Motor/Impeller Matching

[Erik]

I friend of mine bought a 18' Hallett flat bottom with a 454 and a Jucuzzi pump. We knew the previous owner of the boat and he took the engine out of a flat bottom v-drive and put it in the jet. In the v-drive the motor turned around 6000 RPM but once it was placed in the jet it only turned low 5000's. My friend was given a quote of $1100 to put a dominator impeller which would be sized to match his motor. Does this sound like a fair price or even a good idea? I'm not familliar with the jacuzzi pumps, but it does seem to me that he is running to large of an impeller for his motor & not getting the RPM's that the motor is capable of.

[flat broke]

Unless there is a lot more going on besides just cutting down the impeller and doing the install, $1100 sounds NASTY. You should be able to get the impeller out on your own and then it can be turned down by the professional of your choice (I'd recommend Jack at MPD, but thats my opinion) for a hell of a lot less than what you were quoted.
Good luck,
Chris www.liquidaddiction.net (http://www.liquidaddiction.net)

[Eric]

Which Jacuzzi pump does he have?
WJ or YJ/eagle, and does the pump have an "energizer" kit? The $1100 price sounds like the price for an american turbine or aggressor jacuzzi energizer kit.
If it's a WJ without the energizer kit:
I would have Jack or another pro cut the WJ impeller to the motor. It would cost a lot less than the energizer kit and run pretty strong.
If it's a YJ/eagle without the energizer kit:
I'd say buy the energizer kit.
Eric

[Erik]

I'm not sure which pump he has, he said that it has a split bowl, I don't know if that helps you tell the difference between the two types.
I do know that the pump does not have an energizer kit on it. I'm not aware of any pump modifications that have been made to it. Like a lot of us he doesn't have a lot of $$$ and he wants to make sure that the money he spends on his pump is worth the performance gains he would get out of it.

[Eric]

Originally posted by Erik:
I'm not sure which pump he has, he said that it has a split bowl, I don't know if that helps you tell the difference between the two types.
I do know that the pump does not have an energizer kit on it. I'm not aware of any pump modifications that have been made to it. Like a lot of us he doesn't have a lot of $$$ and he wants to make sure that the money he spends on his pump is worth the performance gains he would get out of it.
You're probably going to need to find out more about what he's got. If it's really a split bowl, then I'd have to say it already has an energizer kit installed.
Here's some good pics of a Jac WJ on Jim lee's site:
http://www.concentric.net/~Jjlee/boats/WJRebuild.shtml
The WJ has 4 bolts holding the nozzle housing onto the back of the bowl as you can see in the pics. The YJ/eagle is an axial flow pump and looks quite a bit different. The YJ/eagle does not have these same 4 bolts, but has 6 (I think 6) bolts side by side on the top of the bowl.
The WJ is mixed flow and can run pretty good with a little impeller work.
The YJ/eagle is axial flow and really needs an energizer kit to run.
Eric

[beached1]

MPD cut and reshaped my impeller. Also fit a stainless sleave on the impeller wear ring area, then rebuilt the the whole pump (new berings, seals, wear ring etc) for $800.00. This is on a Jacuzzi WJ. I just dropped off the pump and told him what kind of hull and HP I had and to set the pump up for it. It made a huge difference.

[Erik]

Thanks Eric! I'll Pass the info on to him.