Hot Rods Roadster overheated then ran bad. Good news.

SHIT! You mean thats NOT Fred??!! Man, I have wasted the last ten years sucking up to him!!

 

Not me, after looking at Freds avatar picture; I can never compose myself let alone compose a "suckup" letter.

 

I hate to burst everybody's bubble but if she is still alive she is probably in her 80s.

Maybe Fred knows.

 

Add a bleeder to the upper radiator hose and add a remote heater core or oil cooler under the car. We live in California and it seems to be getting hotter each and every year so you might as well be prepared, parade or no parade.

 

Ot car I had a while back had a bleeder vent on the radiator because it was lower than the fill location.
I'd go with a heater core/small radiator tucked up under the bed with a fan that could be kicked on if needed. That would give a bit of additional cooling but you would have the heater hoses to deal with.
Ugly or not I still think you need a real fill cap at the high point of the radiator hose to actually fill both engine and radiator and not have more air in the system than you most likely have now.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/a...er-and-star-of-1950s-stag-film-dies.html?_r=0 pretty sad story really...

 

You never know what you will learn on the HAMB. I was pretty close though as to what her age would be now.

Sad!

Thanks George

 

"Don't let them fool you, Falcon. I'm here. I'll always be here. Just for you."

 

How about this www.summitracing.com/parts/csi-914c

 

Love you too sweetcheeks!!!

 

Hey, it's my dream!

 

Nice sunbeam do they make them for 4 bolt Cad. engines necks? Something to think about though, wouldn't be too hard to make one.

 

what year/size of motor? where is sender mounted for gauge? what type of switch activates when fan comes on/off? with the higher rated radiator cap the over flow tank should work properly (13lb would likely work too) - a true overflow recovery tank is a way to capture fluid where it it expands due to heat, and returns to system when cooler. filling system by removing radiator hose needs a better answer. the link above to summit racing by sunbeam looks like a good possible answer - need to find an application for your motor.

 

Joker, he's running an early caddy (331 ci., I believe), I don't think he's going to find one unless he has it it made. Now that being said, (and realizing I have NO prior early caddy experience), would it be possible to just use a flat piece of 1/4" steel to make a Caddy to Chevy thermostat housing adapter? Part two of this thought is to use the thermostat housing that has the little Moon temp gage screwed into the top, and either unscrew it to fill, or fit on of those little pressure relief valves like a 6-71 blower has in the front cover (not sure if those are water tight though, but they are 90w tight). They don't relieve pressure till you push the button. You could even put a second radiator petcock up there, so you could vent off any trapped air.

 

Guys

Looks like it might have been an easy fix. Just took it for a ride with the new 17lb radiator cap. No leak. Pretty warm up here today too. Almost 90F. The gauge read about 165 like the the thermostat reads.

Thanks for all the ideas. I was ready to try one at a time until it stayed kool.

Gary

 

cool

 

Always great to hear what cured the problem. Thanks for sharing.

 

I know you say you pull the top hose to fill it. But I can't believe that when you turn the hose back down to reinstall it, water doesn't run out and air runs in. I would bet dimes to dollars that there is air still trapped in there at the top of the hose.

 

^^^^^^^^^X2
There are quite a few modern cars, among them an OT MKviii Lincoln I owned for 20 years, that have a nose so low it requires a separate fill point for coolant system because the engine coolant system has areas within the engine that are higher than the top of the radiator, and it's about the only way to get all the air outta the system,
Corvettes also have, or at least did have, the same deal.
Just a point to air out won't get it done, it needs to be the final point to add coolant as it lets the air out. I have personal experience with this on a dirt oval racer years ago.

 

Guys you are probably right their is some air left when I reattach the hose but I have had no trouble for years with that. Evidently the cap just went bad a while back and wouldn't hold pressure. It seemed good yesterday with the new one but then I only drove it a couple of miles and in no traffic. I'm going to my club lunch today on a curvy back road. Although it is just maybe 80F out it should be a good trial. Think I'll get a bottle of "Water Wetter" just because. Sorry Fred.
I'll keep you posted.
Gary

 

That upper hose is still redonkulous. I'd look for a water neck that would get the hose to be more horizontal. Plenty of them around that swivel and work well.

 

I think with the coolant puke/recovery tank, it should over a few cycles of heating up to the point of thermostat wide open, flush the air out of the upper hose and then when cool it will suck coolant back in. Assuming the radiator neck is built that way with the double seal. The end result will be a closed system without much air in it.

drilling a small 1/8 inch hole in the thermostat is a good idea to prevent any air block below the thermostat.

 

No bad feelings here, Gary. If you think you need Water Wetter, go for it. If may work for you.

 

Just got back from lunch and outside the temp is way up in the 80sF. Ran good and kool both ways. Probably five miles each way. Bought a 13# cap, bottle of flush and Water Wetter.
I'll keep on keeping you posted.
Gary

 

Dirty old's comments were absolutely correct. I chased overheating in a similar system for a long time. Tried all sorts of things. Turned out the engineering was fine. Put on a high pressure cap: problem solved.

Water-wetter can't hurt, not required. I think the main ingredient would be a few cents worth of isopropyl alcohol. They're making one hell of a profit margin off of guys like us.

 

Water wetter is one of the only coolant additives that is tested to the same anti corrosion standards as coolant is. Therefore snake oil for overhearing problems, maybe......but as far as running just water or water with water wetter? My flattie gets water wetter just to be safe.

 

Thanks Guys still learning.

 

I use a 50/50 mix of anti freeze and tap water in all my vehicles and have done so for many years. In some areas with very hard, mineral laden water, distilled water would prolly be better than tap water, I think.
In '77 I bought a '73 GMC 4X4 with SBC power, and always ran that 50/50 mix, changing about every 3 or 4 years. Along about '97 I junked that truck as all the trips to the beach, etc. combined with the very poor rust resistance of that series of trucks had resulted in a totally useless truck. But I saved the engine, and along about 2010, I decided to use it as a core for an engine build for my roadster.
When I tore the engine down and pulled the "freeze" plugs, which by then were almost 40 years old, there was NO rust on the inner sides of the plugs or in the water jackets themselves. Reason enough for me to contend that a good quality anti freeze/water solution should be used even in places where it doesn't get below freezing.
Water wetter? I dunno, but I guess it can't hurt anything but your money!

 

I believe the main improvement with Water Wetter is that it lowers the surface tension of the water mix. This allows better heat transfer from/to the metal surfaces, as well as helping eliminate steam pockets. So in engine terms, it allows more heat to be removed from the heads and block, and then more heat to be transferred to the air via the radiator. It also has some corrosion inhibitors that allow the use of water without the corrosion concerns. Coolants have corrosion inhibitors also.

 

Funny story. I have relatives in Tucson Arizona USA. Gets pretty hot there in summer. My uncle there had a '50s Nash V8 that sometimes ran hot and would boil over. He would fill it up with water and it would run good until he took it in and had the radiator survived. The next hot day it would boil over again. He would fill it with water again and it would be fine. He did a little chemistry homework and found out that water has a higher boiling point than antifreeze. I think he just ran water in it until he sold it.