhall types though, they would be ideal for non PS cars like 1st gens and older. (for race/rally cars with big wide sticky tyres) as they fit on the steering column
QuoteOriginally posted by FD3UK
I will be running an electric waterpump on my RX. This left me with a problem of mounting the alternator so I have been making my own.
I have now got some of it together and is in the car on a trial fit. I will need to add a fixing on the right hand side back to engine, it is a bit flexible at the moment. However very pleased at how it is coming together. Slowly.........
very nice work, you say its a little flexible ... would it be possible to loop the tensioning bracket round the other way as that would make it a lot stiffer. Do you do your own machining ?
Now that I have a mock up in the car all sorts of idea\'s are coming to mind. This will probably end up as issue A of umpteen upgrades.
I had\'nt realised it was possible to get an electric steering pump, I like the idea of removing the belt driven pump and maybe moving alternator to its place. Oh dear here I go again.......
Yes I do my own machining, I have to many year\'s experience in CNC Milling and Turning. Titanium front rocker arm for an F1 car anybody.......
QuoteOriginally posted by antnicuk
Yes, i fitted one to my FD, it was very easy and made room for large I/C pipes. Also removed another pully and belt. I didnt notice any difference in the steering.
Lovely install mate, looks factory. So is it just a case of rigging up a relay to your ignition switch and plumbing in the new pump to your steering rack? Think I\'ve found my next project!
when you get it, ask for the short loom that comes with it, its 3 wires, power, ign, and earth with the relay built in. Very easy.
With an electric power steering pump I guess you could control the level of assistance quite simply - so not just "on" for the road and "off" for the strip, but infiniftely adjustable to suit your mood.
How come the electric water pump only has a 2000hour life? The water pump in my combi boiler that works the central heating will last for years!
I guess with the electric water pump you could also fit a flow meter so you know whether it\'s working or not. Thermostatic control has got to be pretty simple as well - there are so many things available now through companies that provide flow control units etc for industry that must be more than up to the job.
Not sure if can adjust the pressure on the power steering pump but if wire in some kind of speed controller i suppose it would do it.
The demon tweeks catalog quotes that life span, if you see the pump you will see why, its very small and very plastic, it doesnt give you much confidence, at least if your belt driven one goes all tha dash lights come straight away.
I found myself looking at the THREE water temp guages more than i looked at the road.
Why is a 2000 hr life so bad?
If you averaged 30MPH that makes it good for 60,000 miles. Thats more than we reckon on getting out of the engine on average.
Yeah, come to think of it, 2000 hours ain\'t bad. I just sort of think that that\'s supposed to be the lifetime of yer average lightbulb and they seem to be blowing all the time in our house :rollin
And I suppose if you just drive for a couple of hours each weekend, then it\'ll last a thousand weekends which is about 20 years........not so bad!
If your looking for an electric power steering pump, see if you can find a scrap MR2.
They use one, and cuz its all fitted in the front, its real easy to get to and remove, quite a compact little unit as well.
HTH
Nick
A lot of the imp guys use the craig davies pumps for racing, & a few in road cars havent heard of any probs so far, you have to put in a restrictor in place or the thermostat thou usually a perforated plate is whats used.