Hello.
I have been having coolant flow problems with the Hillbilly SUV.
For a long time I have been having trouble with Herk (aka the Hillbilly Suv) overheating at idle or extended low speed driving...
For the longest time I just thought that my electric fan setup wasn't cutting it, and I would need to upgrade soon.
Well fast forward to a couple of weekends ago.
The thermostat got stuck, so while I had it apart I decided to check coolant flow.
With the thermostat completely removed and the engine full of coolant, there was only a trickle of flow. If I reved the engine up to around 1000-1500 rpm it gushed. Try it again at an idle, and once again i barely had a trickle...
So I decided to go ahead and put a new pump on it, just in case there was something wrong with the impeller on the original one. (those bolts are a pain to get out after 20 years....)
To my surprise the impeller was in good shape. Since the pump was already paid for (and relatively cheap I went ahead and put in the new one. I put it all back together and tried it out. It is definately better. I have more heat, and the car has yet to overheat. However I can't help but think I still am not getting the flow I should. The upper radiator hose gets warm but not hot, while the car is idling. Rev the motor slightly and it quickly gets to hot to hold onto.
This leads me to an interesting idea. Since this project isn't about high revs and all about low(ish) rpm grunt work, I figure a smaller pulley on the water pump to spin it faster at an idle might not be a bad idea.
Sooooo... Have any of you noticed any cars with a similar yet smaller pulley that might be made to work? I'd rather not get into machining one from scratch if I can help it.
GS
I have been having coolant flow problems with the Hillbilly SUV.
For a long time I have been having trouble with Herk (aka the Hillbilly Suv) overheating at idle or extended low speed driving...
For the longest time I just thought that my electric fan setup wasn't cutting it, and I would need to upgrade soon.
Well fast forward to a couple of weekends ago.
The thermostat got stuck, so while I had it apart I decided to check coolant flow.
With the thermostat completely removed and the engine full of coolant, there was only a trickle of flow. If I reved the engine up to around 1000-1500 rpm it gushed. Try it again at an idle, and once again i barely had a trickle...
So I decided to go ahead and put a new pump on it, just in case there was something wrong with the impeller on the original one. (those bolts are a pain to get out after 20 years....)
To my surprise the impeller was in good shape. Since the pump was already paid for (and relatively cheap I went ahead and put in the new one. I put it all back together and tried it out. It is definately better. I have more heat, and the car has yet to overheat. However I can't help but think I still am not getting the flow I should. The upper radiator hose gets warm but not hot, while the car is idling. Rev the motor slightly and it quickly gets to hot to hold onto.
This leads me to an interesting idea. Since this project isn't about high revs and all about low(ish) rpm grunt work, I figure a smaller pulley on the water pump to spin it faster at an idle might not be a bad idea.
Sooooo... Have any of you noticed any cars with a similar yet smaller pulley that might be made to work? I'd rather not get into machining one from scratch if I can help it.
GS
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