Rover V8 Water Pump - Super Short Modification

[JD]

As part of a cooling upgrade to my MGB V8 roadster I had to shorten the standard water pump to make room for an electric fan on the back of the radiator. This turned out to be a quite tricky project, but I got there in the end and it has run successfully for over 1000 miles. I've made full engineering drawings if that's of interest? Here's a basic sketch of the modification to the Powertune pump WaterPump_Powertune_Old-New.pdf

[Scott Costanzo]

Interesting.  Do you have a picture of the water pump installed? 

Scott

[JD]

Sure, here you go. Ended up with 15mm clearance pump to fan.

[Scott Costanzo]

Sure, here you go. Ended up with 15mm clearance pump to fan.

Very creative, nice work!

Scott

[BlownMGB-V8]

That does look helpful.

JIm

[joe_padavano]

Nice work. My only concern is the question of how much does the shorter wheelbase between the bearings impact bearing life. 1,000 miles won't tell you anything about longevity.

[JD]

That's a fair point, but bear in mind the original bearing was designed to withstand vibration and gyroscopic forces from what I would guess was a metal fan blade, which was quite a long way forward of the bearing. Whereas for my installation the main load is the auxiliary drive belt tension, which is in-plane with front ball bearing. I guess time will tell.