Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Metal Water Pump Impeller A Good Idea? Maybe Not?

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Notice all that the WP design Ford engineers selected is of an open vane type for the impeller. Thus the need for the cone in the back or rather mating housing that the impeller end fits into to. The vanes fit up closely to the cone (without touching)so that slippage of 'fluid' (the correct term for liquids and gases)past the moving vanes is minimal. Since many have indicated that they have encountered a loose cone component it seems reasonable to surmise that the cones that loosen come into contact with the impeller vanes and voila pump destruction. It may therefore be a moot point to just replace the polymer impeller component with a metal one without rectifying the loose cone issue.
What is required is some statistic on destroyed WPs. How many have had WP failures with and without loose cones. If 100 percent of failures have had loose cones it is not the material of the impeller at issue. It is the design of the cone side of the pump. The cone should not be a separately attached piece in any event. It should be an integral part of the back housing (i.e part of the aluminum casting.