Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I remember reading some where that water pump failure can be attributed to lack of use. Something to do with the bearing sitting stationary surrounded by coolant? I am sure an over tight fan belt does not help either.

If I ever have to do the one on my S4 again, I will fit one of the Burton cartridge type.

If I fit a Burton water pump and Burton timing cover can I still use the original Lotus back plate?

If a replacement back plate has to be used, I think I will stick to a standard replacement pump.

I've hunted for the answer. It's probably here somewhere but I can't find it.

AlfaLofa wrote:If I fit a Burton water pump and Burton timing cover can I still use the original Lotus back plate?

NO.

I am running a standard setup with a dynamo. The only time I had problems (water leaking) was when I tried to do the pump myself (young and innocent then). Peter Day replaced my pump in the late 1980s and it's still going strong after about 45k miles.... I have a very loose fan belt but everything works (although not at the same time... the indicators and wipers slow down if I have the heater fan, headlights and wipers all on at the same time - usual British weather).

I remember that there were some horror stories going around then regarding the quality of some of the third party capsule replacements (I still have a copy of a letter sent to Club Lotus by a disgruntled member)

I suppose I am asking for trouble now

I have always used the standard Lotus water pump in all my Loti over the past 30 years - no problems provided that you use genuine parts and do not over tighten the fan belt. In my latest rebuild I bought a new front timing cover from QED, to avoid the usual corrosion problem.

Just my sixpence worth...

Martin B

... Just notice my car has a small water leak.. hope it's not the water pump but a hose..

I?ve lost the original Belt off my Twin Cam Race motor that was just a crank pulley to pump pulley one - from memory it was a Dunlop A21 - does anyone know where I can source a correct replacement?

Same as a twin cam Europa if you have standard pulleys ?

cheers
Rohan

standard belt specs are typically like... 11 A 210

11mm width
A profile
210 length

various manufacturers incorporate these number into their part numbers or have the full specification on the belt

cheers
Rohan

Hi

Two water pumps in 33 years and the first was replaced as matter of course when I had the head done by QED
The cartridge sounds nice but expensive for a standard road engine. A good option if your front covers need replacement otherwise standard for me.

Made some progress today - we found the old belt which is 580 outside length & is a 9.5/6.44 wedge. A Z21 is a bit tight, so a cogged xpz 562 with outside length 575 wedge 10/8 may do the job - QED offer a spz562 for the Europa. If all else fails Inmay spread the pump pulley a bit to let a Z21 lower into it.

I?ve also just realised that QED offer a small "race? crank pulley as well as a Europa T/C pump belt - I?ll enquire as to the crank pulley size but it does sound like they may have off the shelf components that will work - I also have to clear the tacho gear box so a big A section belt wouldn?t be ideal.

The Cossie pulley on the motor has an OD of 96.3 with a 76mm diameter at the bottom of the "V? - a standard, I think, pulley from a Twin Cam Escort motor is OD 101.0, with a valley at 76.5, so not much of a difference for belt fitment.....

ppnelan wrote:The standard water pump should be as reliable as any other part (?!) IF the fan belt is NOT overtightened.... The only problem is that if you do need to change it, it's a big job with the original front cover assembly.
Matthew

Another suspect was an unbalanced metal fan mounted directly on the pulley flange

Always had an electric fan, and Burton cartridge fitted 15 years ago, so never a problem