Are electric water pumps recommended or not recommend for forced induction setups?

Typical car usage is drive 6 hours out/back to visit a customer (about 1x a week) w/ occasional hard driving.

Every other wknd autocross or dragstrip.

Ive heard horror stories of the wiring getting messed up somehow and the pump shutting down.

Ive also heard stories that for a forced induction motor, it needs the linear rpm dependent flow rate of a mechanical water pump to quench the heat it generates at boost.

The car is a stock bottom end meth/water injected 93 lt1 6spd. Ive currently
got the hotcam kit and longtubes.

However, Im upgrading the cam to something to more of a 'blower cam' (114 LSA, 224/232ish .578ish lift range).

Being able to use an electric water pump would open up my options for timing chains.

 

They work fine for forced induction cars. Probably not a good choice for road racing, but they work well for most other applications. Like you say, if it shuts off, you will overheat in a few seconds - a lot has been discussed on that topic and how to prevent it.

 

Run a CSR electric pump 35-37gpm on my turbo car. No real issues so far now that I had the tune right. For awhile it was running very hot (which to me was over 210 deg) on fairly warm days 70-80 deg F. I just need to upgrade my cooling fans to keep motor at 200 on the hot days.

I did have my pump fail on me. Went for a 45min cruise and about 1.5 miles from my house on my way home, it went out on me. It did not have many hours of operating time on it which is why I was shocked to see if fail so soon. Saw my temp gauge go from 200 to 220 in few seconds. SHut down immediately and coasted to stop on side of road. Let it cool down an hr and limped it home. Started at 150 deg and time I got home about 2 min later, it was over 209. I was moving pretty good to get it home quick.

CSR said i burned up the brushes and such and fixed it for free. I just bought a brand new CSR pump to replace it tho and keeping the old motor as a spare. I keep one in the car at all times now. They are very easy to replace. 4 allen key bolts and swap it in. Just need water to fill up the rad I noticed the new pump has a comletely different impeller than my old one so maybe they changed the design?

If you can upgrade to the 55gpm version that Meizere has, I think that would help with cooling.

But even with my car at over 200 deg F coolant temps, full 1/4 mile pass in 10 flat at 140mph, no issues as long as your air fuel ratios are in check for each cylinder and timing is kept conservative with a cool spark plug.

 

I just went electric pump..... no problems here.

It also opens you up to a variety of timing chains. I'm running the Cloyes hex adjust.

 

I run a meizere 55 gpm electric pump.
No T_Stat.
Also Evans NPG coolant media.
Engine runs @ 160 in 90*F weather.
I think it runs better cold, so, I'm OK with the performance.
B.

 

ive been running an ewp for 3 years on my 94 lt1 daily driver only drive it during the summer.an have had no problems.

 

I put on my first Meziere in '99. After about a year, it started being erratic and would work one time, not the next. If I got out and jiggled the wires I could 'make' it come on again. I strapped a couple of zip ties around the wires, then over the WP motor housing and made it work... for awhile. Then, after about three months, it just quit. I took off the first Meziere and took it apart. I found the problem.
Details are here...Meziere Fix

With every Meziere or CSR pump I've had since, I take them apart right away and solder the connectors to the brush housings so they can't arc and overheat.

The next aspect is how/when to power them. DO use a 30 amp relay and DO NOT just power them off some fuse that gets power upon 'Key on'. I did that had it burnt up the ignition switch that is up under the dash, on top of the steering mast (not to be confused with the ignition cylinder where you insert your keys).

As far as cooling, my car with the 180 thermostat (into which I drilled a small hole in the disc to allow coolant to pass a small stream at all times) with the 'normal' CSR, my turbo car stays at the 1st mark (between stone cold and the halfway mark) when fully warmed in the summer, sitting in traffic or not.

Finally, the CSR (and perhaps the Meziere too?) have four 'bumps' around the part of the EWP that inserts into your stock aluminum housing. You're supposed to notch the stock housing to allow these 'bumps' (actually raised areas that the bolts holding the motor together pass thru) to pass into your stock housing. Don't do like dumb boy here did.... I was swapping the pump with another housing while the motor was in the car. After realizing the pump would not install without clearancing the 'bumps', genius here thought, "Hey, I can just grind down the bumps since the pump is in my hands. That way, I don't have to remove the pump housing". Not realizing the bumps/raised area protected the bolts, I ground them down. The unintended consequence of this was to allow water/coolant to seep thru the tiny areas I'd exposed in the grinding into the bolt threads and on into the internal electric motor. It was amazing that the motor lasted the few months it did with all that coolant in the electrics but it finally croaked. Only when I pulled the motor apart did I see all the corrosion and sludge inside and realize my mistake.

 

I had already relieved the WP housing for a CSI (now called CSR?) pump I used for years. It's my spare now. I now use the Mez 55 and it didn't have any "bumps" around the mounting flange. It also didn't have a groove for the thin, stock O-ring seal either. (The CSI did) I applied a very thin coat of silicone sealer (Ultra Copper) on the pump flange and after installing, gave it time to set before refilling the radiator. No problems.

DirtyDaveW: Thanks for the tip on Mez brushes ... I'll put that on my spring to-do list.