Electric water pump

[richfield]

I feel that I should head this as`Desperate from France`After reading all the stories of doom about the failure of the original water pump causing multiple problems,I bit the bullet and purchased the Ward Electric water pump conversion complete with the special hoses,header tank and alternator conversion.After struggling to fit their hoses over various bigger adaptors etc and only after,following their advice, with liberal amounts of engine oil and several hernias later have managed to fit most of them.Am now trying to fit the pump in place with the hoses onto the engine.From the shape of the pipes this unit seems to want to be under the steering pump.I had to reduce the length of several hoses but still cannot get all in place without the pump fouling,mainly on the support bracket of the steering pump,I am not willing to keep on cutting lengths off the hoses as if too much is taken off I would have to buy a new set and at £80!!!! I am asking if any member that has fitted this conversion themselves could crawl under neath and take and post photos onto the forum or email them to me direct paul.richfield@cegetel.net.Over here in France Stags are few and far between so I doubt the there are any near me to look at so any advice gratefully received.

[jagorstag]

Hi Paul, I moved your post to the main forum section as the Technical Section is only for posting various technical solutions and suchlike. Your post will also gain more visibility in the main section.

Cheers,
Joakim

[DJT]

Is this a case of a supplier not providing adequate fitting instructions? I’m bemused by your statement that “the unit (pump) seems to want to be under the steering pump”. Surely the instructions make it clear where it should be located, along with pictures/diagrams?

[richfield]

Wishfull thinking-I had asked on several occasions but nothing came from them-tomorrow(Monday) I will make one more desperate plea to them.A message to all that might read this post a mistake was made in my email address the word Over was mistakenly `blued` by the dreaded computer-so the correct address starts at `paul` So far a number of you have seen my post I just hope that a member who has purchased and fitted this kit can help? Thanks all Paul.

[Matt Cook]

Paul,
I had this kit fitted as part of a full engine rebuild by Ward's last year, it is a great bit of kit don't be disheartened, I think you will love it when it's in! I've just been out to the garage (in the freezing cold!)to take some pictures. DM me your email and I send over the full res images.
Cheers
Matt

[Peter707R]

Hi Paul, I have one of these kits and I agree that the fitting is not as straightforward as one would hope. Yes it goes under the power steering pump - hence need to relocate the alternator. PM me and I may be able to help with more specifics, photos are difficult due to the location.
Peter

[wader3]

I'm working on my car right now, I'll pm you my number if you want any further advice. I did the conversation 2 year's ago and it's fantastic. It was a pain to get the pump sighted just right and yes the fear of taking too much off the hose i can sympathise with.

[richfield]

A big thank you to all who offered help, especially to Matt and Rob who supplied endless photos with out which I would still be struggling underneath! All now mounted and fitted though a tight fit in places water in and pump ran until all air out.I am hoping to rig up temporary fuel system and get it up and running and then when cold check head bolts and nuts torques.Will be 30 years since a running engine has been in the car.The car ran a big end in the late eighties and has not been used since total mileage to date 56000ms! Thanks to all again Paul.

[barkerwilliams]

Paul,

Just an extra bit.

Did you get the Wards alternator bracket? I did and mine had been powder coated so once the alternator was fitted there was no earth though the insulating plastic coating and obviously the alternator did not charge. I scraped the coating off around the engine mounting bolts and the alternator to bracket bolt. Or you could run a heavy duty earth strap between the alternator body fixing bolt to the frame mounting bolts.

Alan

[wader3]

Glad it's sorted. I've done a few mods and this is the best by far. Also solved my oil burning problem I'd had since full restoration. Much better flow!

[richfield]

Alan-thankyou for that tip and yes I did get their bracket but never got that far as the alternator made such a noise that I could not hear the engine!!!! So it was quickly removed and noise disappeared-then stripped down the alternator and the rear bearing very dry and could see marks on the inner edge where it had been tapped into place during construction.Contacted my usual bearing supplier who have in the past bent over . backwards to help but in this case could`nt. Searched the net and found that this bearing was special to Chrysler Delco and Ford type alternators and available from the States(just received confirmation of my order)Now I know the correct procedure was to send it back to the suppliers and hopefully get it changed under guarantee and get it replaced with another from the same manufacturer but have lost confidence in the quality of the product so prefer to repair the unit at my cost and use quality replacements.
Referring back to problems of fitting the supplied hoses to the pump unit I found that I had shortened the hose from pump to cylinder head and couldn't get it onto the pump far enough to get a good` fit/grip onto the pump outlet-so after half an hours running off it popped!!!!! So from my odds and end bin made up my own pipe using the stainless steel pipe to join all up- ran it again yesterday and all seems tight and leakproof so a word of warning be very careful when shortening that hose, make it long enough to get it up to the bolt heads of the union.
Once again thanks to all for help and if someone in the future needs help I have all the photos that helped me on file so just ask. Paul..

[dasadrew]

Hi Paul,

that's good news. If you would like to send me your pictures and maybe any notes which you made or could scribble down, I can make a technical document which can be put into the Technical Section for anyone else wanting to do this conversion. (Might even let EJ Wards have a copy! )

I'll send you my eMail address by private message if you want to go down that route.

Drew

[dasadrew]

Is this a case of a supplier not providing adequate fitting instructions?.....

Surely not Dave - it's only one-man cottage industries that do that ......