Electric Chargecooler Pump vs uprated impellor

[Bibs]

My chargecooler is hot, real hot.

Shall I get an electric pump or shall I get the uprated impellor which lasts longer than the stock item from PUK?

I neeeeeed those extra horses

[Advantage]

For sheer simplicity and keeping the car as light as possible (thus enabling many more pies to be consumed) I'd go for the uprated impellor from PUK. Infact, that's exactly what I did a month or so ago.

[98GT3]

I personally like the mechanical pump, and from what I have read there is nothing to choose between them except that the electrical system was seen as more reliable than the stock pump. With the new impeller material that PUK are using there shouldn't be anything between them now (I think the original material was good for at least 20K miles).

Phil

98GT3

[Vulcan Grey]

My chargecooler is hot, real hot.

Shall I get an electric pump or shall I get the uprated impellor which lasts longer than the stock item from PUK?

I neeeeeed those extra horses

when did you get an 89SE?

Here's what I'm doing, after rebuilding my original pump 4 times...

http://vulcangrey.lotuscolorado.com/galler...=ElectricCCpump

[tjs98jetta]

I just bought an ugraded impeller from PUK. I have a replacement electric pump ready to install, but I decided to keep the car closer to the original in the end.

Trevor

[Jonathan]

Replacement impeller will get you some horses back, cheaply, quickly and with little fuss.

Electric will be more of a hassle to fit and so on.

I don't see much of an advantage with electric other than possibly more displacement - GT2 has one but that's because I am running a dual core chargecooler rad so the extra / constant flow is a bonus - on a standard car you'd be better off putting the cash into a K&N filter imo or a non-rusting header tank !

On the GT3 always found the air temp to come down quickly on idle anyways - sure it builds up on heavy boost sessions but it does come back fairly quickly when off boost.

[Artie]

If I had a mechanical pump, I'd just fit the uprated impellor as you won't need to relocate or block anything! I'd be interested in some long term feedback on the new impellor.

Artie

[Vulcan Grey]

Of course if people are getting 18,000+ miles out of the mechanical impeller, then they should stick with that.

I was getting 6k or less out of mine, and at $60 each rebuild it didn't take me long to realize that a $100electric pump is worth the install hassle and $$.

[Quicker]

some thoughts on this - > http://www.wcengineering.com/articles/chargecooler.html

[andydclements]

I went electric, but I didn't know of an uprated (poly?) impellor at the time, and was keen to gett the car working and not need to keep stripping it out every few thousand miles.

Given the same choice now, i'd probably go uprated impellor, for ease.

Andy

[TurboSE-SLO]

My chargecooler is hot, real hot.

Shall I get an electric pump or shall I get the uprated impellor which lasts longer than the stock item from PUK?

I neeeeeed those extra horses

Hi Bibs,

My suggestion: electrical chargecooler pump for sure! I tested both, but good electical pump wil provide more flow and constant flow. Freescan is showing lower MAT with electrical pump in my case. Also recovery time after fast run is much better.

bye, B

[tinywillyuk]

As a thought is the flow of the mechanical pump effected by engine speed?

Recalling perhaps badly EF1 from the service notes, the oil pump and chargecooler pump are on an aux shaft driven by belt from the crankshaft. Therefore does the ability to circulate coolant not decrease when you're idling?

My A level physics was long ago but if you are slowing from a hot, hard fast sprint then you have a greater heat in the entire engine system that you want & need to remove through the various radiator. You slow down and the water flow through all radiators, chargecooler too, slows down does it not? Is this of negligible importance in the design of the Esprit because the cooling capacity is more than adequate?

I run electrically pumped so this is really a curiosity question.. after all the electric unit will continue to pump at a higher steady speed when your engine is running slower. So is this of benefit over and above the mechanical unit? Over to the physics experts.

[Quicker]

right - according to the article I posted in the link above...

Chargecooler Pumps: Electric vs. Stock

There has been much debate about using the stock mechanical chargecooler pump or going to an electric pump. Here are my opinions on the matter. (And these are just my opinions, but this is what I work from and I think they make sense if you look at the issue logically.)

The stock pump's impeller is made by Jabsco and it is not intended to be spun over 3500 RPM or used in high temperature liquids. It deteriorates rapidly when used with coolant. Since the pump spins at half of engine speed, it also has a variable flow rate.

The Chargecooler System

So, let's look at the chargecooler system. We start with a turbo that generates a variable volume of air at a variable heat dependent upon engine load. This air is cooled by the chargecooler, which has a fixed heat transfer surface area. The chargecooler is cooled by liquid, fed by a pump, that also runs at a variable speed, which is dependent upon engine RPM. The liquid is pumped through a very large radiator that has a fixed thermal transfer surface area. The radiator is cooled by the air that passes over it. The amount of air is a variable dependent on the vehicles speed.

but I guess you could make the point that at lower rpm, your running lower boost and therefore heating the air less, so it requires less cooling - therefore the pump is required to work less.....

Edited September 11, 2007 by Quikr

[Jonathan]

Doesn't really matter - at zero MPH there is no air flow over the heat exchanger / rad so an electric pump could be doing 1,000 litres/min and the cooling effectiveness is about the same.

An electric pump is certainly not going to be no worse though, but they can be a bit of a pig to get working well.

Knowing you and your love for getting hands dirty and messing about with techy stuff - I would go for the replacement impellor and make sure you flush the system out of any crap, I had so much rubbish in my SE pipes which is why I went over to the plastic header tank.

[esprithk]

Hi, Jonathan

can you suggest to us who makes the plastic header tank?

I am considering to replace the original unit with a plastic one, too.

thx!

[Jonathan]

I used the one from the 93 onwards Esprit !

Just a few mods to the plumbing and works a treat.

Failing that get an aluminium one - the inside of my tanks was just horrible, the water was brown - to think that was floating around my system was no real suprise the impellor fell to bits !

http://www.jonathanedwards.pwp.blueyonder....itgt2/index.htm

Edited September 12, 2007 by Jonathan

[Bibs]

Thanks for all the advice. I've ordered the uprated impellor from Marcus and will report back in 20,000 miles

[Advantage]

Are you going to be fitting it yourself?

[Bibs]

Of course, it's an easy job

[Simon350S]

I agree Bibs.....

Drive down a the road a bit....

point at it......

hey presto it'll be fitted and you can drive her home again......

Simon

[Advantage]

Gonna be needing photographic proof of you getting your hands dirty.

[Paul C]

I don't see much of an advantage with electric other than possibly more displacement

One advantage of electric:

My standard pump leaked coolant into my oil when it's seals went.

With the Electric pump this can't ever happen again.

Rare i think, but an advantage all the same

[Bibs]

Here are some pics of what was left of the old rubber one...

In case you didn't see it first time, allow me to assist...

and this is some of the ex-impellors which came out of the chargecooler. There were more fins in there than were missing from mine so this obviously isn't the first time it's been changed, however it's not had a good flush through in the past by the looks of things!

[internets]

Here are some pics of what was left of the old rubber one...

Nice piccy's, any chance of some more? Also Bibs I might need some finger pointing tips . I've just ordered a new polly impeller so this along with a new chargecooler rad, thanks to the Lotus sale, are on my to do list

[Advantage]

The hand in the first pic doesn't belong to you, does it Bibsy?

I think I recognise the screwdriver attachment you're holding in the second pic, too. If memory serves from my funtimes in Wales, that belongs to a certain blue person.....

Busted!