Turbocharge your cooling system - SakeBomb Garage Competition Electric Water Pump Kit

The coolest thing to happen to the RX7. Ever.
If Mazda used a setup like this from the factory, countless motors could have been saved from overheating, warped housings, overheated and failed coolant rings, cooked turbos, and general rotary related heat woes. We've been revising this kit for over 8 months and are very excited to finally make this available to the FD community. Please forgive our lengthy thread, there is a ton of information to cover and we are doing our best to provide all of the necessary details and information in as readable of a format as possible. Please ask any and all questions, we expect quite a few considering the new technology.





Cliff Notes:

• Sustained coolant flow after shut down - Electronic controller allows pump to continue circulating coolant through your engine, radiator, and turbos after shutdown - prevents hotspots and boiling, and will even activate fans if needed.
• Flow optimized and contoured SakeBomb Garage Coolant Redirection Plate - Redirects coolant flow in place of mechanical pump with minimal turbulence.
• Efficient at all RPMs - Coolant pump no longer dependent on engine speed, so the pump is always flowing at optimal rate. Flow speed is now based on temperature, not RPM;
• User programmable pump controller - Pump speed is increased or decreased based on engine temperature. Real time control of pump speed to reflect engine cooling demands. Programmable set-points for maximum temperature and fan control. Mil-spec wire used on essential under-hood components. (optional LCD display controller available)
• Controller can trigger fans - removes the need for upgraded thermosensor (such as FC thermosensor).
• No mechanical drag on motor - 2-7hp (conservative estimate) regained by removing parasitic drag on motor. Increased throttle response.
• Increased reliability - Water pump belt slip is no longer a worry. No wax-pellet thermostat to fail.
• Goodbye turbo timers! Pump circulates coolant through turbos after shutdown.
• Low power draw - 8 amps at full speed.
• Easy to bleed cooling system - Without car running, just connect pump directly to a 12V battery. Pulse pump to bleed.
• -> Optional LCD Controller Upgrade <-
• -> Optional Custom 'Samco' Silicone Hose Kit <-

*Kit Requires removal of airpump, thermostat, and mechanical water pump. No wax pellet thermostat, so your car may take a few minutes longer to warm up, however the pump controller handles thermostatic functions based on temperature by varying pump speed (short pulses for pump at startup until operating temp is reached. (Upcoming "street kit" allows retention of mechanical thermostat, and stock airpump.)







The OEM pumps are (for lack of a better term) garbage, with the impeller made from folded sheet metal. Up until this year we've been using the ‘remedy’ machined mechanical pumps, however no impeller can be designed for optimal flow at all RPMs... you either under flow at low RPMs or cavitate at high RPMs. There is no one design that is optimal from 800-8000 RPM. The issue is that the pump (being mechanically connected to the motor) operates regardless of temperature and is forced to spin outside of its optimal range.





For example, if you’re overheating but your motor speed drops, you’re now moving less coolant when you need it most. Temperature, load, and RPM all become irrelevant factors with a mechanical pump tied to the crank pulley, it’s just along for the ride. The mechanical pump is forced to spin at the speed of the motor, and robs power to do it regardless of how much or little that pump really needs to be working. If we look at optimum pump speed, for a given condition the mechanical water pump is either under or over-cooling, under or over-spinning, or not spinning at all when you need it most (shutdown). Electric water pumps on the other hand can vary the pump speed based on the actual real time load demands for the cooling system and temperature of the coolant. It can spin as fast or as slow as required for the conditions to maintain the optimal engine temperature. New OEM applications tend to favor electric water pumps for a number of reasons, one being efficiency (no drag on the motor) and low power consumption (this one takes 8 amps max at full speed, and less as needed), but allows for other possibilities such as continuing to circulate coolant through the motor, radiator, and turbos after shutdown. The controller module we use also has the ability to trigger the fans if the temperature set point is exceeded after ramping up the pump speed. It’s an elegant solution and may end up rendering the mechanical water pump system in the FD a thing of the past.



Estimate of hp loss due to parasitic drag of mechanical pump (2-7hp loss depending on RPM - conservative estimate)






Prevents heat soak
o Runs after key-off to continue circulating coolant through the motor, turbos, and radiator – this prevents hot spots and boiling
o Electronic controller can trigger fans as needed to further cool the engine after ramping up pump speed - even while the car is off
o Coolant flows through turbos after shutoff - turbo timers are now redundant
o Pulls very little power (only 8 amps at maximum flow)
o Helps save turbo seals, coolant o-rings inside the motor, and prevents warping and hot spots from lack of cooling after shutoff


Maximum Cooling Efficiency
o Highly efficient impeller design - Optimized for maximum flow efficiency
o Standard mechanical OEM fitment pumps can be efficient either at high RPM or low RPM, but not both. Our electric water pump is de-coupled from the engine and is therefore efficient and effective regardless of engine speed.



Cooling On Demand
o Electric water pump operation is based on coolant temperature, and controller can modulate the speed of the pump in real time based on cooling requirements.
o Controller temperature settings are customizeable.
o Fans can be activated by the controller to increase cooling if temperatures continue to increase after max speed of the pump is reached. This is essentially a digital version of the "thermosensor" which is user-programmable.
o Belt slip on the mechanical water pump pulley is now a thing of the past!
o The end result of the system is the ability to activate maximum cooling even at low RPM, and after key-off.


Free Up Power and Throttle Response
o Save horsepower and increased throttle response by removing parasitic drag of mechanical water pump on the engine. 2-7hp depending on RPM.
o Only draws a maximum of 8 amps at full speed, and less as needed.

Contoured Design Tested for Optimal Flow
o 3D-optimized and contoured billet 6061 aluminum coolant redirection plate, milspec hard anodized.
o Contoured fluid path to drastically reduce turbulence and vortices forming in the water pump housing with the mechanical water pump removed
o Months of flow testing and revisions to create bowled output to fluid passage; this reduces turbulence by preventing quickly moving coolant from hitting a flat wall rather than smoothly directed towards the coolant inlet. The smooth flow contour aims to achieve as close to truly laminar flow as design constraints allow. Less turbulence means less flow restrictions and therefore more efficient and effective cooling.
o The plate has a C-ring that seats in the same beveled surface that the mechanical water pump blades do, forcing coolant through the flow path to the motor rather than whirl around and create turbulence.






Direct Mounting Location
o Located in lowest possible orientation to aid in most effective pump operation.
o Short and direct flow path to radiator.
o Electric water pump allows easier bleeding of coolant system. Connect pump directly to a 12V power source to manually circulate coolant through the engine without the caron. (With a manual pump, it usually takes days of topping up the system and heat cycling to thoroughly remove all air)








Specs
• 40 gallon per minute maximum flow rate
• 72.5 psi maximum rated operating pressure
• 8 amp maximum current draw
• Recommended operating range of -40°F to 266°F
• Aluminum pump housing for improved durability
• 7000+ hour manufacturer rated lifespan; equates to roughly 200,000 miles at an average of 35mph
• 2 year pump warranty

 

What's included:
• SBG Coolant Redirection Plate, EWP 150 Pump, EWP Control Module, Recirculation Plug, Thermosensor, PnP Wiring Harness, and correctly sized (shorter) alternator belt included.
• Milspec wire used on essential under-hood components to prevent deterioration due to heat
• ->Optionally available with high quality Samco silicone hose upgrade - made to spec specifically for this kit<-
• ->Optionally available with Davis Craig premium LCD controller<-
* Removal of stock airpump, thermostat, and mechanical waterpump required for this kit.


Group Buy and Ordering:

We are offering a reduced price for the first 20 pre-orders of our Competition Electric Water Pump kits. These are first come first serve. Most parts are currently in stock however we are still waiting for a few last pieces as well as anodizing and finishing on our Coolant Redirection Plates. We are expecting kits to begin shipping within the next two weeks or sooner at this point. To reserve a spot you can do one of two things:

Payment in Full: Please visit the product page and submit payment in full. Your kit will ship as soon as it is complete. Order here -> SakeBomb Garage EWP-150 FD3S Competition Electric Water Pump Kit

Deposit: Please visit the deposit page here-> GROUP BUY DEPOSIT: SakeBomb Garage EWP-150 FD3S Electric Water Pump Kit to submit a non-refundable deposit payment. You will receive a coupon code emailed to you within a couple days good for the amount of the deposit. When you are ready to submit the remainder of your payment please visit the standard competition water pump product page here -> SakeBomb Garage EWP-150 FD3S Competition Electric Water Pump Kit Add the item to your cart, and enter your deposit code at checkout. You will have 12:00 MIDNIGHT MARCH 31st, 2015 PST days to complete checkout. Your code will not expire but the total price of the kit will increase after the pre-order is over.



Interest list:
0. SBGarage - Comp kit, standard controller, silicone hoses (GB Deposit PAID)
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Very interested in this. Sorry I'm maybe not reading it properly but what would make this kit better than the street kit you plan on releasing? And can you still set speeds/temps without the LCD optional extra?

 

Above answered on FB, thanks.

 

What street kit are you referring to? Are you talking about another brand that also just released?

 

Just curious, what made you design it to keep the overall pump housing instead of deleting the whole thing and plumbing it directly into the top coolant passages directly on the front iron? Seems like that option would have been cheaper and easier.

 

You'd have to relocate the alternator and build some sort of reservoir/filler if the whole pump housing was removed. I'm guessing that would have cost more than this solution.

-Dan

 

No, all of our parts are designed, tested, and manufactured by us in house. The electric water pump setups are actually quite good and I'm not surprised other companies are jumping on this bandwagon, though I'd be very surprised if any company put the months of R/D work into this that we did. I don't say "bandwagon" though as a negative, I'm quite confident with this new technology and it's ability to improve quite a few aspects with aftermarket adaptations to existing cars.

We have working prototypes of what we are calling our "Street" kit however we are still finishing development and do not have a production run of parts available. Expect those in the coming month(s). The distinction between the street kit is essentially the ability to KEEP the existing thermostat. The passageway for coolant through the stock thermostat is rather small, compared to having no thermostat in place, so maximum flow is better with the Competition kit. The downside to not having the thermostat however is that the motor does take longer to warm up. That's the tradeoff, fast warm-up time versus maximum flow. The controllers (both standard and LCD versions) provide thermostatic control by varying pump speed based on real time coolant temp.

-Heath

 

As Scrub just mentioned, the stock water pump housing has a ton of features that are costly to build into a new unit. You've got the major inlet and outlet ports, sensor ports, turbo and heater core lines, another new (and much longer) set of custom silicone hoses, and still need a way to mount the alternator. We've got cad files ready to go for a full on "replacement housing" type setup. The problem is the price is no where what I would consider reasonable to make these things. At the end of the day the flow characteristics are nearly identical to our 3d machined cap type system which we have optimized for flow with extensive modeling and testing of our 3d contours. There's a bit of a bling factor with a completely new unit but I can nearly assure you, the cost would scare you and everyone else away for little to no performance advantage, and make installation much more laborious.


Bling aside, the technology in the kit is really the headline here and there's a reason so many OEM's are now relying on electronic water pumps for engine cooling. For retrofitting to the FD application we're confident we maxed out the performance of this setup with our contour flow plate, and spent many months testing and revising the flow path and design. We were one of the first companies importing and developing with the Davies Craig parts in the US and have been quietly developing with their entire line of products in the background for quite some time.

 

I'm assuming this will not work on a vmount setup? Can you take a pic of it installed from the top?

 

It will work on a vmount setup, however you'll have to insert the pump into your radiator line someplace else so you'll need to do some custom lines. Should be relatively simple though with some minor modifications.

Just order the pump without the silicone hose kit because that's the only thing that might conflict with your setup.

 

Looks cool! Need more installed pics

 

It's always great to see you guys putting out new products for our cars!

Do you know what temp the pump will stop running after the car is turned off? Or is that programmable?

Does the wiring/controller plug into the factory harnesses and control the factory fans, or is there some additional wiring work to be done?

 

Hey sorry for the late reply we've been slammed this week. The set point is programmable both on the LCD and standard controller (both controllers work essentially the same aside from the display and audible alarm in the LCD unit).

The wiring interfaces with the factory wiring yes. The only issue is sourcing a particular connector which I can't seem to get in quantity. Currently we are providing a male pin and wiring can be inserted into the stock connector and a dab of silicone used to keep it in place. This leaves the connector untouched and completely reversible in the future. Alternatively the stock connector can simply be removed and signal butt-crimped in or using a vampire tap to send the signal. It's simply a signal wire to trigger a relay so it's not a high current wire or anything.


Anyone with questions please ask them. There's been a lot of interest in this but I can tell that since it's a pretty new thing in the FD community there's definitely some skepticism and hesitation. Ask any and all questions... we welcome the debate and it lets us explain our take on why we feel this is so essential for the FD..

-Heath

 

We'll get some pictures uploaded shortly but unfortunately there's not much to see. We've got the controller mounted in the glove box, the airpump is gone, waterpump has the new flow plate, and that's about all you can see aside from the pump under the car (like the picture above). It's pretty.... un-bling as far as part installs go

 

I am very interested in this and I've bought pretty much everything you sell for the fd. My question is this. Can the fan controller be setup that it has complete control of the electric fans? I have a microtech, don't ask, and I would rather not have it control the fans at all. Can I install this kit and have the controller completely control fan operation?

Thanks.
Jimmy

 

Interested in more installed pics.

 

Interested, how long can these pumps run before the bearings fail, whats the typical average life of these Davies pumps? thanks

 

That'll depend on whether or not you have AC in the mix - having the AC on will always trigger one of the fans using the OEM setup. We haven't been developing the kit to have complete and exclusive control over the fans, but I'll do some looking into it and see if it's possible. I don't see why it wouldn't be, since our thermistor triggers the relay(s) with a ground signal but I'll double check for you.

Working on it! We'll have pictures for you very, very soon.

Davies Craig rates them for 7000+ hours of operation when using the digital EWP/fan controller. This means roughly 250K miles if you're averaging around 35-40mph. Without the fan controller the pump will run full blast at 100% power all the time, which not only has the potential to overcool your engine, but decreases the rated lifespan to only 3000 hours (120K miles, or thereabouts).

Compared to a mechanical water pump, either option is better, but we highly recommend using the digital controller and actually don't even offer our kit without it in the first place. The best way to preserve the lifespan of your pump is to never run it dry by making sure it's always primed with fluid before operation.

 

Just confirmed that you can in fact do this. All you need to do is connect the fan controller signal wire to a relay for each fan. If you're using the stock fans, there are two relays per fan and you can tap the fan controller signal into these relays.

Out of the box we have it set up to activate the thermoswitch fan but you can very easily add as many fans as you would like, which would all be triggered at your temperature setpoint anywhere from 140*F to 220*F.

 

Great info. I will be purchasing the kit and disconnecting my microwreck from the fans and wiring the fan relays to the controller.

 

Just curious how 'streetable' this competition kit is. My car is no doubt a street car - but this sounds about on par with other EWP 'street' kits out there.

How different will the street kit be and how far off is it? What are the major cons when it comes to running this kit on the street? What will make the street kit that much more streetable?

 

...also should mention I am not running an air pump - so depending on how the "streetable" thing breaks down - keep that in mind.

Oh, and are you going to offer an OEM finish for the coolant redirection plate?

 

I think the street kit just allows you to keep the air pump, making it street legal. I'll let Heath answer though.

 

So this kit removes the thermostat and controls engine temp based on pump flow, correct?