Alloy Water Pump Housings

[Peter Truman]

I think I'm going to splash out on the Alloy versions of the Spitfire (144274A) & Vitesse (307095A) Water Pump Housings, there doesn't appear to be a lot of variance in the costs from the 3 main suppliers, Canley, Rimmer's, & Barstuck in Germany.

Can anyone advise who supplies the best quality product, I have heard in the past good quality alloy needs to be sealed internally due to porosity, true or false? Alloy heads have been around for eons & I've never heard of them being sealed!

Any help would be appreciated.

Peter T  

[Ian Faulds]

Hi Peter I reckon Canley and rimmer prob comes from same supplier not sure German one. Alloys can be porous as the oil filter canister adaptor ha been known to weep oil through porous body. I think the cheaper the ally used is more porous. 

[Clive]

Canleys supply others with parts, so the rimmers one may have come from canleys with a few quid added?

[JumpingFrog]

I know that Canley's definitely isn't the same as Bastuck, and as Ian says Rimmers could come from either Bastuck or Canley's. I don't believe the alloy used is the issue, but instead the porosity is due to problems in the casting process. 

Worth reading this:

http://www.wbclassics.com/content/water-pump-housing-aluminum-triumph-gt6-tr250-tr6

[NonMember]

"Put your Triumph on a diet"? Mass of the iron part is only 6lbs! It's feck all - a waste of effort. Save your money for something that's worth while. Alloy water pump housings are surely one of Pete's "unnecessary must haves".

[Nick Jones]

I thought that 2kg off, right at the front of the car, was worth having, seeing as all the iron pump housing I had were more than a bit sad.

This was 10+ years ago. Don’t remember where I got it from (the cheapest!) but the tapped threads for the water pump were horrible - tapped fast with a very blunt tap. They did clean up a bit with a sharp tap and studs were fitted with loctite. Doesn’t leak so it looks like I dodged a bullet there....

Nick

[Colin Lindsay]

I've got one, simply because it was on sale at the International many years ago... but it's now been fitted since the early 2000s and never given any trouble. I agree with Rob, there are a lot of silly 'weight savers' out there (distributor pedestal must save a few tons) and many are just a waste of funds, unless you really need one when your original is defunct. The one in JF's link does look like good value, though...

 

[Nigel Clark]

I've fitted an alloy pump housing from Chris Witor on my GT6, it's made by Bastuck.

Of course I can't discern any performance difference but it does look nice on the front of my new engine!

Nigel

[Peter Truman]

like Nicks the iron lump on the Spit is a bit sad being heavily pitted around its water passages and on the mating surfaces, the Vitesse one is good, but hey if I can buy one for the daughters car I'm having one too!

Jumping Frogs wbclassics note I'd read before re US and poor quality & that was what concerned me. Ref the poor tapped threads & studs I might consider my usual trick with aluminum of drilling and heli-coiling,

There's only $10 difference in the combined cost between Bastuck & Canley so I'll see what the postage is and decide, and yes part of the reason is the looks, bling.

interesting story re porosity in castings in this case cast iron pump body, the co I worked for in the UK in the 60's was a major petro chem and heavy engineering consultant & construction contractor who also had major fabrication shops and a foundry, an overseas job I was project managing, the foreman was showing me the defects in the casting & we were discussing if a new casting was needed, my dad who was a director came into the foundry to pick me up and the foreman dad welcomed each other having know ea other over 40 years and discussed the numerous small blow holes in the casting which weren't in a stress or major water passage/pressure area and the decision was to fill the holes with iron filings and sulphuric acid and the resulting rust would seal them, and the casting would even outlast me the youngster. These days they would be epoxy coated to seal, improve hydraulic efficiency and stop any corrosion.

The wife's X type baby jag we brought 15 years ago had to have the AC compressor replaced in the first 6 months as it leaked ie porosity in the Al casing! 

Thank you all for your feedback, its been a great help.

Peter T

[PeteH]

The ref; to Castings and porosity brings back a few (not so good) memories, In the 70`s We where running Dihatsu Diesel Alternator sets on a Japanese Built Ship. The quality of the Cast Iron really let down what was otherwise a ultra reliable Machine. Even the primary water, which was treated, was causing pinholes in the cooler stacks. The sea water side ones went through Cast casings in months. We finished up carrying a FULL spare cooler!. to swap out while we sorted the (next) defective one!. It was reckoned that you could have followed the ship`s course just by "pinging" the old scrap sections on the seabed between Newcastle (NSW) and Kobe!.