Technical electric or mechanical?

Does it HAVE to be up front...( making a JOKE here )---

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Actually deionized water is not your best idea. Water is a glutton, the less minerals it has in it the more minerals it will try to leach. Water less minerals will eat holes in metal faster than dirty water, I have seen it eat holes in copper tubing. So again you have a trade off. You obviously don't want to run dirty water but you don't want to run clean water either, for water less minerals you really want to run something alone the lines of distilled water.

Personally I just run antifreeze, 50/50 mix. If you want to raise the boiling point you run a cap with a higher pressure value. In the summer here it gets up in the '90s with a heat index of 100+ ( 110 tomorrow), because of the humidity. I am lucky when it comes to engines and everyone knows that, but I don't have heating problems with my antifreeze mix.

 

Ta DA----

 

I've been building cars for many years and never used anything but tap water with no problems.

Gary

 

Gary,
You're from Kentucky, we've both used Branch Water at least once in our lives, no problem.

 

Just a thought is this a vortec based motor if so it will require a bypass hose.

 

Well, thanks for your faith in me, but it is misplaced in this instance. Ashamed to admit it, but I have a devil of a time soldering wires.

Ben

 

If you run 50/50 premix, what do you think they've mixed the antifreeze with? Deionized water.

Deionized water is the #1 recommendation from the manufacturers in the coolant industry. Long life coolants protect the interior surfaces of the cooling system with neutralized carboxylic acids. The protection exceeds what is available from Supplemental Coolant Additives in fully formulated SCA type coolants. This is the #1 industry recommendation.

 

I run across guys that say the same thing all the time, all the while they have cooling system problem after cooling system problem. This is part of what I do for a living. The company I work for markets a line of coolants. I get involved all the time for technical help with customers of our products. Cooling system problems are almost epidemic levels out there in commercial trucking and heavy equipment. and everybody with problems says the same thing. I never have any problems. Yeah, except a shop full of premature engine failures, but other than that everythings fine....

 

Remember to add a bottle of water wetter/aluminum head additive. The OP is running aluminum heads. This is a must to prevent electrolysis, and don't ground the motor through the heads if possible.

 

Back to the original question......
Having put a sbc in to a 49' coupe I can say mechanical with shroud is the way to go. It's been 5 years. Has never over heated. In fact it's now running around Australia. I understand it gets warm there........

 

ok Blues, have some specs, currently running a 16psi cap and STANT brand 160deg Tstat. just ordered(took another members advise earlier) an MBR-4364 180 deg Tstat. not sure if it's better than your recommendation but it's on the way. thank you again. E.

 

ok have dimensions, i have an 8" dia crank pulley driving a 6" dia pump pulley w/ a serpentine belt.
thanks again. E.

 

Can't know if it makes much difference, maybe in an extreme miss-match but I've heard of people gasket matching their thermostat housing to the manifold.

 

I was running a 7-blade steel Mopar fan (stock car days leftover) with a shroud and the car still got hot when sitting still. Switched to a Derale flex fan and saw immediate improvement, what was 210* with the steel fan was now 190* with the flex fan. I also added a Spal 2300 CFM pusher electric fan a couple of months back. On at 195*, off at 175* and it works quite nicely. Uses a Bosch style 30 amp relay, sensor located in the driver size cylinder head.

 

Either way you'll need a shroud if you install a puller fan, with a pusher you don't need one though. I have both on my 55 third,and an electric puller on my 37 ford

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Get an aluminum radiator and go mechanical with a shroud good in high speed and cruzin

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I might have missed this somewhere, but have you made sure there is no air in the system, creating hot spots? Also checked radiator hoses for collapsing? Like I said, it might have been mentioned and answered already.....

 

eddie, I don't believe I've ever read a HAMB thread with more bad advice then this one and if followed will cost you money and not fix your problem. I hope you've figure that out before its too late. For instance the comment to buy a new aluminum radiator and install a shroud. Copper/brass radiators have a better cooling coefficient then aluminum and a shroud is not needed at highway speed. The only thing aluminum will do is save weight it won't cool any better.. The suggestion to replace your 160 thermostat with a 180 will not make one bit of difference to solve your problem. All the BS about pusher and puller fans mean nothing as at highway speed you don't even need a fan. Be careful who you listen to.

Gary

 

An interesting read, I was hoping to see your problem narrowed by page 8.
Any fan is a "passenger" along for the ride from ~40mph.
Being an older mechanic, I like to start with easy, cheap checks.
I will have you checked, initial timing, advance curve, air/ fuel ratio at problematic speeds, dragging brakes.
Hope this helps.

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Well heck, Gman has it pretty well covered, go buy a brass/copper radiator, toss that new Al one in the pile.

I'm sure if it doesn't solve the issue, he'll reimburse you the cost of it.

 

• Aluminum Construction
• Built with wider tubes thanks to metal’s strength
• Uses fewer rows of tubes (one or two rows) resulting in thinner, lightweight core
• Better air flow through core and more surface contact between tubes and fins
• Brazing process produces all aluminum core
• Uniform heat transfer due to all aluminum core

• Copper-Brass Construction
• Built with narrower tubes due to weaker metal
• Uses more rows of tubes (three or four rows) resulting in thicker, heavier core
• Less air flow through core and reduced surface contact between tubes and fins
• Lead/tin solder used produces mixed metal core
• Heat transfer ability reduced due to solder

The end result is both type of radiators will cool about the same. Aluminum allows for a better designed radiator with uniform heat transfer where as copper-brass has to use smaller tubes due to it being weaker and the solder as well as the reduced air flow through the radiator further limits its cooling ability

 

There's a bunch of Chinese made aluminum radiators on the market starting at about $125. How much quality do you think your getting for $125? These cheapo's have epoxied cooling tubes and if they leak the radiator becomes a throw away. Quality aluminum radiators are Tig welded but you won't buy them for $125..
That new aluminum radiator might as well be thrown in the pile as its not doing the job.

Gary

 

Well...I can speak for that...OT car...350 Chevy, just dual electric fans...factory since '89...plastic tank split after 15 years, put a 117 dollar Autozone auditor in it...been fine since...Currently we've cooled off into the upper 90's here...after 3 years, now ya got me worried...I best pull it, and spend 500 to be safe?

 

FWIW, my 46 Ford Convertible has a SBC, A/C and a Walker radiator that has been in the car for over 20 years with never a problem.

Gary

 

Agree completely but what bugs me is....if a fly is buzzing around inside a car that is doing 70mph, it is doing 70 also. So how come it doesn't get splattered on the inside of the windshield when you slam on the brakes.

 

Sometimes, instead of asking for help and getting a bunch of different "cures" for a problem, the best thing is to get your ass out to the garage and figure it out yourself. That's what people did for decades before the internet. Some things, like cooling issues, are trial and error. If it's not a new factory car, there can be a lot of variables. Log off and figure it out.

When you come back, start a thread on something easy, like.... "What's a Traditional Hot Rod?". That'll be an easy one.

 

This subject is explained by Einsteins theory of relativity.

 

Louie Enstein from Jersey? Good guy but no we're not related.

 

you really think i'm sitting here reading posts and not out there trying theses things? i've been out busting my balls in this 90deg+ heat checking and modifying what i can to fix this shit.

thanks for your assumption. very helpful.