Flathead Cooling Dilemma (Lessons Learned)

Got up this morning and it felt like someone hit me in the head with with a sledge hammer. No I wasn't drinking green beer either.
Set up, my stomach felt as though I was going to sing to the bowl.
Thought, maybe I contracted the flu going around. Went to work, My taken days off are strictly reserved for healthy days

On the way to work I realize we were hanging over my coupe last night trying to find the overheating problem plaguing my 8BA.
Running it in 1/2 hour intervals about four times inside the big garage you normally see in my pictures. This thing is well insulated, pretty tight and has 50 ft ceilings.

Little did I realize we were ****ing in too much exhaust and the effects didn't hit till this morning. After a few hours now it all subsided.
Stupid...stupid..here I about g***es myself.
I'm sure my ageing brain cells didn't need a shot of carbon monoxide.

Sorry about being off subject but I thought I'd advise you guys how ignorant I am and ask you to be careful inside. Even with high ceilings and large areas.

After about a week of total disgust, I decide to get back to my overheating problem on the flatty.
Initially after ***uring proper timing and proper fuel enrichment on my holleys,
the engine would go to instant overheat mode after five to six minutes of running. Here's the checklist of problems looked into.
Last night I.....
1. installed 5/8 washers in the upper hoses, no stats.
2. drained the cleaned radiator, no problems last year with it and installed 1-1/2 gallon antifreeze to raise the boiling point, I realize water cools better I tried that.
3. Pumps are speedways, verified a good flow in the raidiator, in fact I have never seen so much pressure before, It was moving almost like your looking into a Chevy SB radiator.
4. install a pusher fan in this setup. Only at the bottom area of the radiator not the top. Took 110 box fans and placed them in front of the grille for more air.
5. Results...... This slowed the heating down. With the extra fans it was taking 1/2 before the radiator would boil.
Watched the gauges in each head. During operation they both heated at the same rate, all the way to 220 when I would shut it down.
6. I haven't tried it on the road yet. This engine is awesome, If I ever get through this heating problem. It really is a healthy sounding engine, best one II've heard for a long time.

Well, now that I've finally gotten through my disgust stage I need Ideas.

I talked to an old flatheader and his first question was. ...............
Are you absolutely..positively sure you placed the head gaskets on correctly?
They can and will cover some coolant holes if placed backwards.
Well at this point you start to question everything.
Makes sense though. That would cause both heads to heat up at the same time. That will be my next move. Easy to do. AnY comments?

 

Gasket-8BA gaskets are very asymmtrical, but can they be put on wrong?
I'm at work with out parts to look at, but isn't there an extra area at the front for the thermostat byp*** holes that would leave those holes open and leaking if gsket was wrong? Earlier gaskets are more subtly different fore&aft, and in nearly all cases should be the late small hole type.
Thermostats might work better than washers in keeping a head of pump pressure in the engine. Timing is critical, since the exhaust heat from running retarded has to go through the water p***ages. Do you have an accurate and checked TDC mark, initial timing somewhere around 4, and some advance staring right above idle?? What is your distributor?

 

No leaks at the head gaskets at all. I was thinking maybe some of the cooling and exaust holes become only partially blocked and/or diverting some g***es into the cooling areas. Removing them will only be the telltale.

Tried no washers or thermostats on the first run. Have been hesitant to install thermostats since this block was not boiled. I did go through the p***ages with a tool and flushed it. If thermostats solve the problem I will take my chances. The instant heating of the block made me think the thermostats would not help??

Yes, Checked TDC physically then verified the no 1 mark. It was correct.

I have a rebuilt original dizzy with venturi vacuum running to both carbs.
Checked to see if the advance was operating on idle by pinching the vacuum tube. No change in idle as a result. Did not check the instant advance on alittle rpm gain though.
Even though we knew the carbs were properly adjusted we even tried increasing the richness by 1/2 turn. No change other than black smoke and hard start. Reverted to the correct adjustment.
4 d Timing? we are near there. The engine starts immediately at half a crank. really fast. Engine seems to increase idle well on the standstill.

 

I'd next check for combustion leaks--remove belt to pumps, remove upper hoses, leave water flush with opening. run a bit and look for bubbles.
Stock distributor--I would expect it to work fine set up thus at part throttle and low speed. I would expect zero advance and bigtime heating at high throttle openings, but if I'm right about that, that problem is still down the road...
Fan...according to an article by an engineer working on this stuff, a pusher fan is considerably less effective than a puller electric, which is in turn less powerful than an engine driven one--but it sounds like you must have a lot of air moving in your testing, and of course a '37 is difficult to fit with a fan. particularly with 8BA pumps.

 

Did you bleed the trapped air out of the heads by loosening the temp sensors until you get just water? Just curious.

pigpen

 

Petejoe,

Gaskets on the 8BA are different right & left. If you put a left head gasket on the right head it will leak. I ALWAYS use only Fel-Pro composite gaskets on my blown motor. Another thing someone did on mine was to plug one of the water holes in the deck on the p***engers side (Photo attached of area hard to see allen head plug just to the right of the valve pocket to chamber transfer area.) I don't remember a plug on the drivers side but it may be plugged also. I posted this picture a while back, I believe on the MSN site, an response was that this was done a lot to try to force more water to the rear of the block. When I first got my Merc (1995) it would tend to overheat after driving **X miles after a tune-up and at idle. I found that as the fibre shoe would wear and the point gap would close the timing would start to retard and this would begin the overheat problem. Old Mallory dual point 4-lobe distributor. I would regap at 0.018" and it would run cool again. When at this gap my timing would be around 18-20 degrees advanced at total with around 4 degrees advance at idle.

Back to the gaskets. If you look at a set of Victor compared to a set of Fel-Pro I think you will find that the water p***age holes that are metal rimmed (including the tear dropped shape) are smaller than the actual hole size in the block or the heads. They may also be smaller at the front than the back.

 

No problem... I'm open to all ideas here.
I'm just throwing out my thoughts here....
Would that trap the air in the head at the coolant flow areas?? or just the area below the sensors?? All sensors...1 moon gauge to each head and another to the dash gauge, seem to be reading well and close to one another.


Bruce, Will go through your next checks. We have a tool which checks for exhaust byproducts in the coolant. Maybe that too.
Yes, I'm aware of the pusher fan dilema. Of couse you know my space issues as discussed before. Running two box fans as a test in the front surely was giving me some good air through the radiator. Yes, I would think the stock dizzy issues would be more evident on the road.

Yes, Blown49,
If heard of that trick too of plugging the holes forcing the coolant to the rear. When I remove the heads I will check that agin and double check I have good opening spacing at all the coolant and exhaust p***ages.
I used the the larger copper style thick gaskets that they offer for overbore pistons sizes.
And thanks for the heads up on the dizzy gap issues. I will check for any changes.
As frustrating as this is....
I still feel good about the fact both heads are heating together..
at least the chance of anything major is small here. I hope.

 

You can have quite a bit of trapped air in the heads and without the water in those areas you will build heat much faster than normal. The gauges will still read, only hot. Try a bleed and see what you get.

pigpen

 

The gauges will read cool when engine has cooled. The overheat condition is not just a high temp reading alone on all the gauges but also a puke and boil condition when the temps read around 225 with coolant added.
I will still try this.... by God..if i have to tear ever piece apart I'll get it.
Thanks for your help and if have any more ideas throw them out. PJ

 

I would make sure there is no trapped air, if it is ok then look for something out of the ordinary, flatheads are not that finicky. I don't think it's a prob you can solve by washers or stats, those things are for fine tuning. Sounds like a major obstruction and there is no reason you should have alot of pressure unless your blowing compression in the jackets somehow and that will heat it up fast.I hope you find your problem.--TV

 

Does it overheat when driving?
Or when you run it in the garage?

I dont think that a electric fan will provide enough cooling for more that idle running,when standing still.


What type of distributor do you have? Original will work backwards and retard the ignition if connected to manifold va***. And retarded ignition will make it a boiler.

Check the timing when the engine is running.

 

I was reading your post a bit more (better)

###install a pusher fan in this setup. Only at the bottom area of the radiator not the top. Took 110 box fans and placed them in front of the grille for more air.##

And i think this is your problem, the fan must be at the top of the radiator, to being able to do some good. and a pusher is less effective the a puller.
And nothing beats the original type fan.

Im not 100% sure what you mean with 110 box fans but i doubth they will work good enough.

 

Although this does not apply to your particular problem, I have seen brand new pumps have casting flash inside that prevents flow. Just something to check before ***embly.

 

This is a great thought. I'm on my 3rd flathead (which I know is peanuts to some of you ) but I've been snagged by this very issue before.

PeteJoe, when you put in your radiator fluid, how many gallons went in? My 50 8BA with 41 radiator and Edelbrock heads takes about 5 gallons even. When I put fluid in the system for the first time, the temp senders on both heads are pulled off to allow the system to burp itself. Fluid usually starts to come out of the temp sender holes at around 4 gallons. At that point I install the temp senders, clean up the spilt fluid, and put in the last gallon.

My current flathead runs at 180 degrees solid, and even just sitting without the fan and idling for 30 minutes, its still at 180. Blows me away but maybe I finally did something right or I just got lucky. I've never seen it get above 200.

Anyway here's my setup:

- 160 deg thermos. You have to run some kind of restriction to slow the water flow. Seems like you're doing that with your 5/8 washers, but maybe thermos would be better? I don't know.
- Speedway truck pumps
- All new head bolts. I've heard that using the old ones contributes to heating problems.
- Brand new core in my radiator. Not cheap!!
- 7# cap, but 4# seemed to do just fine also.
- Mallory Electronic ign, mechanical advance.
- Used Edelbrock heads, but I cleaned them out with CLR before I used them. Previous owner obviously lived in an area with hard water. Do you use well water? Probably not part of your current problem, but can contribute to problems down the line.
- Only use premix 50/50 coolant from the store. Have never let one drop of tap water ever into my system. I lived in a hard water area for years and learned this lesson.
- Idle timing at 8 deg BTDC.
- During my build, I completely flushed all casting sand and other goo out of the block.

Hope I haven't written too much, but I feel your pain!! Good luck,

Mike

 

Maybe you guys said it, hell I don't know, I'm on my second bottle of wine ... its 9:30 at night over here......Anyway, did anyone say pull a va***m on the system with a vac pump? I had a Small block that did this same ****... anyway just an idea..

 

I experienced the same problem with an old flathead in my 39, I tried the pusher fan, water-wetter... just about the time I was ready to give up, I gave it a lot more initial advance and wa-la... 180 in traffic at the nationals last year! I am a flathead rookie so I don't know what the effects of too much timing are, but it made a huge difference in cooling, power and it never spark knocked. This was on an early engine with the crab type distributor. I backed the va***n brake all the way off and moved the advance screw as far as it would go. I did this just to see if timing made any change at all, and it was unreal. Bump your timing several degree's just to see if it makes any changes, you may get lucky too. Good luck, Tim

 

When I had the flathead for my '40 rebuilt, I put in a new repro radiator at the same time. The new rebuild always ran hot, and I went through timing, NOS thermostats, water pumps etc., (everything already suggested). One day, I was reading the Floyd Clymer Ford Service Manual Reprints and it said the radiator should have a 3 inch core. Went out with the tape measure and the radiator had a 3 inch upper tank, but a 2 inch core. Got a new 3 inch core radiator from Custom Auto Radiator and the car has run cool ever since. I had always eliminated the radiator as a possible problem because it was new, but it turned out to be the problem.

 

Have you tried s l o w i n g down the speed of the water pumps? It is possible that the water is flowing too fast through the rad, and that it is not removing the heat from the water as it p***es through. It appears that you have a lot of air going through the rad core, but not enough of the heat is being removed.

Do you have access to a spot digital temperature guage that you can read the temperature of different areas of your cooling system/? I don't place much confidence in the stock guage, so try a newer mechanical TEMP guage or use an imersable type temp probe to read the correct water temp. If you can access the digital guage, try doing readings across the face of the rad, from side to side and up and down. This will tell you if any of the p***ages are blocked and/or if the air p***ing through the rad core is taking away the heat of the water which is going through the inner core from top to bottom.

It is far better to do your ***essment of your cooling system while you are driving the car, rather than have it sitting there idling or reving it up. Driving it will give you a ram affect of putting air through the rad core and the road draft of the car body will remove the heated air after it p***ed through the rad, over the engine and out the cowling and fender wells. The Ford mechanical fan isn't a huge drawer of air but together with the 'pusher' fan that you have, it may be adequate on the road. If you put a shroud on the rad core then you will draw more air 'evenly' over the core's entirety resulting in better cooling overall.

One last thing, did you paint this radiator? The reason I'm asking is that if the radiator has been painted over with heavy black paint, the copper cooling fins are insulated by the coat of the paint, and the fins can not extract the heat from the inner water and p*** it to the 'cooling' air (convection cooling). Radiator are usually misted with a light coating of blackner (thinned paint and substrate, gasoline or thinner) on the top side or viewed side of the rad core while the underside is bare copper which conducts heat away more rapidly then the insulated paint side.

And lastly, the washers that you placed as restrictors do not slow the water down that much, as opposed to using a proper thermostat which has opened at the correct temperature. (160 F for a flathead in summer) Don't forget to burp the air out as you are putting in the water. I usually put it on a fast idle and trickle the water in with a hose, warming the engine as the water is going in. Give the upper and lower hoses a squeeze and tap the rad tank with your hand to release air bubbles which are holding in the core. Although we can't aways find de-mineralized water, distilled is close enough and won't cause calcium buildup on the cooling p***ages.

Hope this helps figure out your cooling problem. AL


" Dad didn't mean to hurt you Son, the slap in the back of the head was just to get your attention!"

 

Thanks guys! More stuff to check out..cool
I will spend extra care in burbing this baby and will increase the timing to a higher limit.
Al thank you too for the book you wrote.
Sounds as though you've been there quite a bit.

No the pump speed has not been changed. This is because the pump and crank pulley sizes have been tried and true over the years by many.
Yes, it does seem as I am getting alot of movement in that radiator as I watch it flow.
Yes, we have used a spot digital thermo on it and found the head gauges from Moon to be accurate to them. We did run it across the radiator and the hoses and found them to be the same as the engine also.

I was planning to install an extra pusher fan above the existing one and driving it. You may be right there on the flow of air during movement through the engine compartment.

Yes, I have slightly misted the radiator with black but its been 1-1/2 years ago and have used this radiator on the stock flatty with no problems.

The 5/8" p***age on the washers are approximately the same size as the stats opening when in the open position. Others have used this setup including me on the stock flatty.
But I will go to stats if that helps. I'll try anything!

 

Please let us know what fixed it. I have essentially the exact same setup on my roadster as Baron Von Mike except 180deg. thermostats, stock heads, and probably a smaller radiator. It never gets over 190deg. Believe it or not, the radiator is a 3 row core unit from a '78 Datsun L20B pickup with two added ports that I soldered on myself. It leaked the first try, not the second. See my fan switch post for more fun and games.

pigpen

 

For what it's worth, check out Flathead Jack's website. I'm pretty sure he has a section with pointers concerning hot running flatheads.

 

Will do... I think everyone is curious on this one. It may be a while before I get right back to it. Gonna burb it and increase the timing first and see if I get better results. Everyone Thank YOU !!

 

These are my thoughts on overheating.
Washers in the return hoses= rubbish, why do you want to restrict water flow, that will make the engine run hotter. I have never seen more water flow = a hotter engine. The theory of water moving too fast through the radiator and not staying long enough is simply not reasonable. In a zero pressure system the water is not forced through the radiator because the only thing that can cause the flow to be accelerated through the radiator is pressure. The speed of the water moving through a zero pressure system is controlled by gravity. If the volume of water pumped is more that the radiator can p***, that will cause your system to pressurise and water will flow out of the overflow.
Check by feeling the head temp and the water inlet hoses,at the bottom of the radiator, roughly the same temp means the radiator is not blocked. In my experience there are two reasons your engine will puke water.
1. Blocked radiator
2. Combustion g***es entering the water jacket.

In your case it is even money what the problem is. If your water jackets were not cleaned out thouroughly, at startup all that crud goes straight into the radiator and voila one blocked radiator.
Or you are getting red hot cylinder g***es into the water jacket. Where abouts? Head gaskets, cracked cylinder bore, or a crack somewhere else. Theres no black magic with these old flatheads, but they have been around a long while so there are a great many ******** theories (like washers) and high speed water flow etc etc etc. Get back to the basics and go through the cooling system, systematically, the answer you will find.
Good luck.

 

Petejoe; reprint from the MSN techno site by Barney Navarro

Ford’s latest method of controlling spark advance employees an ingenious system utilizing manifold vacuum and venturi vacuum. With this system the flyweight governor is eliminated and in its place is nothing but a diaphragm. This diaphragm not only advances the spark to conform to rpm changes but is also makes load compensation adjustments. All ´49 through´54 Ford and Mercury carburetors have in addition to the conventional manifold vacuum takeoff, such as is found in the throttle body of most p***enger car carburetors, a connecting venturi vacuum p***age. The manifold vacuum, as usual, is obtained from a small port in the throttle body located slightly above the ****erfly’s closed, position, on the side where the ****erfly swings upward to open. When the throttle is closed at idling, the vacuum port does not receive vacuum because it is on the opposite side of the ****erfly. As the throttle is opened slightly, this port is uncovered and a vacuum is applied to the distributor diaphragm to advance the spark. If the throttle is fully depressed, the manifold vacuum is destroyed and no advance takes place. As speed increases, however, the venturi vacuum increases gradually and advances the spark to conform to the rpm. Letting up on the throttle increases the manifold vacuum (Provided it isn’t let up all the way) and the spark receives load compensation. A balance is always maintained so that the correct amount of spark advance is supplied for all speed and load conditions.

The greatest installation errors center around the misunderstanding of the late Ford distributors. A distressingly large number of mechanics are unaware of the difference between manifold vacuum and venturi vacuum. In fact many attempt to operate Ford and Mercury distributors by connecting the vacuum line to the windshield wiper connection on dual intake manifolds. This sometimes results from a desire to use the old Stromberg carburetors, which are not equipped with vacuum takeoff. So the simple solution seems to connecting the distributor vacuum line to the handiest apparent source of vacuum. Such practice is worse than having no spark control at all for when the engines idles the spark advances fully and retards as throttle is depressed. There is no venturi vacuum available to advance the spark as the speed picks up and it remains retarded until the throttle is let up. So if the old style carburetors are preferred, the stock Ford distributors must be discarded on the late models. However, Stromberg has resumed production of the old “97” and is now fitting it with a venturi vacuum takeoff to make its use feasible.

Four throat carburetion installations also have had their share of improper distributors. Early articles in certain publications gave the impression that no vacuum control whatsoever could be tolerated. It wasn’t pointed out that the only forbidden type is that of the stock `49 through `54 Ford and Mercury distributor. This caused many to purchase distributors and magnetos that were equipped with flyweight governors only. Such installations get very poor gas mileage, so the car owners blame the four-throat carburetor. Even more irritating, is the tendency for spark plugs to foul. Having no load compensation, the spark is never far enough advanced under partial throttle to fire the fuel mixture charges at the most opportune time. In effect, the engine is being operated with a lower effective compression ratio because burning is completed as the pistons travel down the cylinder bores. And since the plugs never receive a hot flame, soot collects on them. Furthermore, the condition cannot be remedied by using hotter plugs because they will burn up under full throttle operation of flyweight governor distributor with vacuum-operated load compensation device.

In practice, the installation of dual intake manifold on Fords and Mercury’s of the ’49 trough ’54 series should be accompanied by a change in distributors such as prescribed in the preceding paragraph. The addition of two carburetors divides the airflow so only half as much airflows through one carburetor as previously at normal operating speeds. Venturi vacuum is dependent upon the air velocity through the venturi so any reduction in velocity will result in less spark advance. And connecting a line to each venturi vacuum takeoff of a dual set up will not increase the vacuum---such a practice is just a waste of copper tubing. The best advice to keep in mind when purchasing a distributor is not to pinch pennies. An inexpensive unit, if it doesn’t do the job correctly, can prove to be the most costly. The best way to avoid mistakes is to study the problems involved and learn enough about them so that you can select a distributor that matches your engine requirements.

 

This discussion of Flathead cooling is right on.
I run a 255 CI. Merc. engine in a street driven sprintcar. The engine has alum. heads, three 94s and Isky 404 cam. The radiator is a Speedway 5 in. core sprintcar unit with an electric fan in front. The waterpumps had every other fin removed(old practice ). No washers or washers have been installed in outlets. I have run this for many years on street and at shows and it is good for about 10 mi. before overheating gets severe.
Recently I have installed an aux. bus heater core and fan under the seat without much change. Later I installed a engine driven fan ( 13 in. flexfan with a shroud) again without much change. This required a change from the Harmon Collins dual coil Dist. to a stock crab cap unit for clearence. Since the engine has no timing mark I am now going to pull a head and start there, install new stock pumps, check timing and lock the dist. in full advance with a MSD ignition module and install thermostats. Any comments on this plan are appreciated.
de Chrome

 

This may not be the case with your engine,but I know that a lot of flatheads run hot because of rust scale buildup in the water jackets. Back when these things were new it was common for people to drain all the water out at night to keep them from freezing,and then refill it the next day before they went driving. Hot cast iron water jackets open to freezing air throught the drain plugs and "sweating" are a sure recipe for rust.


I was once in a restoration shop in Denver that had a motorized hoist with a big magnet on it. The guy operating it had a V-8 flathead block that he kept raising maybe 15 feet and dropping on a sheet of plywood laid on the cement floor. Every time it would hit a bunch of now loose rust scale would come out on the plywood. This was a real eye-opener for me. How can you expect a engine to run cool when the water jackets are restricted and layered with rust? Rust so thick that normal procedures won't touch it?

I really wish I could remember the name of this shop so I could give them proper credit for teaching me this,but I can't. I do remember it was mostly a Model A restoration shop.

I have one suggestion if you are building up a flathead and don't have access to a "drop magnet". Maybe even if you do.Buy some sort of plastic tub big enough to hold a block,and then fill it full of vinegar and leave the engine in there over night. Vinegar eats the HELL out of rust,it's safe to handle,the fumes won't rot your lungs,and you can just dump it right out on the ground without the EPA having kittens. Just make damn sure you are ready to immediately ready to flush the block out and wash it down with warm soapy water and spray it with some rust preventative the instant you take it out because it WILL be squeaky clean and immediately start to rust again.

You MIGHT be able to flush out the water jackets in a ***embled engine with the vinegar too,but I ain't making you any promises that bad things won't happen to your water pump seals or your head gaskets. Some of you might think it is worth a try,though. If you do try it and it works,PLEASE start a tech thread here and tell us all how well it worked and what you did. Flushing out a ***embled engine with vinegar is still just a theory with me. It's my own original idea,and I have never tried it. You are on your own.

BTW,vinegar works great to eat rust out of gastanks,too. Just make sure you don't leave it much longer than overnight,and that you flush it out good and coat the insides of the tank once you are done. I've used it with great success on a couple of tanks,but I got busy and forgot to drain and flush one,and it ate the whole bottom out of it. This tank had serious rust issues though,so it could just be that by the time the rust was gone so was the tank.

 

Ruh,ROH!

 

I've got the same problem with the stock flathead in my '39 DeLuxe 2-dr. I pulled the hoses all loose and ran water through the radiator. Both sides flow good. Did the same with each side of the engine. Water flow is good. Running a 4# cap, pair of NOS 160 degree stats, stock fan on crank, stock 2-barrell, OFFY heads and crab style distributor.

Take it out for a ride and after about 10 miles it'll get hot. Changed timing several times, no help.

Suggestions??? I've seriously thought about installing the "flathead repair kit". A small block Chevy!!!!!!

 

Any old-timer can tel you that the fuel is more than likely the culprit. Want to get that flathead to run really cool, mix 5 gals of 114 with 5 gals of 92, and then see how cool she runs.

The fuel companies have been selling us this squirrel piss that they call gasoline for the past 20 years and the tree huggers have been lapping it up like a puppy dog. If you mention the word lead, which was placed in the fuel to aid in lubrication and detonation, you could only imagine the uproar that the would take place on Wiltshire Blvd. So guys, you have to play the hand that you were dealt, retard the timing back and boost the spark to try and ignite this squirrel piss the best way you know how. That flathead is 50 - 60 year old technology ( if you can use that word ) and she's going to heat up on you. The more you load up on that engine, like alternators, electric fans, high output ignitions, etc, the more she's going to heat. I would be playing around more with water wetters that keep the fluid on the cast iron and sweep the heat away from the combustion area of the engine to the cooling area of the radiator.

If you simply look in a pot of water sitting on the stove you will understand more about engines and heat then you ever thought. If you look into the pot as it heats up, you will see small bubbles being to form on the bottom of the pot surface out of nowhere. These are "air-bubbles" which have separated from the water ( remember, H 2 O , like in water.), and as the pot gets closer to 212 deg. more bubbles appear and become bigger and bigger, untill the water is no longer clinging to the surface of the metal at the bottom of the pot. Kwickie Quiz: What transfers heat better, AIR or a LIQUID? If you said air, sell your flathead. Liquid is the right answer, that is why you need water wetters and water to remain in contact with the metal and wick the heat away from the source. Air acts as an insulator.

A simple water wetter is liquid soap. Put a drop in your rad and it will adhere to the metal surfaces in your cooling system, or use one of the commercial products.

With a water wetter in your system, your water will always wick away the heat from the combustion chambers because it always remains in better contact with the metal in the cooling system, AND, you will never get into the danger zone of overheating. Science cl*** is over kids, go place cars.

 

Just an observation. The last time I churned up some water (like a pair of flathead water pumps would do), with liquid soap in it, I got foam. I do believe foam is an excellent insulator of heat. I use regular anti-freeze, half and half with water for a coolant. I have two 8BA flatheads, set up as per my previous post, and neither one of them overheat. I must have some voodo magic going on or maybe got that ol' mojo workin'! Forget about science. That stuff never works!

pigpen