Nick's WS6

I have an electric water pump on its own switch which just turns it on and off. and then I have an electric fan on its own separate switch. im wondering what I can do to get this connected to the temp to automatically turn on. This was a engine swap into a 75 porsche 914 so its a bit unique.

Wnts2Go10O

iTrader: (12)

u can get fan thermos and stuff from painless wiring, check it out.

LFNDUST

yeah or you can just hook up the electric water pump to a relay off the alternator...like I have and have it running all the time...weeeeeeeee

Nick's WS6

I think i found what i want, its a moroso thermostatic switch or something like that.

Villain281H

iTrader: (5)

my fan has a thermostat switch set at 165, and the water pump is hooked to the ignition key, so it's on whenever the key is on.

Nick's WS6

so you guys are saying I don't want the pump to be turning on and off with the temp, just keep it on all the time and have it hooked to the ignition switch instead.

Here is what I see happening, I have it off at first start and it takes a few minutes for it to warm up, once i see the temprature get up I turn the switch on and the temp drops real fast the gage goes from showing 250 to 0 instantly and then stays there. Is it ok to keep the pump running even though it never gets warmed up again?

69chevy

i would consider 250 degrees overheating and wouldn't want to drive it like that but why it goes back to 0, i dont know. You must have a pretty good water pump there

Nick's WS6

how bad is it to run the engine cold like that. if the temp desn't get above 100 ever.

Villain281H

iTrader: (5)

You engine will eventually build heat even if the water pump is running and the fan is not. IMHO, you'd rather build heat slowly at a steady rate, not in one big jump then cool everything back down a ton.

Derek

blue66

Don't you have a thermostat??????

Nick's WS6

I don't think so. the top most coolant connection right under the air intake is welded shut. Right now i'm installing a temprature switch that connects to the radiator and im making that control the fan with a switch override. then im just going to keep the water pump running constantly. some pictures are here.

http://photos.yahoo.com/nicksws6

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First, the water temperature should not be going down to 0. Your outside air temperature should be higher than that, so there is no way the coolant temp should be lower than the air temp. Sounds like an electrical problem with the gauge.
Where does the coolant exit the block? A thermostat is not absolutely required, but one should be installed to allow the engine to reach a high enough operating temp. Too low will allow acids to form as well as allow water to build up in the oil. These are bad things.

Nick's WS6

where is the thermostat located at. If its where i think it is there is no way having one would do me any good.

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On a SBC the thermostat is located at the front of the engine on the top of the intake manifold, almost centered right-to-left.
I don't know why you think where it is would caust it to not do you any good, unless you bypassed it.

Nick's WS6

yea, that tube has been welded shut.

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Okay, so you cannot use the stock thermostat. Where does the coolant exit the block?
You should install some sort of thermostat.
But, first find out what the actual temperature is. Unless it's winter you should not have a reading of zero degrees.
After fixing your temperature reading problem you can tackle the cooling system. One of the options that you might be interested in is here: http://www.daviescraig.com.au/main/display.asp?pid=8
Replace your pump with this one and install the controller and you won't have to worry about a thermostat.