I was wondering if anyone has run their big blocks with jabsco or johnson crank drive water pumps. I have a Formula 272 sr1 and the Merc belt driven pumps are a royal pain in the a$$ to service since there's no room in the engine compartment. The rear reat is not removable. Arms a foot longer ,with an extra elbow would be great too , but that's not gonna happen. The crank driven pumps would be a pleasure to work on since they would be right up front and all you have to do is remove 6 screws in the front cover to replace the impeller.
I checked with Jabsco and the GPH rating is a little over half of what the Merc pump is. Crusaders run them on inboards but they also use a clam shell pickup on the bottom of the boat. I also heard anything over 2000 rpm the impeller blades just lay back and don't hit the pump case anyway and the water is just forced through.
Any experiences would be helpful Thank

Geez, lotsa views...no replies..oh well

I ran a Jabsco crank driven pump on my Donzi and it worked just fine. I had to re install the thermostat because it ran too cold. I think it`s a good idea. Those Formulas are a pain to service!

Was that a big block and were you also running a circulating pump?

i put on a jabsco on without a recirc pump . also had a thermostat with the new crossover. never had a problem and that was a few years ago.

It was an 18 2+3, with a small block and a circulating pump

Biggus , thanks. I friend of mine has a Volvo 270 dou prop (not a gofast boat) with the same setup and his runs extremely cool. My concern is since I'll be changing my 454s to 540's ,and of course when it's apart would be the perfect time for the swap,I wanted to be sure this will work. If I have to go back once the engines are in , I'll SCREAM . There nothing worse than doing the same job twice. Course I'm sure most people on here have been there...done that before!

Speaking of water pumps...I took a 50 mile ride for lunch today and a mile from home snagged a plastic bag and ate up another impeller God bless the Delaware river Just glad I got two engines...of course with one I'd have a lot more room to work on the seawater pump ...chit!