Engine Do I have a standard or reverse rotation pump?

[Cobraii1976]

Hello, I have a 76 cobra ii that has a fox body 5.0 based engine. The car runs hotter than I believe it should. With the hood off it typically runs @ 193°, with the hood on it runs around 200°-210°ish. I’m taking it on the Hot Rod Power Tour this year and I want to ensure it’s set up correctly. It’s a long drive from Canada.!

My concern is that the pump is being rotated in the incorrect direction.

Right now my pump is spinning counter clock wise or reverse rotation. Is there any way to tell sort of ripping the pump off to inspect the impeller orientation?

 

[evintho]

If your pump is spinning counter-clockwise as you're standing in front of the car, then yes, it's reverse rotation. The stock thermostat is 193*. Is your radiator large enough? Do you have an electric fan and is it spinning in the right direction and not reversed? Honestly, 195*-210* is right about where it should be running.

 

[Cobraii1976]

Current set up

 

[Cobraii1976]

Oh ok.! That’s great news to me. It runs at 193° normally with the hood off. I may have incorrectly assumed it should be running cooler with the hood on considering the hole cut out for the tunnel-ram. Yes I have an electric fan and it is pulling air correctly. Thanks so much for the response.

 

[limp]

Your fan is rotating the right direction? Read about a couple of heating issues with the fan rotating in the wrong direction....

 

[AeroCoupe]

Make sure the fan is pulling air into the engine bay. What CFM is that fan? Looks undersized to me but I run Lincoln Mark VIII fans.

 

[Cobraii1976]

Thanks for the response. The fan is pulling air in to the engine bay. It is a 15” fan.

 

[Cobraii1976]

After some further research it looks like my engine is running at the correct temperature between 193°-210°.

Is this what temperature range others are experiencing?

The engine in my car is a 306, it has a B303 cam, stock heads, carbureted with 2 X Edelbrock 550 CFM carbs sitting on top of a Weiand tunnel ram intake. I’m not certain on the rotating assembly but I suspect stock crank.

 

[evintho]

Mine runs 195* all day long and may creep to 205* sitting in traffic. It's a '93 5.0 installed in a '54 Ford. Motor is rebuilt but stock with the stock Mustang radiator and a 16" electric fan pulling 3000 cfm's.

 

[limp]

Mine runs 195* all day long and may creep to 205* sitting in traffic. It's a '93 5.0 installed in a '54 Ford. Motor is rebuilt but stock with the stock Mustang radiator and a 16" electric fan pulling 3000 cfm's.

Nice job......

 

[Cobraii1976]

Awesome, thanks for the response. So this brings me back to my original question.

I noticed your water pump is spinning standard rotation, or same direction as the crank (clockwise - Ribbed side if belt against the pulley).

Mine is spinning reverse rotation, opposite the direction of the crank (counter clockwise - smooth side of the belt against the pulley)

Is there a way to determine the rotation orientation of the water pump with out having to pull it off the engine and look at the impeller?

I put this set up together a few years ago and At that time I was unaware the pumps were available in both standard, and reverse rotation.

After the help I received on here, I’m confident my pump is spinning the correct way based on the normal operating engine temperature of my engine.

I would like to have the original question answered for anyone else reading this thread in the future with the same question.

 

[evintho]

Again, if the WP is turning counterclockwise, it's reverse rotation.
If WP is turning clockwise, it's standard rotation.
Mine was originally reverse rotation but I changed it to standard rotation cuz I didn't want all the belt mess that originally came with it. I had to change the timing cover to an '80 302 unit to achieve that and also plugged the center mount oil dipstick hole in the block cuz the new dipstick was in the '80 timing cover. Here's the belt mess that came with my '93 5.0 reverse rotation pump..........

 

[General karthief]

The back yard hack in me says to drop the water level below the first couple radiator tubes, cold of course, start the car and raise the rpms to say, 1500-1800 rpms and watch the coolant flow, it may do nothing for a few minutes then it should start to flow out the the tubes and your good, pump flowing wrong way should push coolant up the drivers side of the radiator or it will continue to not flow at all. Hypothetically speaking.