Greetings fellow MG T owners,
Yesterday I had the unfortunate experience of the water pump shaft breaking in
my TD. This resulted in the fan blades striking the radiator, wrecking both in
the process.
I had installed a water pump that Phil Marino modified with a tapered
interface between the pulley and the shaft. The taper idea is a good one, I
think, but it appeared that this was due to a crack which started at the base
of the keyway, and then progressed until the remaining shaft could no longer
support the load. Phil has offered to replace the shaft at no charge, and said
this was the first of his shafts that he had heard about failing. The pump had
3,007 miles on it when it failed.
Has anyone had a Phil Marino water pump shaft fail? Has anyone been running a
water pump with Phil Marino's shaft? Has anyone had a failure and not told
Phil about it? I'm trying to determine if my experience is a fluke or if there
is a design or materials issue. I think Phil is a great guy, does excellent
machine work, and I know there are a fair number of T series cars running his
shafts, but before I put the same type of shaft back in the car I'd like to
have a little more peace of mind that my experience is unique.
I am careful to not overtension the fan belt, and fairly regularly run
4,400-4,700 rpm on the highway (yes it's a bit much but I want to keep up with
traffic, the engine has a Phoenix crank and rods, forged pistons, and Brown &
Gammons valve springs), and will run up to about 6,000 rpm while racing. So
the engine probably sees higher revs than most street T series, but certainly
not as high as some of the MG T race cars.
Please let me know if you have run Phil's tapered water pump shaft, how many
miles you have on the water pump, and if you've had any failures.
Thank you,
Bill Putnam
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