OBehave

On Sunday at the 928OC Spring Drive we hosted,I shared my project which I have been working on for almost a year and a half.The response was very positive and people are anxious to get it.So I have decided to tell the world.
After much trial and error and experimentation i came up with an idea that works and is proven.I have developed a system that mounts to a stock waterpump housing,prevents a metal impellor from moving,uses an extremely large double ball bearing to support the load of the timing belt and its function,and separates the direct contact between the waterpump bearing, shaft and impellor,meaning if for some reason the waterpump seizes,the timing belt is unaffected.Which means you will not bend the valves on your engine! All this and it is serviceable to the extent that you can check both bearings at any time for play if you are so inclined to.Also does not interfere with the timing belt cover fit,no cutting or fabrication is necessary,and can be used with the porkensnr.
I have 3 of my personal cars fitted with them,2- 32valve 85s and 1- 16 valve 82 Bertha.I have just shy of one year on our daily driver which is an 85 32 valve S and we have just clocked over 10,000 miles and no issues what so ever.No signs of wear on either bearing. I also have one installed on Kevin's,(IrisandKevin),85 Euro which has an 88 S4 engine with a supercharger on it for hard abuse.So far after roughly 2500 miles on his car no issues.

Shark_Week

more, more,more!

SeanR

Yes, more please.

hans14914

Looks great!

Can we get some more pictures of the mechanism. I love interesting mechanical solutions. I likely would not have gone the direction I did if I knew this was coming to market. Well done!

Thanks,
Hans

Tass 928

I have seen this in person and the concept makes total sense. It gives the belt idler it's own giant bearing and the original bearing is only burdened with the impeller shaft load. Ed has everything locked in place with pins and c-clips so nothing will be migrating. AND..the workmanship is clearly of a very high order.

I'm in

OBehave

I did not want to say anything until I was comfortable with it.I had 5 different changes made and everytime I thought I could do no more something poped up that said try this.
The real benefit I see is that this makes using a rebuilt pump safe because all of the problems with them have been addressed.That and all cores can be used not just original Porsche cores because this design does not allow movement of the cartridge bearing. Ed

OBehave

Thank you for the kind words,your opinion I greatly respect. Ed

paul928s4

I dodged a bullet last year with a bad water pump. The press bearing failed, but fortunately the impeller didn't bite into the block, it just freewheeled. As fate would have it, it happened on the track. Fortunately it happened at the end of a lap, and I was able to pit before any overheating damage was done.

Not to detract from the significance of this development (and believe me, I’d love to hear more), but aren’t the fine people at 928sRus also working with a supplier on water pumps that were less prone to impeller bearing issues?

Tom. M

Kudo's to both Ed and Hans..... very cool.... both of you were thinking outside the box and we now have several choices... Awesome Job!!!!!

dcrasta

Wow! Good news comes in groups. First the Gates racing belts, now this! Its a good time to be a 928 owner..

Tass 928

I don’t know what the 928Rus folks have in the works but one clever element of Ed’s effort is that the belt idler gets it’s own bearing that is properly centered under it’s load. If the little impeller shaft bearing should for some reason give up, the belt will still be in place and keeping my valves from crashing. This is the major point that I’m jazzed about.

OBehave

I'm not sure what exactly Roger was up to but the concept of this is that the impellor cannot move and if the bearing seizes the coupler disengages so the timing belt continues un molested.Yes you may overheat but if you are a responsible driver you will be watching your gauges and shut down before critical temps blow your engine.

OBehave

Do you have bug in my office??

Tom in Austin

Is the idea that any pump can be retrofitted with these improvements to prevent the described failure modes?

OBehave

Yes.