How To - Toyota Epic Maintenance and Upgrades

Ballast Systems

For those few who own an SX, most of this does not apply. All other Epics came with  either no ballast system or a sack in the trunk. Here is the latest version of my ballast system,

I used the unused drain through hull fitting forward of the engine. I put an ABS seacock in the fitting, and screwed a Rule 1100 into that. 1" 148 series hose to a tee fitting. One side of the tee goes to the sack, (Fat Seat) one to the inlet of the drain pump, also a Rule 1100. There are no valves other than the seacock. The outlet of the drain pump goes to a through hull.

Here's the full pump, under the engine

Here's the drain pump, you can see the fitting I added to the fat seat for more flow.

Here is the outlet. It is behind the wall in the trunk. The bilge blower has been removed for replacement.

Here it is from the outside.

The system works very well, fills and drains in 8 minutes. I used two accessory switches on the dash that weren't used, they pull in relays that turn on the pumps.