So, I have 2 pumps.
One is a JC with a Diverter.
The other one is a Dom with the 'Glacial' bowl bushings.
So, will the Berk Diverter fit into the Dom steering adapter, and bolt onto the JC suction piece?
Or would a JA bowl be better for the JC pump ? (and add the Diverter)
Dan'l
As you are well aware, the answer is largely dependent on the application and what the end user is willing and able to make work for said application.
First, I am going to say, if the Dominator bowl outlet doesn't look like the one pictured below, don't even bother unless you need to piece together some junk to get back on the water.
There are two Dominator suction bolt patterns. The small 10.250" bolt-circle, which is common with all Berkeley pumps; seals with a gasket; and has a 9.125" diameter register. The large 10.500" bolt-circle bowls have a 9.500" diameter register and seal with an o-ring. Both Dominator bowls have an outside diameter of 11.6" to the Berkeley 11.4" outside diameter. All Berkeley (split bowls), Dominator, and Aggressor have a 7.250" diameter outlet bolt-circle so that droops and steering adapters are interchangeable with the exception of some adapters have a register that could be an odd diameter.
If the bolt pattern and register are the same, yes it will bolt up without issue (internally). However, if a Berkeley transom housing is to be used with a Dominator , the transom housing will need to be bored to fit over the Dominator bowl's larger diameter, or make transom plates. Also, modern Dominator bowls are longer so the steering tube will need to be turned around or use an extension so the steering lines up.
It's not worth putting a large bolt-circle bowl on a small bolt-circle suction housing. I'm not going to address how to do that.
There are two types of bowl bushing lubrication used in the modern design Dominator bowl. Grease lubricating (preferred) and water lubricating. Both can use Glacier type bushings (though some water lubricating bowls do not). Grease lubricating can be identified by the presence of a plug with a zerk at the center of the hub on the outlet side and have a lip seal behind the impeller.
Water lubricating works surprisingly well if the water doesn't have a lot of particulates and the shaft is hard chromed. Or it can be converted to grease lubricating. Water lubricating can not be run on the trailer. Actually, we don't recommend running a connected jet on the trailer period. Basically, for the river, grease lubricating is the best choice for longevity.
As far as, which bowl is the better choice? Application! Application! Application!
Can the boat benefit from a full droop? If yes, then that narrows down the choice to the (hopefully modern) Dominator or the A bowl.
If the addition of a full droop does not increase performance, or worse yet, induces an unsafe handling issue, then the C bowl; a split bowl with steering adapter; or if budget permits, a mini droop such as the Place Diverter HPH is a better choice.
Performance wise, an out-of-the-box Dominator bowl is approximately equal to our best detailed Berkeley G bowls in a very consistent 8.00 boat. Comparing one of our detailed Dominator bowls to one of our detailed Berkeley G bowls, the Dominator is approximately .150 seconds faster in a 9.00 boat. I won't entertain who got what detailed where and how well it worked or didn't.
We feel that a G (black) bowl has a slight advantage in a purely drag race application over the A (orange) bowl, on the hit. If enough horsepower is produced to actually measure the difference with data, that performance level mandates a launch profile. The Dominator bowl will have even more of an advantage.
I believe the Dominator steering socket diameter is the same as the Berkeley, depending on the age of each, should be interchangeable.
With all that being said, and without seeing exactly what you have and knowing the desired goals and application, I can't say exactly what is interchangeable or even worth doing.
I would ask, if the Dominator pump is all modern castings and is in rebuildable condition, why not just swap out the entire pump if you are willing to undertake the challenge of just swapping to a Dominator bowl? Dominator castings are a lot more heavy duty than the Berkeley cursive logo casting. I will say that the Berkeley suction housing has a better short-turn radius and slightly loads the impeller harder.
Cheers,
Joe
