455 reverse flow water pump?

Discussion in 'High Tech for Old Iron' started by sailbrd, Sep 21, 2011.

  1. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    I think I have a great plan for a serpentine belt system that will work with a Procharger and have AC, alternator, and power steering. Would not have to have a Procharger to work. But to make it work the water pump rotation needs to be reversed. Is there any way to make this happen on a 455?
     
  2. satch

    satch Well-Known Member

    I thought about this before, when I looked at the pump, I realized you'd need a redesigned timing cover and pump housing in addition to a reversed impeller.
     
  3. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    Duh... thats right our water pump is 1/2 timing chain cover. Back to the drawing board. It would work so great if that was possible.
     
  4. bammax

    bammax Well-Known Member

    I've been playing with the idea myself for about 6 months or so. It could work but it would involve some welding and reshaping of the timing cover fins and the waterpump fins. So far nobody has been interested in trying it and I don't have a spare of either to play with.

    The only real issue I see with it is that one of the water ports will be shrouded a bit once things get rearranged. Not sure how much of a problem it would be since I'm not sure if it's an intake or output port.
     
  5. online170

    online170 Well-Known Member

    http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=223402&highlight=REVERSE+FLOW

    I think you guys are on the right track, but the premise is completely flawed.

    The number of people who would buy the pump are very limited, and to produce the pump in such small qty's would drive the price way up.

    Youre saving money in one spot (serpentine system) by driving the price up in a different department (ie water pump). Regardless, lets say someone produces the pump and sells it for something like $650, you might still come out cheaper in the end.

    Why not just use pullies with gear teeth on them. The serpentine system drives the "reverse rotation" pullie, and the normal waterpump uses the regular rotation.

    Because its a 1:1 relationship, both of these new gears could be fairly compact. Although 1 of the pullies would still have to be stock diameter to maintain the crank to waterpump pully ratio.

    What do you think?


    [​IMG]
     
  6. Steve Reynolds

    Steve Reynolds SRE Inc

    How are you planning on lubricating the gears? Don't think they'd last too long running dry.

    Steve
     
  7. online170

    online170 Well-Known Member

    Very true. Also by the time you get a bearing in there, youve now also robbed some Hp trying to turn the thing.....



    It keeps going back to adding an idler i think to keep it cost effective.
     
  8. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the link to a prior discussion. I got the idea looking at Prochargers chevy serpentine kit. I see a few others here have thought about this. The basic idea is the belt goes around the drive pulley normally but goes back under the water pump pulley then back down to the PS pump. Would need only one tensioner and real simple to make flat brackets for everything. But the facts are not that there are not many people to buy this part.
     
  9. online170

    online170 Well-Known Member

    Lots of people to buy the serpentine system, but not alot of people going to buy a reverse flow waterpump...

    If you start looking at the cost of a casting or even a machined waterpump, that bolts up but is reverse rotation, then look at the qty to produce. Its not gonna be cheap.

    However, whatever that cost may be, it might still be cheaper to do it that way than going with a currently available serpentine system.
     
  10. cstanley-gs

    cstanley-gs Silver Mist

    could you integrate an electric water pump somehow?
     
  11. bammax

    bammax Well-Known Member

    I can honestly say that for my application I'd rather a $500 water pump and $1,500 worth of accesories and brackets than the currently available serpentine systems at the same price. I plan on keeping the A/C and also plan on keeping the front of the engine fairly accessible. The current systems either require an A/C delete or massive brackets and multiple extra pullies that clutter everything up. I'm more for having the function while keeping a stock look.
     
  12. bammax

    bammax Well-Known Member

    On a related note, does anyone with experience on the Buick cooling system know why a full reverse flow conversion wouldn't work? Is there a part of the system that would be starved of coolant or would leak or something?

    I've played with conventional flow and reverse flow engines and never found a major difference except for the thermostat being specific to reverse flow and air bleeds being needed to get air out of the heads.
     
  13. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    That's another thought. Might be too much for my electrical system already have dual fans, big fuel pump, etc.
     
  14. TheSilverBuick

    TheSilverBuick In the Middle of No Where

    Alternators are easy upgrades. Lots of people run set ups like that (like on Drag Week). I personally never liked the idea of an electric water pump, but I put well over 12,000 miles a year on my car.
     

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