Electric vs mechanical water pump

[1967coronet440]

i seen an older thread on this topic but figured I'd rehash on it. The details: 505 stroker, aluminum headed weekend warrior street/strip car. Leaning towards the speed cooling 2 row 1" tube with dual 10 inch fans and shroud. Now I'm debating should I go electric or mechanical water pump, really like the clean look of the electric unit.


appreciate any opinions/experiences you can share with me.

Thanks

 

[rcb]

If it never gets far from home without being on a trailer, I wouldn't worry much. Otherwise I'd lean towards a mechanical. Too many relay or other issues that seem to crop up. I've never done a strip machine, but those that do run electric, but they've had enough issues that I don't think I'd want it on a street machine. It's fine 90% of the time... but that other 10%... kind of like electric fans. I've used those before and had electrical problems after a while. But those are on drivers.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

My 2-cents..... Radiator = great idea, electric fans = bad idea, electric water pump = good idea for drag strip & bad idea for street

 

[khryslerkid]

My 2-cents..... Radiator = great idea, electric fans = bad idea, electric water pump = good idea for drag strip & bad idea for street

My thoughts exactly.
I was a crew member on a Super Comp team, running a electric pump. We had leaks, total mechanical failures, electrical failures. No biggy at the track, running alcohol and just making passes but I never thought they would be reliable on a street car.
A mechanical pump will rob some horse power, that's why a race car will benefit useing an electric. I'd suggest keeping a spare handy.

 

[Shorthorse]

I do not want to throw a wet blanket on your plans. If your car cools adequately now, street and racing, as they say, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". But, if you're having cooling issues, you've got to do something. When you make wholesale changes to your cooling system, you are in fact, re-engineering the whole system. Some folks get it right the first time and some don't. Through personal experience all I can say is, been there, done that. Do a search here on cooling system woes one more time. This is the best site ever for technical advice but you will still see hundreds of recommendations and testimonials for different radiators, different fans, different shrouds and different pumps. Just keep in mind, their specific combination is not your specific combination. Almost forgot, get your wallet out and hope you only have to do it once.
Other than my depressing post, good luck.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Short makes a good point. I "think" most people on this site like the stock clutch fan & fan shroud (what I'm running now). I recently had a cooling issue with a C-body 4-row I was running with a big single puller electric. Then I tried two small pullers. Then the big puller + 2 small pushers...all still overheated. I finally put in a Champion 4-row aluminum (decent part, not-so-decent fit), stock clutch fan & highly modified stock shroud. If I'd had more $, I think I would have gone with the radiator you're looking at (should cool better) since I had to majorly modify my stock fan shroud anyway.

I do know that the distance of the fan-to-radiator is important (I needed a "shorty" Jaguar fan clutch) and the relationship of the mechanical fan to the shroud is important too (1/2 in, 1/2 out or close) with the mechanicals. Looking back, my puller electrics "might" have worked if I had a full shroud when using them...."might".

 

[Shorthorse]

On my newest race car I went through two new radiators (1 downflow, 1 crossflow), one new shroud, two sets of different CFM 10" fans and assorted water flow restrictors or none at all with absolutely no change. The problem ended up being my fan shroud. It was very thin and sat about 1" or so from the core, too close. It actually restricted the air flow. Many $$$'s later I got it fixed with a completely different fan & shroud setup.
There's a moral to this story, "Nobody is worthless, some people can be used as a bad example".

 

[1967coronet440]

Thanks for the responses guys, I have a mild 440 now and am having cooling issues, it's fine while driving usually unless it's real hot out, but in traffic and on idle it heats up far too high for my comfort. Im adding a lot of power to this motor i have to try something, I think I'll try my radiator with the electric fans and a mechanical water pump. Say a prayer for me gentlemen.

 

[1967coronet440]

Here's the link to the radiator I am looking to run...


http://www.speedcooling.com/22-Mopa...m-Radiator-Dual-Fans-And-Aluminum-Shroud.html

 

[Shorthorse]

As I said earlier, if you're having issues now, you've got to do something. That setup looks pretty nice. I like the two 1" tubes and the shroud appears to be deeper than the one I originally used. I hope it works well for you. Some shrouds have speed flaps or louvers which are intended to allow for more air flow at high speeds. It's one possible modification you could try if needed, after you test the original configuration.