Ballast Pump Polish and Porting (PICS)

[prostar205]

Every year I remove all 3 ballast pumps from my boat for winter. I disassemble them and polish the insides and the underside of the cover plate. This year I decided to smooth out the inlet and outlet ports by removing the inner threads and also making the inlet and outlets larger with my Dremel and air tools.

Here are some pictures.

[prostar205]

More pics

[ryancassidy]

I'd be very curious as to if it improves anything? I can see the flow being improved with removing the threads, and might have a small noise improvement. Anyhow, curious as to how it turns out when you put them back in. Looks Great!

[prostar205]

I have done the polishing of the insides of the ballast pumps for the past 4 years. I modified by 2002 ballast system to remove the restrictive manifold and plumbed all 3 pumps with their own individual intake ports on the bottom of the boat. The intake and empty now go thru the same fitting on the bottom of the boat. I have fill up 2,000 lbs of water (2 - 750s, 1 - 550) in about 8 minutes. Emptying them is even quicker. I'm hoping for quicker times with the ported intakes/empty nozzles. These are the original pumps from 2002 with green impellers that are at least 6 years old. At a minimum, with the polishing removing the pumps every year from the boat, I've at least extended the lift of the pumps and impellers. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

[ryancassidy]

Just curious, did u get to lake test the pump mods?

[prostar205]

Just curious, did u get to lake test the pump mods?

Not yet. Boat is still winterized up here in rainy Seattle. I should get it running this weekend. Probably be mid-May before I put the bags in and test everything out.

[ryancassidy]

Ahhhhh... cool. Good luck and Thanks!

[cwarndahl]

What did you do to drill out the threads, i can see that increasing flow. Polishing im on the fence about any benefit other then you showing me that your MCOCD is soooooooo big and mine is soooooooo small. LOL it looks great. and i bet taking them all to there own through hole is the biggest difference yet.

[Keith2230]

Inspecting and replacing the seals alone is going to extend the life of your pumps. I'm a sucker for polished brass so even if it doesn't do much I still approve ��

[prostar205]

What did you do to drill out the threads, i can see that increasing flow. Polishing im on the fence about any benefit other then you showing me that your MCOCD is soooooooo big and mine is soooooooo small. LOL it looks great. and i bet taking them all to there own through hole is the biggest difference yet.

I used a dremel with a course sanding cylinder and an air drill with a conical sanding bit - similar to the ones you see people using to port a cylinder head.

I polish the insides of the impeller housing every year. I figure the smoother it is, the easier it will flip positions - fill verse empty. Also, minimizing anything that could slow these pumps down is good. Remember, these pumps are 16 years old. Whatever I can do to extend the life of the motor, I'll do.

I don't want to buy new ones.

[blackhawk]

A good test would be to fill up a large plastic tote with water and time how long it takes the pump to remove all the water. Compare the times before and after polishing.

[cwarndahl]

I used a dremel with a course sanding cylinder and an air drill with a conical sanding bit - similar to the ones you see people using to port a cylinder head.



I polish the insides of the impeller housing every year. I figure the smoother it is, the easier it will flip positions - fill verse empty. Also, minimizing anything that could slow these pumps down is good. Remember, these pumps are 16 years old. Whatever I can do to extend the life of the motor, I'll do.



I don't want to buy new ones.

I don't blame you on not wanting to buy new ones. And dang it if I don't want to pull my pumps now!


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