Dodge 440-3 Water Pump Replacement

[MoparWiz1]

The Napa one on the left with 8 vanes or fins is a COUNTER-clockwise rotation pump... The Cardone has the Clockwise rotation which will cause overheating as well as pinch the hoses closed with pressure. The original Mopar was more like the Napa design, with 8 fins or vanes, counterclockwise rotation.  The best in this case is the Napa #42032 (new only option)

[hemi354az]

So . . . you want to know something about 440 water pumps ?
I am the guy that posted the water pump tests and pictures on the Dodge Charger website already ID-ed in this thread.
Myself and about 200 + others own FMC 2900R Motorhomes, that came with the 440 engine and 727 tranny in a PUSHER setup. FMC made 1054 of them from 1973-76. There were about 150 Bus/Transits in that number. Over 50 or so of that number have been converted to some type of Diesel engine and usually an Allison Tranny. But most have the same 440 Mopar that you have in your Winnies.

Some "facts" about the Big Block Mopar engine that went out of Production in 1978. Chrysler Corp used the big block engine in cars (Chrysler, Imperial, Dodge, Desoto, Plymouth),  trucks (Dodge, and Fargo), schoolbuses, Marine engines, and in all kinds of farm, agricultural, construction, generator, pump, and aircraft service equipment and tugs. They were two series of engines, the low deck "B" engine that were 361, 383 and 400 cubic inches, and the raised block "RB" engines that were 413, 426W (Wedge), and 440. The 426 Hemi used a slightly modified RB block. These were all automotive type engines. Chrysler Industrial Engines were also sold as HT361 and HT413 that had different heads, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, pistons, valves, and water pump.  Your favorite Winnie has a HT413 engine or the 440. I'll show you some 440 water pumps, and discuss rotation, and blade shape and count.

Other than Marine Twin Pack Engine sets (one CW and one CCW rotation) ALL B/RB engines rotate CCW when sitting in the "pilot's seat". This is an old "airplane rule" so everyone can talk forward, aft, left, right, CW, CCW, etc., and always mean with respect to the pilot sitting in the seat. Thus the left wing is always the left wing no matter where you are looking at the aircraft. Same convention applies to cars, trucks, motorhomes, boats, tractors, tanks, etc. The only water pumps made for CW rotation are the cast iron or plastic ones that have a slight curve to the blade, and the picture below shows one CW and one CCW 10 vane plastic impeller. The other "curved" cast iron impellers are CCW rotation, and turn the same direction as the crankshaft. There may be serpentine belt setups for B/RB engines now, but there were NO such setups during the production of the B/RB engines. Note that all the other impellers really have a straight vane set of blades (except the highly curved Edelbrock impeller). Which way the bend is made in the sheet metal impellers is irrelevant, as it is the vertical vane that is moving the water. The cast brass/bronze "marine" impellers have straight vanes as well. Other than the material that the blade is made from, all the straight blade impellers work either CW or CCW. When we tested the CW and CCW curved plastic impellers . . . they both flowed the SAME yet they both only ran CCW.

Bill Sitton and I ran these water pumps using a Titan(?) 440 powered MH that had had the grill and radiator removed, The "bolted open" thermostat was never removed for each succesive test, nor did any of the plumbing going to/from the radiator, and thru the 60 GPM precision Flow Meter. The ONLY thing changed was the WATER PUMP ITSELF. Results ? They basically all flowed the same. More vanes . .. slightly more flow. More tip diameter . . . slightly more flow. The very curved Edelbrock pump . . . not any different than the straight vane pumps.

While the absolute value of the flow in GPM may be questioned . . . the relative value of the difference in GPM flow among all the pumps tested is accurate.

Chrysler bought water pumps from many different suppliers. The pump had to bolt up and flow some minimum amount of water. Selection was based on COST ! There were probably times when Ma Mopar was buying from more than one supplier at the same time just to keep production running. That is why there are so many different type pumps out there for the B/RB engines. AND THEY ALL FIT ! Water pump housing flange surface to the face of the pulley/fan hub is the exact same on every one of the different style pumps. TEST Anomalies ? Think the big two bearing FMC pump (#1) did not flow as much as recorded. It was 1st tested, and we were excited to finally get things bled and running and I may have misread the flow meter. We ran out of time and did not repeat any tests. That was a mistake.

Below are some pictures from those B/RB (they are all the same pump and interchangeable) actual SYSTEM tests, and then a few picturess of other pumps we have discovered since those Tests in 2008. Conclusions ? MORE VANES Equal MORE FLOW. Later I'll point out some differences between the HT413 and 440.

Oh . . . It is sometimes easier to loosen/remove the belts, then remove the 4 bolts that hold the pump to the housing, and remove the pump, pulleys, fan, and clutch as an "assembly". Then change all that stuff to the new pump, and reinstall the "assembly" with a new gasket (FelPro #11730).
Lou FMC #120 in Aridzona

[hemi354az]

Pumps tested in 2008 all using the same "bolted full open" Thermostat.

[Rickf1985]

More water flow is not always a good thing. These pumps, on all brands of vehicles, are designed to move a certain amount of water. They could design a pump to move more water if they wanted to but here is the problem. Have you ever seen anyone remove their thermostat because they were told it would run cooler and in turn it actually overheated at speed? The reason? The water is moving through the radiator so fast it does not have time to transfer it's heat to the airflow through the radiator. A stock pump will move more than enough water. The thermostat is a water flow control device in addition to being a temperature control. The thermostat slows the water flow down and limits the amount of flow so the water remains in the radiator long enough for heat transfer to take place.

[hemi354az]

Other pumps NOT tested that we found after 2008. Lou #120