overheating 427 sideoiler

[Turk]

You said the two magic words.. "WATER WETTER"..
This will bring on some additional discussions ( I am sure ) from others!!

TURK

[Jamo]

tic toc tic toc tic toc.........

Where is he?

[PatBuckley]

I saw this bit of misinformation but thought I would let it slide.

[Turk]

Probably draining his radiator.....

TURK
Water Wetter good for the 15-20 degree drop they claim on their advertisement, providing you use it as directed with WATER only. No antifreeze..

[Jamo]

LB

Pasha...we do differ slightly...I like half a bottle or so of coolant for the additives...and pretty color mix with the WW.

[mr0077]

Steve, FWIW, I run a 180 T-stat with about 25% mix of antifreeze and a 14 lb cap...my car runs at 175 on the road and 195 or so in Houston stop and go, in the summertime (90-110 degree ambient temp), and I almost never use the manual fan over ride (and then only when traffic is stopped or during tuning). I'm about 15 miles west of you, and both here and further south, the hottest it's ever gotten is about 215 during extended idling during carb tuning or the like. Absolutely NO overheating problems, and not really any problem "burping" the system.
I don't want to be flamed for this, but I don't think the suggestions from SA are the answer. Their suggestions are good for racing or hard use applications, but in your case (street use) they seem like bandaids, not cures, since your setup and mine are very similar. I'm with Ernie, I would not run more than a 15 lb cap for street use, and wouldn't run a restrictor or a T-stat lower than 180 (except while you're looking for the real problem, that is). Once your system is sorted out, the 80-92 degrees would be right for Houston, regardless of the ambient temperature.
Please let us know what you find.
Oh, and one other thing, not likely...a plugged up exhaust can cause overheating too, are your pipes breathing okay?

[steve meltzer]

Ken, thanx for your note. I'm anxious to actually get the car on the road, even with my current 16# cap. Now that it doesn't pour coolant from the overflow hose, I'll have a chance to see if I currently do have a problem. As you know the rain (and work!) have kept me off the road, and you too, I'm sure. Anyhow, as I've been working on this, I've only added distilled water, so I'm moving away from the 50/50 mix. I'll post the list when I know more. The pipes are brand new, as is the entire system, so they should be OK. thanx for your help. Maybe we can get together to compare notes. thanx steve

[mr0077]

Steve, the rain sure isn't helping with the road testing. Maybe by the next local meet you'll have this put to bed and bring it out for us to see. The whole Houston area club is looking forward to seeing your new "baby", and during this (frustrating) shakedown period, we're all willing to help any way we can...lotsa good, knowledgeable guys in the club.
I'm out of town Saturday through Wednesday next week, but let me know if I or any of us can help (hands on or "peanut gallery" advisory capacity).

[steve meltzer]

Ken, thanx maybe i'll make some progress here this week or weekend. I'll post the list. Be neat if the whole thing worked well now, without further adieu. steve

[steve meltzer]

OK, here's a little update. I thought the system was fixed with the change in the surge tank cap. Wrong! I pressurized the system with a Stant Cooling system tester and very quickly found a leak at the bung where the small hose runs from the surge tank to the top of the radiator. Fortunately, my friend John Dillman was able to solder the leak, and when retested, we got excellent pressure and it held for several hours (while we put on the emblems and some AC pedals). Took the car for a drive and it did well, including 10 minutes cruising on the freeway, but then the temp started to climb again, and by the time I got home (5 blocks from the freeway) the gauge was at 100C and spewing coolant all over my garage.

I'd conclude that things are better, but it isn't fixed. Next I'm gonna pull the thermostat and use the flow restrictor highly recommended by Parham. I spoke at length with him about this, several times, and have been impressed with his desire to help and see this through, including an offer to pick the car up, take it to Georgia and fix it himself! (reprise of the Kirkham's generosity!). It would be nice if that weren't necessary, so for the moment I'll stick with the game plan and keep the list posted. steve

[MidOHasp]

Steve,

I know you dismissed it earlier, but have you checked your head torques? 100C just doesn't seem hot enough to be spewing coolant all over the place unless there is a massive pressure buildup inside somewhere for some reason or another. Could be cavitation, could be surface boiling in a water jacket, or it could be that you are blowing combustion gases right into the cooling system.

Just a thought.... last thing I ever thought of on my motor and it ended up solving all of my problems.

JP

[Allan A]

Steve,

We had problems with the original style overflows, we elected to buy the SS model and then sandblast it. Once it was blasted we painted black, they are hands down better than the brass models. I do not think this will solve the problem but it may prevent a overflow blowout.

Allan

[steve meltzer]

thanx again for the reply....I was gonna pull the valve covers and look for gunk, but with the system holding excellent pressure I didn't do it. If my experiment with the restrictor in place of the t-stat failsl, I surely will do that and pull the WP off. This has to be something that is weird and rare.

What does the SS tank look like? I guess all I have seen are the brass ones, like mine, painted black. thanx steve

[Allan A]

Steve,

We wanted the black look in lieu of the SPF look (sorry could not stop myself) Here you go.

Allan

[MidOHasp]

Originally posted by Allan A


Steve,

We wanted the black look in lieu of the SPF look (sorry could not stop myself) Here you go.

Allan

He he...

So did I.

I got an old original FE tank from a T-Bird and modified it to fit not only a Windsor but a Windsor with a high-mount alternator.

It's "low-gloss" black and I think it looks nicer than the SS personally. Too shiny!!!

Good choice, even if you are a Superformance slamming bastard.

JP

[AC Cobra]

Steve:

I had a similar problem when I first fired up my 351W. I may have had an air pocket in the coolant system. I used a port on the intake manifold to fill the coolant system and remove all the air. After the engine became hot the first time it spit liquid (a lot) out the overflow. I never added more coolant and have not had a problem since.

AC

[steve meltzer]

thanx for the info and pictures. where do you get this tank? did you say it could be sandblasted and painted black? I'm really trying for as close to original look as possible...but none of this means squat, if it doesn't run! steve

[Allan A]

Here you go.

[Allan A]

I picked them up from Southern Automotive, TC was the one who suggested it.

[Cracker]

Steve,

Your problem isn't the thermostat issue - I believe. I have run a restrictor plate in lieu of a stat until my builder persuaded me to ditch it. I've pulled my engine and swapped it for a 428 a couple times and never have even had so much as a burble of a problem with the cooling system - ever! Also, like the other post above, just yesterday I broke in a dist. gear which required 20 minutes @ 2,000 rpm's with no load - it got hot with the temp eventually climbing to 110 C but I never had water even come out of the overflow line! Something else is definetely wrong! Best wishes!