Technical Overdrive water pump

Over driving the water pump works so well that Chevrolet did it for air conditioned corvettes from the factory in the early 70’s.
I have 3 cars with overdriven water pumps and they all run cooler .
You can find smaller water pump pulleys or larger crank pulleys on eBay , at swap meets and from parts catalogs.
I have a 30 model A with a 1956 354 hemi in it .
The water pump was under driven and the car got hot at idle . A little looking around on the internet and I came up with a 440 crank pulley and a 340 water pump pulley that gave me a slight overdrive for the water pump . No more overheating .
I have used this trick on many cars and never had an ill effect from the modification.

 

When I was in Rickover's Navy calling someone "ambient" was a pretty serious insult.

 

Starting in 1973, all Pontiacs have overdriven water pumps, and before that, most of the A/C did to. This will help, https://www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng.aspx

 

True but a lot of classic cars are still carbureted and might be happier below 200. Have dealt with fuel problems on a few in recent years, two being Chevy IIs that had not only vapor lock but fuel percolating in the bowls. If I could keep them at 190 or less it seemed to prevent it from happening. These were closed engine compartments though.

 

If you are running corn fuel, it has a lower boiling temp.
vapor lock was even an issue in the 70s. Caddy made mechanical fuel pumps with return lines. Others had fuel filters with return lines. This helps prevent vapor lock.
We ran return lines on lots of carbureted engines. The other way is to insulate fuel lines and route them away from exhaust.

 

Or run the exhaust AWAY from the lines LOL

 

Might be better for the engine if the carb is better insulated from the intake, and perhaps supplied with cool "outside" air rather than drawing in hot air from just around it.
We want the engine hot to make fuel & water that ends up in the oil boil off, rather than accumulate.

 

I’m not worried about it getting to 210, I’m concerned that it will keep climbing if I sit longer. I wouldn’t shit myself if the junk caught fire.

 

Full hood?....part of a hood?......no hood?.......fenders?......engine compartment should be able to air exchange...let hot surrounding air out from around that motor, especially at idle .....may help ya if it ain't doing that already...... 205 don't strike me as fearsomely hot at idle.

 

We never had trouble when we didn’t have the junk gasoline we have today even driving thru the desert. Our mid 50’s cars never over heated. Today with the stock parts they do. Yes we’ve added AC and other loads but slightly overdriving my water pump, restricting the bypass/circulating hot water thru the engine, coolant recovery, and adding a fan shroud which was never available all is back where it was designed to run with a 7# system. My car could probably do fine with a 15-20 # cap but I choose not to it. 170* was stock for my 56 from the factory and seeing 180*+ in the summer when its 100* “ambient” doesn’t bother me if I know I’m going to get to move.
A 50/50 coolant mix which 90-100% of us use has a boiling point of 225+ and 8 psi adds another 10 degrees and 15 psi almost 250*.
We just ran the last 10 laps of a 25 lap main event last Saturday night at 260* with tested 30 psi system running 4th not wanting give-up another spot on distilled water with no problems. We all worry too much.

 

How’s it gonna catch on fire?

 

In my 72 odd years I have found water flow is rarely if ever the problem. The air side of the equation is the much more difficult problem to solve.210-220F is normal running temp. I shy away from after market electric fans. Regardless of their claims of massive air rates, you can pretty well tell if it is adequate by looking at it. Skinny blades, small diameters are tell-tale indicators of likely low-flow problems. I use electrics but try to adapt OEM fans which for sure are adequate. My favorite all-time OEM fan is the Lincoln Mark/Thunderbird 2-speed fan from the 90s.
this is one mounted in a stock 1959 Chevy factory shroud.

 

Loose the disc and install a t stat for starters. Next make sure you have a water pump that pumps. Lots of rebuilt or old pumps have the impeller rusted away and they don't move much water. I personally spent the money on a flow cooler pump for my 355. It doers just what they claim keeps my engine cool.

 

True on the ethanol. Did the filter with .060" orifice and a 1/4" return line and fixed the vapor lock. Under hood temps with fenderwell headers didn't help much with the carb heat soaking but a phenolic spacer and a better shroud and fan seemed to remedy that, keeping it at 190 or less before parking. Could drive it till it got to 200+, park it in the garage, open the hood, pull the air cleaner and a minute or so later all the fuel in the bowls would boil and foam out the boosters flooding the engine. Had to crank it wide open till it would restart with a bunch of black smoke.

 

WIX-33040 - Did not fix all my problems, but helped a lot.