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Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:38 am
by marauder
You probably already know that I'm in the process of trying to procure a broken XP 150 in order to use the pump on my Gorgon. Before I do that however, I am possibly looking at enlarging the reservoir intake. I want to know if this would make a difference in the pumps performance.

I do know that with DX's Gorgons, and very occasionally mine, there is a bit of pump lag. Mine doesn't happen so often since I sliced the intake tube in such a way as to maximize the amount of suction for the size of the intake tube. As you can see by my pictures the actual reservoir aperture is quite wide, much much wider than the little intake tube. In fact, the intake tube is smaller than the tube on the other side of the white plastic connector with the 90 degree hose barb. If I replace the intake it will be with tubing or an aperture with a wire mesh screen that is the same size as the tubing on the other side of the white plastic connector. I will go back and measure these later, but I want to say that the intake tube is 1/4" and the other tubing is 1/2". Most likely I would lop off the 90 degree hose barb and drill a hole through the white plastic connector, extend the 1/2" tube through this, and then patch the white plastic connector with water weld.

Do you think this would improve the performance of the pump? Is this necessary if I'm going to add a larger pump?

Sorry for the giant sized images, you will need to zoom out. I don't have the time to make them smaller ATM. Also, the 3/4" male threaded PVC piece was just slid over the pump well to demonstrate that the Gorgon's shell can support a 3/4" OD pump without any external modding.

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:04 pm
by isoaker
My guess is that widening the intake port alone won't do much to reduce pump lag significantly. The point of greatest restriction is likely from the check-valves. Wider opening and tubing may help slightly, but my guess is that the effect would be minimal at best.

If you are considering adding a larger pump, would you be up for replacing the entire valve assembly as well?

:cool:

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:51 pm
by marauder
Oh wow, very interesting, because this was my initial thought, but people have told me otherwise. I could probably fit an entire XP 150 pump assembly, including all check valves, inside the Gorgon, but I'd have to cut the shell up in some places. I guess it would probably be worth it.

I have 1 concern about this operation, however. What if the XP 150 check valve has a lower HPL than that of the Gorgon check valves? If that's the case then I'll never be able to build up the same amount of pressure and range and power may drop as a result.

Possibly an idea of how I could do this with the XP 150 internals:

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:49 pm
by isoaker
Part of me thinks that the pressure relief valve on the XP150 may be actually set higher than on the Gorgon. If it turns out that it's lower, you could always go the route of freezing it or, if you're really handy, swap back the Gorgon's pressure relief valve, but keep the XP150's check valves for improved rate-of-pumping.

:cool:

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:09 pm
by marauder
Interesting idea. Why do you think the 150 has a higher HPL?

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:18 pm
by isoaker
marauder wrote:Interesting idea. Why do you think the 150 has a higher HPL?
Purely a guess since it is an older water blaster and there were less safety concerns back-in-the-good-ol-days. :goofy: As well, the pressure relief valve may have tightened up over the years, too.

:cool:

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:24 pm
by Nemesis
Water Weld Yay! I agree with isoaker, although you could still probably make it work without transplanting the entire assembly. Should be sick either way. The HPL if I remember right is nearly non-existent on the 150, so there shouldn't be any problems there.

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:15 pm
by soakinader
I cut the XP 150 pump lower on the intake side, eliminating the HPL altogether, plus it was easier to connect with...

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:43 pm
by marauder
Can you show a pic of this Soakinader?

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 7:51 am
by the oncoming storm
It just hit me, you should get a 150 pump for at least one of your PPB's if would be even more epic than a Gorgon with one.

Re: Reservoir Intake Widening - Worth it?

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:56 am
by marauder
Yeah, I have a 150 coming in the mail. I have been going back and forth about what to do. I have a simple, reversible mod for the 150 that I'm going to try first to see if it increases range. If not then I'll probably use the pump on the Gorgon. Before I improve the PPB pumps I am going to get the 2 firing pins/rods welded into one. I'm still having difficulty getting the guns to fire since pulling the trigger typically only pulls the first rod. I have written down the names of some welding shops, probably going to call them later today.