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V8 engine cooling problem - is it the P6 waterpump?

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:59 am
by GOY189
A fellow enthusiast who owns a modified Triumph vitesse, has asked if we can help with an overheating problem. Can anyone throw any light on the relative pulley sizes and suggest sources for pulleys?

Hi Mike,
I think we met at a DVLA conference at Theale near Reading.
I was then about to drop a Rover V8 engine from an SD1 into a Triumph Vitesse, in place of the 2 litre straight 6. All has gone well - up to a point!
I've used a P6 waterpump and timing cover, modified a P6 dizzy so I have points and can adjust more easily. P6 engine mounts drop straight onto the Vitesse engine mounting points.
I've used an MGB GT V8 rad and the MG block hugging exhaust manifold with a Holley carb on an Edelbrock manifold so the Vit bonnet doesn't have to be modified at all. A real Q car if it all worked properly.

BUT the damn thing seems to run very hot to the point of losing coolant. I've tried all the usual tricks without success and have finally ended up questioning the P6 waterpump.
If memory serves me correctly its got 4 blades, but it's the pulley sizes I'm now looking at. The crank pulley is 6 inch diameter and the waterpump is 7 inch.
That seems to me to be the wrong way round as the pump is going slower than the crank.

So the whole purpose of this e-mail is to ask you whether you can suggest a source of pulleys that are say 7 inch or more on the crank and a maximum of 6 inch on the pump, posssibly smaller ; or have any of your members any experience using an electric pump?

Can anybody help?
Mike