Pump Vein Repair

[Jumper]

After 11 years of riding my FX1 with the stock alum. impeller, finally decided to put in a Solas from Impros. Thought some of you might get a kick out of seeing what the stock impeller is capable of after all these years. Looks pretty good I think.



The veins had some damage, so I filled the holes with a steel infused putty. I can't recall the brand right now, but JB Weld makes the same kind of thing. Sets up in about 5 min, fully in 1 hr. I figured it could not do any harm to fill the holes with this stuff. If it stays put, great. If not, no harm done. Has anyone else every tried this? Sorry for the pics. Camera phone.

 

[Jr.]

Your fix with epoxy will work in the short term..............
Impros ( new advertiser on the site) offers a welding service to repair the chipped stator veins. Tell him you just purchased a solas from Him & see what he can do for you. Give Dave a call......

Wow, all those years & you ran the stock Impellor????
With the new Impros Solas, you will feel like you are riding a New Boat!!:woot: Enjoy it!!

 

[g-fly]

First of all, thanks for doing buisiness with us! However, I am worried that your JB weld may come loose and chew on the trailing edge of your new impeller. I strongly suggest having the vanes welded and reshaped by a professional. Depending on how much material is needed and hrs in labor, it should cost you around 150 bucks give or take.

Good Luck!

G

 

[Jumper]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen! I have another pump section that I can use in place of the one I tried to repair. If I don't go that route it sounds like your weld repair would be the answer Dave.

 

[special fx]

I'd be curious to see how the epoxy holds up compared to the aluminum. The "damage" to your vanes is from cavitation burns not rocks and it will just happen again. All my FX pumps look like that after only short usage (maybe 1 season) and I don't ride wear anything larger than a grain of sand goes through the pump. I've welded up vanes and made them look like new only to see it burned out again in short order.....Alas, the FX pump sux!

 

[Jumper]

I thought those might be cavitation burns too. Thanks for the confirmation. I wish I knew when those developed, but I never noticed them until I took the pump apart. Could have been there for a year, or ten years. May have developed after I put the B-Pipe on last year. Anyway, if I use this pump section, I will keep a close eye on the veins and post an update.

Question for you, do you notice a significant decrease in propulsion when the veins on yours develop the burns? I wonder how significant the effects are.

THANKS!

 

[special fx]

Can't say I noticed. Then again it's a gradual erosion of the vanes and once I realized it was nearly worhtless to fix them for any long term benefit I just kept running it as is.

I'm going to a different pump for a long term cure and better performance.