LA360: Meziere Electric Water Pump & Torqstorm Install
Thanks for the info and interest everyone.
I emailed Meziere and was told that I can plumb the heater return into either (a) the second 1" NPT inlet port in the water pump (currently plugged), or (b) into my lower radiator hose (i.e. plumb them into low pressure points). Not sure which I'll do yet but both sound good to me. The heater core feed obviously stays connected at the intake manifold.
Meziere also confirmed that the bypass fitting can be plugged at the intake manifold as long as a bypass thermostat is used. I've ordered a Tridon TT268-160 (local suppliers here in Australia) which claims to have a bypass mechanism, i'll investigate when it arrives. If unsatisfied I'll drill three 0.125mm holes in the thermostat.
Couple of pics attached.
The water pump (WP114SHD) went on without much trouble. The backing plate (WP115U) for the LA mopar has a flat surface (facing out) and a milled surface (facing in). Sorry I didnt take a photo of the backing plate before installation. By the looks of it, the electric motor can be detached from the water pump housing (for replacement) without removing the housing from the backing plate. In order to install any accessories off any of the four water pump mounting fasteners, a maximum radius of 10.5mm is acceptable before it'll foul (for example, a 21mm diameter washer will fit without fouling on the water pump housing; any larger will foul).
The ARP-K-DG-LA Torqstorm supercharger kit seemed fine out of the box. For reasons beyond me the crank pulley was supplied with 7.9mm mounting holes and the bolts supplied in the kit for this purpose did not fit so I drilled them out to 8.0mm. Made a template around the water pump out of cardboard, transferred to 2mm aluminium. Marked the torqstorm bracket, milled a 39mm hole with a boring head and used a bandsaw and file to finish the small curves. Came out okay. Fit okay, didn't want to take any more material than I needed as I don't know the forces in the bracket (will keep an eye on those fixing points after first / sustained use).
Tomorrow i'll turn the spacer I need (16mmOD 10mmID 29mmL) for the upper water pump bolt, and i'll replace the lower 3/8" stud I'm using for a longer one, and then the bracket is done. After that I'm keen to put water back in the engine so I'll prioritise the work needed to do that (heater hose plumbing, lower hose needs a new solution as it'll foul with the alternator belt now). After the water's in I'll mount the supercharger to the bracket, check clearances behind it / around it (battery probably has to move completely) and figure out alternator mounting.
Thanks
Thanks for the info and interest everyone.
I emailed Meziere and was told that I can plumb the heater return into either (a) the second 1" NPT inlet port in the water pump (currently plugged), or (b) into my lower radiator hose (i.e. plumb them into low pressure points). Not sure which I'll do yet but both sound good to me. The heater core feed obviously stays connected at the intake manifold.
Meziere also confirmed that the bypass fitting can be plugged at the intake manifold as long as a bypass thermostat is used. I've ordered a Tridon TT268-160 (local suppliers here in Australia) which claims to have a bypass mechanism, i'll investigate when it arrives. If unsatisfied I'll drill three 0.125mm holes in the thermostat.
Couple of pics attached.
The water pump (WP114SHD) went on without much trouble. The backing plate (WP115U) for the LA mopar has a flat surface (facing out) and a milled surface (facing in). Sorry I didnt take a photo of the backing plate before installation. By the looks of it, the electric motor can be detached from the water pump housing (for replacement) without removing the housing from the backing plate. In order to install any accessories off any of the four water pump mounting fasteners, a maximum radius of 10.5mm is acceptable before it'll foul (for example, a 21mm diameter washer will fit without fouling on the water pump housing; any larger will foul).
The ARP-K-DG-LA Torqstorm supercharger kit seemed fine out of the box. For reasons beyond me the crank pulley was supplied with 7.9mm mounting holes and the bolts supplied in the kit for this purpose did not fit so I drilled them out to 8.0mm. Made a template around the water pump out of cardboard, transferred to 2mm aluminium. Marked the torqstorm bracket, milled a 39mm hole with a boring head and used a bandsaw and file to finish the small curves. Came out okay. Fit okay, didn't want to take any more material than I needed as I don't know the forces in the bracket (will keep an eye on those fixing points after first / sustained use).
Tomorrow i'll turn the spacer I need (16mmOD 10mmID 29mmL) for the upper water pump bolt, and i'll replace the lower 3/8" stud I'm using for a longer one, and then the bracket is done. After that I'm keen to put water back in the engine so I'll prioritise the work needed to do that (heater hose plumbing, lower hose needs a new solution as it'll foul with the alternator belt now). After the water's in I'll mount the supercharger to the bracket, check clearances behind it / around it (battery probably has to move completely) and figure out alternator mounting.
Thanks
