The guy that built my engine put a stainless flex lower hose with the hidden clamps on that looked too long so I went to get another and they said what car is it for took 2 tries but I found one. I have been out there working on the cooling prob all day, I think the radiator and elec fan was there then they built a car around it. I will take more pics and post them. The aluminum radiator came with the car i think it is a Northern made in USA. My crankshaft pulley is 6.5 " and the water pump pulley is 6.5" and for better cooling the water pump pulley should be 3/4 to 1 " smaller then the crank pulley ? I heard that somewhere but don't know. Well it's break time I will go back out there in a bit. neil
I've never seen a pulley size cause a hot running engine. Yeah, I know someone always brings that up as a cause. I just don't believe it makes that much of a difference. Gary
Here is just a little bit more info for ya. Alum Rads can them self can be a source of your problem. The tubes are very thin as well as soft. If you have a big Boil over issue or should have a blown head gasket you can destroy the Rad. What happens is when high pressure is introduced into the Rad it Swells the tubes and closes off the space between them. You can hang any kind of Fan in front of it and not move any Air through it. A good visual inspection with a light as well as a paper towell in front of it while fan is running will show if you have this issue. Just cause it holds Water don't mean it's doing it's job. Just saying. The Wizzard
If the Radiator came with the car then what assurance do you have it's good. I'm more interested in your upper radiator hose Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Gary, it does at idle and no water is moving. If it's a long signal it just takes extra time to recover and the another red light appears and you start all over again. A smaller water pump pully saved me but since the problem was not normal in the mid 50's when the car was built (we owned them so I'm sure of what I speak) I can only surmise there are more contributing factors such as gasoline difference, etc. I know back when they were new the exhaust was black and today on the same car, engine, transmission they are not even with dual quads. But movement in the radiator at idle by a smaller puller works if needed. It may be a band-aid but on my car you will never convince me.
Talking pulley size and all that I'll put up some numbers off my 51 being I think it's probably close to what Neil is working with. My bottom pulley is 7-1/2" across center. The pump pulley is 6" across center. I'm running a 5 blade fan and it's 15" across and the Rad is 20" wide. For as long as I can remember and that's many many Motor swaps I have set the front of the fan blades as close to 1" away from the Rad core as possible. I have hand built several shrouds for Customers but have sent many more of them down the road without any shroud at all. I don't ever remember feeling like I needed to make one to help out with a heat problem. Maybe I'm just lucky. Also here in the Northwest we seldom have 100 degree weather so that's a plus for sure. We do often get to 85 and 90 though. If I lived in Az or Ca I might be saying something different like "I sure have built a ton of shrouds over the years". The Wizzard
OK it's morning and I didn't go back out there last night as the heat was getting to me a little. Yesterday it took me forever to remove the engine side elec fan and shroud but I got it out and put a 3" hole in all four corners of the shroud.I still need to address the fan plastic housing this morning and then put it all back together, I will make sure the rad and condenser are clean for air flow. . As far as boiling over it did the other day with that leaking lower rad hose. That was the first time it ever boiled over for me, I just shut it off and let it cool down by itself, I hope I didn't do any damage. I have a Dakota digital dash and a separate water temp gauge and they read close to each other so that's what I was going by. I called the Dakota Co. and they assured me the dash is accurate so.... The upper rad hose is new and now the lower is new(black rubber) nothing fancy. I have chrome pulleys on ir and I would try a smaller water pump pulley if I could get another chrome or polished one that would look like the rest and was around 5.5 or 6.0 " .... maybe. I'm going to see how these new changes work before I get into pulleys..I just can't believe how much you people have responded and helped me,it makes me feel like I'm not alone with this problem. Thamk you neil
Lots of suggestions for more cooling. How about creating less engine heat? What can you tell us about initial advance, maximum mechanical advance. Finally, is vacuum advance hooked up? Is it working? First step, does idle speed increase when the hose is connected? From what I've read, a lot of advance runs cooler. However, should never have spark knock or hard start. Hope this helps you and others. Phil
57... to me its funny happening with a Chevrolet, most of this is with other brands. I'm a believer in copper/brass radiators and would not purchase an aluminum one for an older car eventho I've known folk who have them with no problems. Everything I've done to fix or band-aid my problem came from a fellow in Tucson so he definately had to solve his problem and shared it. Many of the Chev guys I know have moved their rad to the 6 cylinder position in front of the cross member support and went to dual fans maybe this your answer too. I like a mechanical fan and will do anything i can to keep it. I was able to move back to a 4 blade fan after the change and that helped with fan noise too. After the water pump speed up with the smaller pulley, the heating up a idle went away which made the system not need to work so hard when not idling. The higher rpm of the pump at freeway speeds so far has not been a problem as the most the engine sees 3000 rpm; I'm sure an OD trans would help with that. Anyway good luck
Let me clear up what I said about Alum Rad swelling up. The introduction or Air and Cyl pressure is what causes that. Just getting hot and burping a bit shouldn't be enough to hurt things. When you have a head gasket blown between the Cyl and water passage you get compression into the cooling system, that is where enough pressure comes from to swell the tubes. Once they swell up they block the space between each tube. Boiling can also do that with the loss of coolant and air introduced into what's left. The purking up and pumping of air will also do it, specialy if it happens several times. I'm with jimmy six, give me Copper or Brass any day over Aluminum. The Wizzard
57 shaker, if it were me I'd throw that cheap piss poor Chinese aluminum radiator in the trash and start from scratch. There is no sense owning a car you can't drive. The guy that sold you that POS needs his head handed to him. Gary
Update well I had the radiator,elec fan,and shroud almost done when there was this one bolt that I had to show who was the boss. I just thought of something maybe that's why some guys call me " one more turn neil "..I'd be down there with a 1/2 ratchet and click, click, click I'd really pull hard to where you could hear the metal making a noise and guys would say stuff like you got it man, that's enough or ok neil move on to something else but NO I'd be looking down at it and say I think I can get one more turn on it... click, click, click POW ! those cheap Chinese bolts ,they usually walked away shaking their heads. Well anyway I'll find the EZ OUTS and get back at it
What the Heck are you doing using a 1/2" ratchet on a 3/8" ratchet job for? Are you one of those guys beyond help? I think I said something earlier about most Issues being self inflicted. There ya go. The Wizzard
Man you guys have no sense of humor I wasn't using a 1/2 on anything I was kidding but I did screw one bolt up. Now it is all put together and it works fine. Before I put the upper rad hose on I was thinking about the t-stat as the builder told me he installed a 195 do you think that's too high ? maybe a 180 ? Also i only have a couple hundred miles on the new engine and I saw a video where the guy took his oil filter off and opened it up and found lots of metal so I pulled mine and sawed it open and it was clean (no metal at all ) Maybe I should wait to see if what I've done so far helps.
When you first stated that it had a 190° thermostat, I thought that was a little high. 180 would be better in my opinion. Glad things are moving along.
Oh Neil, I was just pokin fun at ya. I figured anyone that could make fun of himself could use a little assistance. No beating intended. I agree, take it for a drive and see what's changed. Hope I'm steering ya in the right direction. The Wizzard
And also. I like a 180 in most motors. That's what's in most of mine. I believe as long as the stat is doing it's job as it should you should also be running within 5 degrees of it's set temp range. A 190 stat don't open till 190. If you open at 180, that's 10 degrees less heat to try to control.
Hey Wizzard I will take pics of what I did. I think I will put a 180 in before I fill it. I can't remember if it was a 190 or a 195 but either way I think I'll change it. I know this time I will fill the engine through the upper hose to like burp it.I have to redo that tranny cooler loop deal for the frame, I don't like the first one. I have an a/c system and I don't know if it's the popular one that I always hear about. Anyway the cold air was coming out the drivers vent like it should but now no matter where I slide the control to defrost,heat or a/c it don't work right The reason I say this is because when I fill with coolant I want to run the fluid through the heater also to prevent an air bubble and I don't think it's going up there it might be a vac line somewhere we'll see oh well one thing at a time. thanks again
In the heat, you need the shroud for idling and low speeds, not the highway speeds. When I lived in Phx. in the late 70's to early 80's, a buddy had a stock 80 Camaro, he worked at Allied Auto, off 24th street and Indian?, I think, anyways with his discount, he bought a high dollar electric fan, pulled his shroud and clutch fan, and couldn't keep the car cool, I don't recall the time of the year, but the electric fan couldn't keep up in the stop and go traffic we had back then. My feeling is cars have to be designed for them, adding them works in a lot of cases, but not all...i/e my kids '89 IROC has about no front air coming in through what we'd call the grill area, but uses an airdam under it, and when all said and done, rarely does the 2nd fan kick on. PS...we were 107 today. Would I suggest her fan setup for you?..No...GM probably spent some serious coin developing the system.
Neil, are you saying your Water fill cap is below your heater core? That could be an issue for sure. The Wizzard
Daaaa, think about it. It's called Gravity. You can push water up hill but with a hole below it it's hard to keep it there. "MOST" fill ports are at the highest point of there containers. At least the ones I've delt with. Cavity's above a fill port are generally full or air. The Wizzard
Just remember your high temperature thermostat will keep the coolant in the radiator longer for cooling ! Also be sure the timing in not retarded too far. Just my two cents from experience
Pissed-n- Broke, all Chevys I know of came from the factory with the heater core connections higher then the radiator fill point. They are all on the upper right side of the firewall including my 63 Impala which runs cool all day long. Did GM make a mistake? According to you they did. You've posted 16 times regarding 57 shakers overheating problem and condemned every possible cooling system component including the radiator swelling up, heater core above radiator fill point, head gaskets, T stat, water pump pulley, electric fans and there housings, tune ups to transmission coolers and more. Regarding 57 shakers problem nothing has been even close to a viable solution. I'd give it up and stop arguing about minutia. Gary
You sure about that?...I could go pop the hoods on a few(too hot tho...) but pretty sure my rad cap is higher than my heater hose connections?
BFD, not that much difference in the picture. Really depends on which radiator is being used. Still waiting for the solution to 57 shakers overheating problem. We all know its not the heater core.
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