This question is for a small block powered, mildly built bracket car. Is it worthwhile using a belt driven water pump drive setup like Moroso's cog belt/electric motor, or am I better off keeping the stock crank driven setup? I know that the Moroso motor will free up some HP but will it cool as well as the stock setup doing hot laps?

I'm running a moderate built 360 bracket car (stock block, cast crank, iron head, 11:1 flat tops, small roller, etc. I use the Moroso belt drive with no problem. Car cools fine. I do, however, run an aftermarket aluminum radiator also.

I ran one on my iron head 340 (425 HP) with a Sirrocco radiator and
it would be 180º+ at the end of a pass, staging as cold as possible
and 200º+ by the time I got to my pit.

They make a bigger drive pulley, I've been told would have cured it
but, I'm going with a Meziere or CSR.

I used one on my last car W/ the 440 for 4 yrs and never had a problem. That same kit is now on the 72 W/ a 360 and doing just fine.

Both cars had alum rads though.

Run the big pulley...

After killing 2 motors and then going to a HD heater fan Motor from a semi and it lasted but I ditched the set up. If you are going to run one make sure to run the belt LOOSE. No tension on it or it will take out the motor bushings. It worked when it worked but ----. I went with a Moroso electric pump.

On my wife's '68 Cuda with a SB and an aluminum radiator and an 8 blade water pump.

I just switch from the belt drive to the Moroso motor and the car picked up over 2 tenths and the car cools 10times faster and we don't have to spray down the radiator. It used to take almost the all the time between rounds to get it cooled down because you had to start it up 3 or more times to move the water in the system and that added heat. Now it's so quick by the time you've hooked up the battery charger and wrote down your numbers in the log book it's cooled off.

Pull into the water box at 160 and it's 200 by the time you get back to the trailer. We cool it off until it gets to 160 or below.

Best thing I've ever done to the car.

Years ago on my DartSport I switched from a mechanical setup to the Moroso water pump drive kit and dropped 2 tenths. But it didn't keep my mild 451 big block cool enough, I switched to a used Meziere that I got a good deal on and was much happier.

What I did like about the Moroso was that I could switch out the water pump pulley and the belt and run the mechanical pump on the street but swapping it out became a big pain.

Proper grounding is very important for longer life. When I had one I ran a ground wire to the block as well as the frame. (Belt being too tight is probably the 2nd leading cause of failures.)