More maintenance items on the black hole
 

Before I head to the track in dec. I'm gonna do a bunch of stuff.

New rubber for my track tires
Front motor mount (at least 40k on the existing one)
Fuel filter (possibly never changed before)
Water pump (pre-emptive strike. Using rebuilt Vertex unit w/metal impeller)
Swapping the green coolant for the less corrosive red Porsche variant
Under drive pulley & new shorter serpentine belt to match
Low temp thermostat (should be helpful in south Texas)
Install short shift kit I've had for 5+ years sitting in garage
Put in shims in brake pads to stop clacking when I reverse and squealing

The last one is just a thought as to why I have noises...

I'm also going to ask my mechanic to find and eliminate the metal rattle in the top mechanism coming from the drivers side and the pop! that I hear when I lower the top on occasion.

So if the rebuilt impeller fails you want to send metal through the engine? I've heard from at least two experts that the only water pump to use is the Porsche sourced one (and neither has a pro-Porsche bent).

Mike, you make a good point.

I think I shall change my order to a Porsche part and plan on replacing it in another 30-40k miles.

Thanks for the input.

The way you say that implies that bits of metal are somehow more damaging than bits of plastic. Metal or plastic impeller, it seems to me the result would likely be same if it broke into bits small enough to make it in to the cooling system. I've had one impeller fail in a non-Pcar (Lexus), it was plastic and it simply split in half.

Whats the thought behind bits of metal in the cooling system being worse than bits of plastic?

The engine block is the housing for the water pump. If the bearing fails and the blades contact the housing, the impellar fins break if they are plastic, the engine block is destroyed if they are steel.

Making sure the car is safe for the track is well worth the cost. Although some of your list is elective, not necessary. Make sure all of the suspension bushings and steering knuckles are in good shape.

Think of it this way, even if it weren't a Porsche, you'd be dumping money into it to get it track worthy. I don't want to tell you what I spent on a $3300 MR2 to get it in shape for track duty.

If you are going to track the car, work on oiling issues first. Think about an accusump, or at least a baffle update.

Is this something that happens often? I've never heard of a water pump destroying an engine block (or even the pump housing for that matter).

Besides, the question I asked pertained to "sending metal through the engine", not destroying the block. It seems to me that if the bearing failed to such a degree the the impeller starts beating the block to death, that the bearing failure and all of the symptoms that go with it have been ignored for a long...long..time.

I believe that Porsche used metal impellers on their pumps. Has this changed?

Car is at the shop doing all of the above in first message. Went with a factory water pump (plastic impeller).

Can't wait to get the car back. All I lack for the track is new rubber for my track rims.

Wow. More power and a tight, notchy shifter. The DE this time should feel quite different.

The water cooled cars have always used plastic.

Really, what did the air cooled cars use? :):p;):confused: