Reply to "Electric water pump"

Hi, Gunner. 35 GPM is about half the water flow a road car needs to stay cool. Many of the electric water pumps are meant for drag racing where they only need to deal with short runs, not hours on the road at high load. It would work as a supplemental pump to a stocker, but that's not quite what you're looking for.

There are a few electrics that have far higher flow (and price), but I've only seen one (by Mezeir) on a near-stock Pantera that drove from LA to 'Vegas successfully. Engine temp rose to 220 at one point and this was NOT a high-output motor, but he made the 400 mile round trip without damage. Some trimming was needed to the steel access door frame, as I remember.

If you're like to explore the short pump thing further and are handy, Ford Motorsports sells a so-called 'short water pump' for 351-W street rod use. With a small amount of hand work, that particular pump can be adapted to a 351-C block and works well. Remember, with this pump you will need a shallow pump pulley, which Ford has discontinued. Pulleys are not hard to make from scratch, and other companies such as Snow-White in CA sell shallow pulleys as well that may fit. If you make your own, you get to change pulley ratios for more water flow at one end or the other of the rev-range.

Next (or alternatively), you can move the whole powertrain backwards about 3/4" by using the second set of motormount bolt-holes provided (or by swapping the upper halves side-to-side). Once done, the rearmost ZF mount-tabs must be bent backward into a shallow 'S' by 3/4" and an extra 3/4" thick spacer installed on both ZF mount sides. This only works for later ZF mounts, not the early single-point mount. Do not get greedy with backward-movements; move more than about 3/4" and the step in the oil pan hits the under-engine crossmember, causing more trouble.

If both of the above are done, the firewall blister in the steel access door and upholstery goes completely away, leaving a flat firewall. In various past POCA Newsletters, I documented all this as done on our '72-L model. Works fine on the street.