The manual states the impeller should be mounted within .015 to the pump body. Mine is closer to .188 big time ouch!!
As Mike stated, that is a big factor in any pump meeting it's capacity specs. In my manual, the 4 cyl and the 8 cyl. Sections show that both styles of impellers were used as from the factory!
The deal on setting them up takes a little basic math, and seeing that the steel impeller can get ruined taking it off to start over if it's been pressed on too far; to me leaves a wide latitude to fudge it. That's assuming the bench assembler gives a dam or even knows what he/she is doing. I've used both styles with no regrets, and as Mike an I have said to each other; as long as the impeller is the same design in vane arrangement and diameter, either one works.
Craig: that 1/16" clay space in post 10 is still 4x the factory spec, it'll move coolant but not 85 gpm at rated rpm; just too much "slippage" going on. There still May be enough to keep you from overheating though. I did the clay test on the one that went in my 800. I bought a new one from carquest,(the lifetime warranty one), and it was around 15 to 20 thou.( as accurate as I can be miking clay), as per the book. The original cast vane one worked as well, had the same clearance, but it got replaced because of a leaking seal. They are out there.
I was looking at your temperature scans. The pattern I'm seeing is that very little flow seems to be occuring through the radiator. It has a very wide td(temp diff), plus the pump's mixed flow outlet or discharge,(items 6 & 7), is pretty much the same as it's inlet or the thermostat housing or waterneck,(item 3), outlet. The stat should be wide open at 10 degrees above it's crack open or 205, with full radiator flow and the bypass blocked off. Flow to and from the engine, though it is at idle is only seeing about a 3 or 4 degree rise. At idle with minimum flow through the radiator, you should be gradually cooling down to where the thermostat is passing coolant close to it's setpoint. Path of least resistance, my hunch is that if the thermostat is working correctly, either too much "slippage" or the block off for the bypass.
As of yet, I have no specs on the radiator's delta p,(pressure drop). It can't be much. The block, heater core, thermostat, are fairly sizable in themselves. Most radiator delta p's I've read about mostly deal on air side issues.
I have abandoned the cast vs. Stamped impeller debate. I have done no testing. I got all the parts except test apparatus. Here's the deal. The j.o.b(osu) m.e. Program has shifted it's focus in the last 10-15 years to a more digital based learning lab. What hands-on that remains is mostly small projects, and in the vehicle department are converted motorcyle engines in what I call sprint off-road buggies. At least they build their own chassis & engine mods. The waukesha knock testing engine is gone, a lot of the engine test stands that we could only dream about are gone, hell they've got a full scale clayton in floor dynometer that's been broke since the 80's. Their testing apparatus doesn't seem to be much anymore. I purchased online an sae abstract on modern engine cooling. Out of 4 chapters, the first one was on the 3 author's credentials and contributions, the 2nd on organizational structure for the design committee, the 3rd on what targets to achieve given the various markets( similar to the origin of cup holders for instance), the 4th in a nutshell was after all is said and done hand the parameters to the pump engineer and he'll design a pump for ya. Heck, I got it to get pump info, what a let down. Ain't like the ones from the 60's.
I figured the best way to test was real world. I can easily swap one in the 800 as a "test stand". A pump's performance curve is greatly influenced by the system curve it's designed to match. Also specific gravity and operating temperature of the pumped fluid must also equal design, so the accurate and real way is in a working engine block. Accurate flow meters are expensive, buying one was out, and I could not find, beg or borrow one with the needed range. With that in mind, and that there is a large population of users of both styles of which I am a part of, in my mind that settles the question. I have crawled 28% or steeper grades at upper elevations on 80-85 degree days pulling around 1,800 to 2,000 rpm and the temp gauge never goes past half way. The rig is stock. The key that has never been brought up is how well is the pump put together and what are the clearances. Clearances are talked about in piston, ring, and bearing specs; but you hardly hear of that in the water pump department. If a flow meter does eventually turn up, I May resume a test, but I really feel given the factory manual, and working rigs that exist, it's like testing for the existance of sunshine.
Here a few fundamentals. 65% of the energy that goes into an engine is rejected as heat. Ic engine efficiency is around 30%. Of that rejection, it's fairly equal between the cooling system and the exhaust. As the load and speed increase toward wot, a higher percentage goes out the tailpipe with a decreasing percentage going to the cooling system. We're talk'in magnitude, so the total amount of heat rejection goes up with load, but the burden shifts to the exhaust side.
This is an excerpt straight outta my train'in manual:
" vehicles rated for heavy tow loads have radiators tend to have as much frontal area and as low air restriction as possible, which translate into low fin densities and narrow depth, and aggressive engine driven fan"
on the IH spec sheet going from a "standard" cooling package to an "increased cooling" package on a 345; the tube count is raised or another row, the fin count drops from 13 fpi to 12 fpi, and a 5 bladed fan is substituted for the four. Flow, gotta get flow.
I substitute off-roading for tow loads as the conditions can be similar.
If ya can, could you put your monitor near where yore tak'in the readings so I can see too
