Intro and Update: Slugmobile and Mean Mini! (long read, but worth it)

[wheming]

Visited MeanMini to give her a lookover and get my mind straight.
She sure did look pitiful...
She's been sitting like this since Fall...


Tomorrow I'm hoping to remove the shortblock and trans together. Then I'll break down the items I need to reuse.

[wheming]

Well here's one thing I did today...
MeanMini has the underdrive pulley so I figured I'd try to help out the water pump by doing a bit of cleaning up to the casting of the new pump.
Before:



And after:



Don't know if it will help much, but if it helps any its worth it.

[wheming]

And here's the other...
Went to MeanMini to drop the engine and trans.
Well its out, sort of.





Got a long way to go. Hopefully I can make some good progress this weekend.

[GLHNSLHT2]

good work on the water pump. Think it's on The dodge garage but somewhere back in the day it was also recommended to shave 3 fins off the water pump itself. I ported my housing (the non-CB pumps really need it) and shaved every other fin. I noticed some more vacuum at cruise and the engine seemed to rev up a bit quicker.

[Reaper1]

Man, that housing looks beat up on the o-ring sealing surface for the pump body. I'd stick that thing on a belt sander or something to try and help make the sealing surface better.

[wheming]

I wonder, is it a good idea to shave any of the pump impellar if I have an underdrive pulley?
I've noticed it seems I have to idle up the engine to get her to cool down when parked at lights and such.
Of course, that is with the old motor so not sure if it will be the same with the new motor.

As far as that o-ring surface, yes I noticed all that pitting. I plan to smooth it with a skim coat of some sealant before assembly. Not going to bother block planing it. Some high tack sealant or some anaerobic sealant should do the trick.

[wheming]

Slugmobile update:
Installed her new Pat Culkin downpipe, built by none other than Pat himself :thumbup:
Test fit last night, and then took off today and put some header wrap on it where it is in the neighborhood of the fuel lines.
Nice bends, much gentler than the ATP downpipe, plus it actually lands the exhaust in the tunnel!

Lowered her off the jackstands and took her for a ride around the subdivision. First time she's been driven since last August! Its a bit on the loud side, with open downpipe...
Tried to get some video, for the audio, but it just doesn't sound right in video.
Can't wait to get her back on the road. I'll need to get some exhaust work to tie the downpipe to the rest of the exhaust, and I may eliminate that Race Magnum that Gus put under the car. I never liked that it wasn't stainless like the rest of the exhaust. And don't know if I'm going to run into trouble at an exhaust shop with no cat.
I'll have a better impression once the exhaust noise is normal and can drive on the street. But I'm thinking it should feel a lot better than the last time I drove her, since she only had 3 cylinders....

[wheming]

Crap, forgot to add the pics!

[cordes]

That's great. I'm glad to see that you have the DP figured out already. It would take me forever to get that going I'm sure.

[wheming]

I don't have anything here to do that myself. So my method of sorting it all out was to pay someone!
I'm getting tired... but it all worked out so far. I need to order about 5' of 304 SS so I'll have it to finish Slug plus extra. I think I'll get a vband put on the end of this downpipe so I can remove it easy if I ever need to.

[Reaper1]

Sweet!!

[Pat]

Cool! Glad it worked out. Kind of neat to have a hand in a piece of Slug.

[GLHNSLHT2]

I wonder, is it a good idea to shave any of the pump impellar if I have an underdrive pulley?
I've noticed it seems I have to idle up the engine to get her to cool down when parked at lights and such.
Of course, that is with the old motor so not sure if it will be the same with the new motor.

I run the ported early water pump on my 2.5 with the 3 shaved fins, also have a UDP on it. Never had cooling issues. With that setup and the aluminum flywheel the starter turns the car over so fast it sounds like Machine gun instead of the slower wrrr wrrrr wrrrr most TD's have.

[wheming]

I run the ported early water pump on my 2.5 with the 3 shaved fins, also have a UDP on it. Never had cooling issues. With that setup and the aluminum flywheel the starter turns the car over so fast it sounds like Machine gun instead of the slower wrrr wrrrr wrrrr most TD's have.

Do you have any after pics of the impellar?
Did you just grind the blade flat, or did you cut the entire blade off?

I have the old Phoenix SDAC tapes with Ed Peters, but they are VCR and can't watch them.

I'd like to do that if it will free up some HP but I'm kind of worried to because it gets so hot and humid here in the summers.

I need to make a decision, since the water pump may go on this weekend.

Thanks for the tips.

[GLHNSLHT2]

I do but not online anymore. Yes I just took and angle grinder and carefully ground the blade that stuck up down flush with the main wheel. Then cleaned up the burrs. Car is fine in the 105 degree heat with a 195 T-stat and a Cummins i/c out front with the stock T2 rad sitting behind the a/c condensor. Though I haven't run the stupid a/c in years because it burns up the clutch in the compressor for some reason. Not sure if the humidity you guys have help or hurt cooling capacity. Our 105 heat is with like 10% humidity The next engine setup will use the same water pump but will hopefully have working a/c, a full size T1 rad and a big treadstone air-air out front.

[wheming]

I think I'll soften that corner edge at the top a bit more on the housing. And I guess I'll give a try on the 3 blade setup.

Going over to the van and see about getting the engine and trans out from under Mini and get them seperated. I need the flexplate and bolts, and all the bellhousing bolts.
And I need to grab anything over there getting reused that needs blasting and painting.

[Reaper1]

Humidity will affect cooling a bit, but not too much. I'd almost think cooling might be better because water transfers heat better than air, so humidity might actually help the cooling system work better!

[wheming]

Well here is the finished product.
There's no turning back now, the only way to change is a new pump...
It should be good for at least 1 freed up HP at 6000 rpm???

[GLHNSLHT2]

hmmm, you're going to be a bit of a guinea pig. I spaced the fact that I did mine on a non-commonblock water pump. Didn't realize the CB pump looked so different. Never seen one apart. I think you'll be fine though.

[wheming]

Ugh.. That doesn't inspire confidence!
So nobody does this to the common block pumps??