Hardin Marine 496 stainless water pump?
 

Anyone use Hardin Marine stainless water pump on the 496 in the velocitys, if so what do you think of it?

I use 2 in my Sonic w/496 Ho's. Great upgrade to stock, they seem to pump more water than the stock pumps, but then my stock pumps were worn out. I got mine thru AmericanCustomMarine.com who also assembled them for me, everything lined up perfect!

Hey z06, were you having previous issues with running your boat out of water on the hose? I've got a Nordic heat with a 496 and that's the issue I'm having. I changed the impellar, but noticed some deep scarring on the brass housing. Im considering the Hardin pump as well....I guess I'm hoping it clears this the problem.

Also, mine takes a while to prime the water to the pump once the boat is actually on the water
Thanks,
Kacy

It was pumping water on the hose only if the hose had a lot of pressure, using a low pressure water supply it wouldn't pump water. I had new impellers and there wasn't enough suction or sealing between the groves in the brass pump casing and the new rubber impeller. It wouldn't pump any water with the boat in the water since the pumps didn't have enough suction to prime the pump without water pressure being feed to them. The stainless plates that American Custom Marine has resolved that issue but I later had the shafts start walking out of the housing just due to wear between the brass pump casings and shaft bearings. I had 650 hours on the original pumps.

I found I had to rev the engines a couple time before I get any water hooked to a hose and then had to change the water hose to a better one to keep it from collapsing

If you need to give the engines a quick rev with the throttles to pump water then the pumps are at minimal. The new stainless plates from ACM will restore the pumps.

I installed the hardin pump and it pulls hard enough to acually compress the water hose almost flat. I run a flush line to a sea strainer and shut-off the drive intake with a inline ball valve. I have not tested in the water yet, but soon. I also have alot of hose pressure. The hardins are a very nice unit that is rebuildable including wear plates.

I just ordered one last night (w/ the pulley installed). I still had 2.4 psi at idle, but it would spike when coming off plane. Both ends of the pump were sevrely scored.

Tested the boat and as soon as start-up the pump filled the sea strainer. Seemed to work well, kept everything cool at wide open throttle runs even the manifolds. The water is still cool in the river. I'll see how it works when the water temp gets in the 80's.

Redhook, Did your 260 come with a water pressure gauge installed in dash or did you add one? I would like to add one to my dash were the trim gauge was.

I bought a used Smartcraft System Monitor (the small square one) and hooked it up. It tells me engine hours, RPM, amount of fuel used, GPH, water temp, trim settings, fuel level, water pump PSI, etc. Best $200 I spent on the boat so far, and simple installation.

The trim settings and fuel levels will only work if you have the Smartcraft sensors installed though. I do not have those installed.

I have a new VR1 (2002) with a 2004 496 HO. The engine started overheating when I left the dock last week. Temp got up to 190 with a hard alarm. Went back to the dock, after 30 minutes started the engine and ran about 160 for awhile, brought it up on plane and the temp started heading towards 190, headed back to the dock. The engine never went above 190. I've recently had the impeller replaced and was curious if the thermostat may be sticking. Any thoughts....

I had a thermostat stick on my HO. It's easy to check. Just pull it out and put it in a pot of water on the stove. Using a cooking thermometer, watch to see if it opens around 160°.

496 running hot
 

Attempting to do that now, purchased a SELOC Service manual. Not quite as easy as a car thermostat. You have to remove the Heat Exchanger, but I cant figure out how to loosen the retaining bands that hold the heat exchanger to the crossover. Thanks for the reply.