LA360: Meziere Electric Water Pump & Torqstorm Install

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V

VH770

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Hi everyone,

Have begun the process of installing the Meziere WP114SHD electric water pump, WP115U backing plate, and Torqstorm ARP-K-DG-LA single supercharger kit on my LA360 stroker.

Am working through the mount modifications I need to make (alternator on RHS, SC on LHS) and if anyone is interested I can post pics up of what I get through as it happens over the coming weeks. If anyone has any pictures or information on other mounting solutions please share.

What I'd like to know first up; there's no way of connecting the heater hose nor the bypass hose to this Meziere pump. Understandable as it's probably a motorsports oriented product. But is there any way around this that any of you have seen / attempted?

Thanks
 
Looks like fun... keep us updated. No ideas on the water pump... never used electric.

GL

:thumbsup:
 
Subscribed. I've been looking at the Torqstorm superchargers myself. Post lots of pictures and I'll be following along. Good luck!
 
Is there anything keeping you from drilling and tapping a hole in aluminum housing of the Meziere for the heater & bypass hose? Looks like there is a good flat to the right of the motor & impeller you could use. One hole with a "Y" fitting & 2 nipples would do the trick I'd think.
 
A buddy of mine had fittings welded on the timing cover with hoses that went to the sides of the engine block. Probably could do something like that.
 
One of the guys here did that timing chain cover mod to feed the center plugs of the block on his W5 engine.

For sure take pictures of this!
 
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).

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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).


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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
 
Sublime one said:
Very cool build. Nice work. I have run a Meziere pump for years and like it. I too had to be creative on brackets for alternator tho. Great pictures! Thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks! What do you do with respect to the circuit used to activate the pump, and deactivating it (at shut down? timed with electric fan after shut down? any battery drainage issues if so?)

Turned some steel spacers (2x 29mm, 2x 32mm, 1x 90mm). Water jet an arm to support the long alternator bolt out of 5mm steel. Has worked out alright and the V-belt (11A0990) seems to line up well. Fit a flexible lower radiator hose (Dayco 81341) which stays clear of the belt, but will have to cable tie some extra rubber onto the hose to avoid rubbing at the suspension K-frame. The only realistic option that I can see (apart from a remote mounted electric unit) is a compact AC Compressor down low under and behind the SC. If anyone knows of any options that fit there (or have any pics, whatever) please share.

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VH770 said:
Thanks! What do you do with respect to the circuit used to activate the pump, and deactivating it (at shut down? timed with electric fan after shut down? any battery drainage issues if so?)

Turned some steel spacers (2x 29mm, 2x 32mm, 1x 90mm). Water jet an arm to support the long alternator bolt out of 5mm steel. Has worked out alright and the V-belt (11A0990) seems to line up well. Fit a flexible lower radiator hose (Dayco 81341) which stays clear of the belt, but will have to cable tie some extra rubber onto the hose to avoid rubbing at the suspension K-frame. The only realistic option that I can see (apart from a remote mounted electric unit) is a compact AC Compressor down low under and behind the SC. If anyone knows of any options that fit there (or have any pics, whatever) please share.

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Click to expand...
Mine is on a dedicated race car with a toggle switch dash. So fans are on a toggle switch independent of temp. They can be on or off engine running or not. Due to tech reqs. For my class, car has a kill switch for all power on rear tail panel so zero battery drainage as well. Likely need someone that uses it on a daily driver for that kind of feedback as mine is not really applicable to your application.
 
Sublime one said:
Mine is on a dedicated race car with a toggle switch dash. So fans are on a toggle switch independent of temp. They can be on or off engine running or not. Due to tech reqs. For my class, car has a kill switch for all power on rear tail panel so zero battery drainage as well. Likely need someone that uses it on a daily driver for that kind of feedback as mine is not really applicable to your application.
Click to expand...
I forgot to mention one thing I did do to help alternator mount that might help you is I mounted my alternator down low. Made it a lot easier.
 
Two things, first why do you want a heater in Oz? All you need to do is put on two T shirts in winter !!!LOL
Anyway, you could put a relay off the ignition or a Tachometric relay on the water pump, with a toggle switch bypass.
 
Meziere low mount alternator option...would it work? This is my setup so far. DIY backing plate and a slant alternator bracket. The bolt the alternator is mounted to is too flimsy, needs a sleeve over it and some compression to get more rigid. 55A Suzuki Swift alternator. Math says it will power all my stuff with room to spare.
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Had to re-route the upper radiator hose using a 90 bend of 1.5" aluminium tubing as it interfered with the SC, drilled some extra 3mm holes into and then fit the tridon thermostat. Used a 120deg 10AN fitting at the spare 1"NPT water pump inlet to plumb heater. Filled with water, turned the pump on and no leaks. Pretty loud but so is the rest of the engine. Not sure what to expect with the thermostat (was not using one before this), and have never run a small block without the bypass hose, so I'll have to keep an eye on things. Apart from the possibility of fiddling with water flow rates by introducing a potentiometer circuit, the water pump install is now complete and I will road test it in the worst sydney traffic I can find.

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Will fit the SC tomorrow and check belt alignments by starting the engine with the SC porting to atmosphere.
 
 
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