Thought I would share my
radiator/cooling experience here in the rather warm at times Las Vegas. I was having heat issues when it really warmed up. Anything over 100, which is not that unusual.
I replaced the copper/brass
radiator with a US
Radiator Aluminum. It looks like the original, and came painted black. It is a 2 row, with 1.25" high efficiency core with the transmission cooler. I also use a 50/50 mix coolant that does not contain nitrates. I installed a Flowkooler
water pump made for the Y block. It looks like a water wheel, rather than a "fan," best way I can describe it. It is touted to move more water, even at lower speeds. I added a Stewart wide-mouth I80 high flow
thermostat too.
I felt that an overflow would make sense, although I suppose it is not a neccessity. I went with a Blackhorse Racing 3"x 9" tank. It is a cylinder, vs. square, fits just right on the passenger side of the
radiator. It looks right, at least to my novice eyes, as I have the dress -up kit, plus somewhere along the line the
radiator shroud was replaced with a
chrome one. I have no idea when that happened. Long before me I would guess. So the polished stainless steel looks like it belongs.
I added a toggle-switch controlled pusher fan on the outside of the
radiator. I toggle it on whenver the air temp is over 85. I had the engine worked on, and while removed had the "freeze
plugs" replaced (found 2 in the block) and had the engine completed flushed out. It was eye opening to see the gunk and debris that was flushed out. Some looked like orange sand.
With these changes, even at an air temp of 109, I rarely exceed 195 at the
radiator inlet measured with a heat gun. Where my heat guage would go all the way to just short of the "H," now it has yet to go all the way to the upper end of the white line before the gap preceedeing the "H." On "normal days", between 70 and 85, the guage sits dead center. That was not the case before all of this.
I do not have
air conditioning, although there was a unit on the car at sometime in its existance. It was gone when I bought it. So I do not have that extra possibly imacting the engine heat.
When the engine is at its hottest, the overflow will fill to just below the internal overflow tube. When the engine cools, there is just about 2" in the bottom, so it sucks quite a bit back in. All of that would have been pushed out without the tank. So, I think the tank maybe a good thing to have.
Anyway, that is/was my experiences and solutions that have resulted in being able to drive the car, surface road and freeway, during the hotter Las Vegas temp days without having to have on eye glued to the heat guage and waiting for vaporlock to strike. On that note, "just in case" vapor lock starts to rear, I have an electric fuel pump I can toggle on that will push fuel through that.
