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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Electric Water Pump - Anyone see a problem?

I am considering using an electric water pump for my Rover V8. One objective is to increase the room between the rear of the radiator and the font face of the engine to allow a 16” sucker electric fan to be installed.

The electric pump I have in mind is a Davies Craig EWP 110 pump fitted into the bottom hose. My query is this. If I remove the existing belt-driven water pump and replace it with an empty shell of an old water pump (rotor assembly removed and the pump body cut down in length and suitably blanked off to make it water tight) to provide the mechanical connection for the water, would that work?

Alternatively, is there any real problem in moving the radiator further forward, perhaps 50mm/2”? Hose length is one obvious complication but, I think, that could be readily overcome with steel or aluminium pipe linking two parts of the existing hoses.

Regards

Peter
P L Hills

I've often thought about a Davies Craig water pump should my current pump fail. There's not a lot of space to fit it, but I think it's feasable. As for moving the radiator forward 2". The bottom panel between the chassis rails ( where the oil cooler mounts) would have to be chopped & closed. In my case, the top slam panel would also have to chopped slightly. There is an alternative. At the V8 meet in TN this year, Pete Mansell showed a sucker fan that had the motor mounted on the perimeter of the fan housing , making the fan very thin in front of the pump pulley. You'll find Pete's contact details in the newsletter. HTHs Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Peter-

Don't know the year of your car, but I have done several conversions with 215/Rover engines, one with a Buick 300 in a chrome bumper GT and have always had room for a 16" puller.

The radiator has to be moved forward until it almost touches the slam panel. I most cases, this requires removing the lower valance. This is pretty simple work with a sawsall or cutting wheel, and when the radiator is moved and the fan installed, the removal is more or less invisible. When cutting out the valance, retain the very front along with the reinforcement.
Jim Stuart

On one of my cars I moved the radiator forward enough that I had to bend the hood (bonnet) release down to clear and relocate the bracket for the cable. As stated it’s easy and can look as if it came that way from the factory.

I’ve also considered using an electric water pump, but to avoid using an old water pump I thought about using a flat piece of aluminum shaped and drilled to match a water pump gasket. On the front side attach a thermostat housing to attach the lower radiator hose.
George Champion

Just a thought,if you wanted a remote pump a Hillman Imp one can be used.
Dave Lowe

Peter, I saw a davies craige water pump on a V8 done by Plus four auto in Dandenong. He had cut off, welded the nose of the old pump and placed the electric pump in the right hand wheel arch, where people often put the oil filter. He was using the alloy radiator made by race radiators in dandenong and a 16 inch fan.
You can also easily place the radiator further forward.
I'm using the same 16 inch Davies craige fan and same radiator with a standard long nosed rangerover water pump. I placed my radiator further forward, up against the back of the slam panel. I had to cut a bit off the bottom tray, which of course you can't see when the radiator is installed, so it looks quite neat. You do need to close the cut otherwise the upper slam panel flexes. I used the bit of metal I had cut off and my arch welder, not pretty, but as I say, not visible either. I could have also just riveted a bit of steel in. Bonnet clearance is not a problem because you can locate the radiator up suprisingly high, because it tucks in just behind the under-bonnet 'front structure/brace'. This structure probably does not make it worthwhile cutting into the the slam pannel because any further forward and you would need to place your radiator lower to clear that brace and in my case would run into ground/parking clearance issues.
I have about an inch clearace between the nose of the pump and the fan shroud. Note that I also set the motor back about an inch further back than usual.

A better approach might be to buy two after market smaller/flatter shrouded/close coupled electric fans and place one toward the top right hand side corner, on the front of the radiator. Then put the other one on the back in the bottom lefthand side corner. Off centre so it clears the pump nose. Infact if it is off centre it doesn't actualy matter how flat the electric motor is. That way you get greater than 100% coverage because of the overlap, and some redundancy if one of the fans malfunctions. You could also use a two stage electric thermostat such as they have on VW's. That way the second fan cuts in only when necessary.
You can buy these fans for around $60 and it's on my to do list.
Peter

This thread was discussed between 17/12/2006 and 20/12/2006

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