Just got my SR4 back from Carpenter Racing -- had them refresh the engine and do some head work.
I had them remove the water pump and install a water pump block off plate so that I can install an electric water pump. I bought the type that appears to be installed in SR3s.
Question -- where is the water pump mounted on an SR3? I can't tell from the SR3 parts diagram whether it's mounted in an easily accessible area near the engine or whether it's hidden behind the side pod mid-ways between the engine and radiator.
Any pics would also be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi John (@johnsopa), the water pump on the SR3 sits in the left side pod behind the Radiator. The Radiator in the picture in your post is sitting in the side pod at an angle and the pump is tie wrapped to the bottom of the side pod in the back. Here are a couple of pictures that should help a bit.
In this firs picture you can see how the pump attaches to the Radiator
In this picture you can see where the radiator attaches to the side pod and you can see the tie wrap that attaches the pump to the side pod. You can also see how much rubber makes it through the screens 😉
In this picture you can sort of see where the pump is mounted.
Charley
Charley, thanks, that helps. The SR3 setup is much easier to access. The SR4 radiator is further forward, basically in front/left of the seat.
I think I'm going to mount it near the battery somewhere. I'll put pictures here for folks JIC it helps.
Here is where I just mounted mine, the factory connector is in this location.
@graemed, thank you sir! Do you have a bracket or something there or is the pump zip tied to the battery area?
Also, where does the small bypass outlet from the thermostat housing connect to on your car now that you have the electric water pump installed? See red arrow on your pic...
My setup is a bit different, my thermostat housing does not have a bypass outlet but there is one installed on my head (see green arrow), which I think serves the same purpose -- allow water to circulate through the head even if the thermostat is closed. This is irrelevent for us since we aren't running thermostats (at least I think that's the case).
On mine, the bypass outlet ran to the mechanical water pump. Since I am installing the electric water pump, I'm thinking of just capping or blanking mine.
the fitting with the green arrow, I removed and replaced with a plug P/n 4860K131 it is a British Standard Pipe Tapered, so it has a different thread pitch from npt plugs 28 vs 27.
the fitting with the red arrrow, remains and gets connected to the reservoir header tank.
I used a combination of a bracket with ty-wrap anchors attached, then used large ty-wraps to hold the pump.
@graemed, does "reservoir header tank" = swirl pot?
I have a swirl pot that's kind of like this: https://www.radicalonline.co.uk/products/HS0010-%252d-Swirl-Pot.html
@graemed, so is that small line from the thermostat housing going into the small inlet on the swirl pot (green arrow below) or is it going somewhere else on the pot?
When I got my car, the green arrow went to a rubber hose that discharged the water when the radiator cap got hot. I don't like spilling water on the track so I have that hose going into an overflow bottle now.
However, I lose about 200 - 500 ml of water every 15-30 min run, so I have to add water back into the swirl pot every run or so.
my swirl pot has two hose barbs, one goes into the tank, the other is an overflow
I run my coolant level about 2” down from the bottom of the filler neck. That leaves enough room for expansion without puking fluid out.
the line in the right goes to the radiator and thermostat housing, and is used to purge air.
@graemed, very helpful, thanks.
Do I have the lines coming out from the barb fitting on the right correct?
Assuming the barb on the left is the second barb... This looks to me like it's simply an overflow drain and would never be pulled back in under/cooling vacuum. What are you doing with this?
I had assumed that the "overflow" barb on my older swirl pot would pull overflow coolant back in under cooling vacuum but maybe that's not correct.
You have all of that correct.
the overflow is not connected to anything. The cap has holes that let the over pressure out, then it dumps on top of the swirl pot, then out the fitting. But if you don’t fill the swirl pot, the coolant has room to expand and not puke out.
You have all of that correct.
the overflow is not connected to anything. The cap has holes that let the over pressure out, then it dumps on top of the swirl pot, then out the fitting. But if you don’t fill the swirl pot, the coolant has room to expand and not puke out.
This is probably what I've been doing wrong. I assumed the swirl pot had to be filled then connected to the bottom of overflow tank so it would work like a street car.
Appreciate your help. Going to get the EWP and related plumbing installed this weekend then hope for a good track day next weekend. I might take the car to my office and drive it around the office park a bit to make sure everything is running right. LOL.
