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Hi. This is in the very early stages and I am too busy to get going with this but I have done one pump. Vapour blasted casings and impeller and then cerakoted https://youtu.be/SzpS-5OfyUU?feature=shared (I do the manifolds in this one) https://youtu.be/Xu8rhfyhHAM?feature=shared they have a range of coatings for different applications and the firm I used were very helpful in helping me use the correct coating. The shaft is machined to allow stainless steel washers to be bonded on the running face for the seals. I have also sourced some ceramic bearings to try, Thought around this was if we can seal the pump then more robust bearings are not required but the location of the bearings in the car wees them hit with all sorts of road debris. We have one fitted on a car. I have done 50 miles in the car and then the customer parked it up so it has been stood 4 months. Just got the car back for some modifications and it started and ran into the workshop and the pump is dry and no signs of corrosion on the outer surfaces. Nest stage of testing is to deliver the car back and get them to do some miles but that could be next summer. I am going to do the pump on the rally car and may do one other and see if I can find someone to winter test it to get some miles on one of the pumps.
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Once you have bonded the washer/s in place on the impeller, you will need to put the assembly in a lathe and true the faces. Otherwise the seal faces will not last long. -
The washers are more like shims and precision ground so no need for machining in the lathe.Comment
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The bonding agent isn't precision ground though... Been through this procedure a few years ago (successfully in the end) and depending on how you clamp the shims in place to bond them, they often still need facing in the lathe afterwards. (Which also tests their adhesion). Otherwise you get high frequency oscillation of the bearing surface and associated wear. Looked into the ceramic option as well, and it requires more of the impeller to be removed, which was decided against at the time. How much difference does the coating make, and do you do the impeller too?Comment
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Hi Oli. After i bonded the shim washers in place I spun the shaft in a lathe with a DTi on the washers there was less than a thou run out. Yes the impeller and shaft is fully coated. So far the car it is fitted to has done very little miles so cannot comment on any success yet, other than it has not started leaking whilst doing nothing. Hopefully in the better weather the car will get some use. I have another two pumps done now one to swap with the first one so I can open it up and see how it has got on. The other is for my rally car. If you watch the youtube clip link in my first post you will see how good Cerakote is. I have not come across anything else to use.Comment
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Been running several pumps longer term with the same modification, but refaced after bonding to ensure true faces. Car is used for Autosolos / Autotests etc, and is parked up over the winter usually, with no real issues. Like I mentioned before, part of the reason for refacing them after bonding is to ensure adequate bond strength before assembly. Cerakote lookss interesting.Comment
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I used Belzona industrial bonding agent. I have used their products at work to repair sea water pumps. I contacted them to ask what the best Product to use would be and took their recommendation. So I was sure it would be a strong enough bond. I have bonded a shim onto a scrap pump and could not chisel it off without doing a lot of damage. The shims a precision ground and I do not think I could achieve that finish on the lathe and do not have a grinder so ensure they are flat.Comment
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A bit of an update. One of my modified pumps did the RAC rally of the tests 750 miles 3 days 35 special tests https://youtu.be/GZ0-y0Y20_k?si=xxY3UXoFSI8OF_1Y we appear at 13.20 mins to 15.15 if you want to just see an imp in action. Stripped the pump after the event and all was good. I have done two more as spares for my car and will replace and inspect them as the car gets used. The one I fitted to a road going clan has still not be used on the road, so will be interesting when it first gets used after so long stood still. I have been asked to do one for another rally car, I have not had time to look at doing them in batches and for road cars as I am too busy. I have done the costs for this one except the cerakoting as mine were all sent with big batches of parts.
Strip old pump and blast clean, machine impeller for shims, clean all threads I have allowed 2 hours for this as you can get seized pulleys and bolts etc £100
Rebuild kit inc balanced seals that are better quality than the normal kit ones Timken sealed bearings £48
New nuts bolts and washers £8 this is for the rally version with no rear fan but should be about the same for the longer bolt kit for the rear cowl
I also have some top hat spacers I can fit to prevent the damage to red cowl when tightening up the bolts these are £4 for four
I have allowed 1 hour to bond shims on, check for being parallel in lathe with DTi and use ant-seize on bolts and bond gasket with threebond sealer ThreeBond TB1215 Grey OEM Engine Gasket
so £50 which inc costs of threebond, anti-seize and belzona bonding compound
When the parts come back from cerakote for this pump I will update those costs. It is a 30 minute drive to the coaters so I post small items this one to post out was £8
Total for this pump so far £222.79 plus the cerakoting costs these cost will be for impellor, pump bodies, alt tensioner bracket, metal mount and ally mount and timing marker. This pump was a pig to get apart even with the press tools I have made to prevent damage when splitting the pump. With the chances of receiving scrap back in exchange etc I will not be marketing these as off the shelf exchange pumps. What I can do is parts of the task if someone wanted to do their own pump, like send be a stripped pump and I will blast modify and coat then send back with a proper quality rebuild kit. Any way as i do not have a long term high road use pump to prove this works I will not be offering any sort of promise with this set up. There are variables that can case problems, like people using poor sealant, damaging seals when installing or assembling etc etc. So there is the update, if anyone wants help or parts doing for their own pump get in touch I will help. If someone wants pump fully done by me it will be a 3-4 week turn around, depending on mine and the cerakote company work load so it will not be a stock item, or Amazon delivery times. If you need to contact me impcompetitionparts@gmail.com cheers MooseComment
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