[TR] Alloy Water Pump

[AMfoto1 at aol.com]

Hi Bob, 
 
In the U.S., check with Ken at _www.britishframeandengine.com_ 
(http://www.britishframeandengine.com) . He sold me an alloy pump for my car (TR4) and 
imports a number of Triumph performance products from Darryl Uprichard at 
Racetorations and from other sources. I think he also offers an alloy pump for TR6. 
Last I heard Ken is still pretty active in Triumph vintage racing, although he's 
not driving anymore. For that reason, best time to reach him during race 
season is usually Monday through Thursday. BTW, I see that clicking on his email 
link on his homepage *still* generates an incorrect address. His email is 
correctly stated there as _bfeken at copper.net_ (mailto:bfeken at copper.net) ,  but 
clicking on the link will pop up an incorrect _bfeken at copper.com_ 
(mailto:bfeken at copper.com) . I think it works correctly everywhere else on his site. Ken loves 
to talk Triumphs, so if you call instead, be sure you have plenty of minutes 
available on your phone plan! ;-)
 
The alloy pump I got from him (and Racetorations) has a high performance 
impellor  with six curved blades  and is better made than many of the less 
expensive rebuilds/repros I've seen in recent years. For one thing, it was very 
neatly machined so that the pulley couldn't possibly rub against the housing, which 
is an all too common problem on other TR2/3/4 repro pumps. I've had no 
experience with TR6 pumps, so can only assume they are as nicely set up. In the 
TR2/3/4 version, besides some weight reduction, the pumps will move more coolant 
and are much less prone to cavitation at high rpms. For TR2/3/4, there is also 
a pump housing available in aluminum, for weight further reduction and perhaps 
a little more heat transfer, along with alu pulley's offered as part of 
either thin-belt/alternator conversions or in standard widths. Of course, things 
are set up quite a bit differently on your car, so what's available or necessary 
will vary from the 4 cyl. cars. 
 
I'd say the person whose rad went South was due for a new one anyway! The 
radiator in my TR4 was rebuilt a few years ago... but I'd still like to go to alu 
eventually. I'd suggest anyone pressure test their rad along with all the 
rest of the coolant circuit before installing a high performance water pump. 
 
One alternative I've noticed - at least for TR2/3/4 - is an electric water 
pump being offered by Neil at Revington TR in the UK (_www.revingtontr.com_ 
(http://www.revingtontr.com) ). I haven't had any experience with it, but at least 
in theory it should free up a few horsepower and might be set up with a 
thermostat to cycle on and off as needed.
 
Cheers!
 
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L
_http://www.triumphowners.com/640_ (http://www.triumphowners.com/640) 
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Just curious...... I ran into a few people at VTR who were running alloy
water pumps. I did a quick Google but can't find any. So, who sells them and
what are the advantages? One guy installed an alloy pump and the output was
so great that it blew out his stock radiator! Good thing he had a Wizard
Cooling Aluminum radiator on hand!
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