If you're broke and cheap, don't buy the 50/50 pre-mixed antifreeze/water. It costs twice as much as a gallon of antifreeze and only has half the antifreeze. Go to the grocery store and get a couple of gallon jugs of distilled/de-ionized water for a dollar or two a gallon and mix it yourself.
thanks for all the suggestions and tips. I will buy the concentrate and dilute it, I have been looking at prices and it's definitely cheaper that way, as you guys suggest. In regards to the coolant. you guys say to use the green stuff...... is there a problem using red coolant? The red is much, much cheaper! Red, 5L (5.2 US quarts) of concentrate is £26 Ethylene glycol based antifreeze & coolant with OAT (Organic Additive Technology) inhibitors. Green, 2L (2.1 US quarts) of concentrate is £18! (C0mma G48 - only brand I can find in green) Ethylene glycol based antifreeze and coolant with silicate based inhibitors.
First, realize that if you run a 195* thermostat, the engine will probably run about 200* all the time. That is if everything else is up to snuff. Those fans don't look like much to me. You would be so much better off with a clutch fan and a fan shroud. If you have to make a shroud, so be it, they are important. Maybe you can find something that will fit or can be modified. My vote is for a 180* thermostat. Anti freeze does not transfer heat as well as water, the more you use, the worse your heat transfer will be. You can use 100% water, but if you do, add an anti corrosive additive. Red Line water wetter not only provides the anti corrosive protection, but improves heat transfer. There are other products like it on the market. https://www.redlineoil.com/waterwetter Ignition timing is important. If you aren't running vacuum advance, you should be, and it should be connected to manifold vacuum so it is available at idle. If you are idling at less than 8* BTDC ignition timing, that alone will heat the engine up.
thank you! I'm going to buy the 180 thermostat today, seems like the same model thermostat fits a load of different cars, inclusive of Jaguars and land Rovers, so the local auto shop should have one. I will take the one that was listed as Buick specific to compare in size. I will get on with making a shroud for those fans as well. ideally I would like to fit a clutch fan and then move the electric fans to the front of the rad (as I dont think there's enough space at the back for a clutch fan and the electric fans) hopefully this evening we will also do a head gasket test, just to be sure. I will keep you all updated.
Couple things.... Get rid of that fuel filter, FIRE HAZZARD Your oil pressure sounds awesome, BUT, sounds like you still have the factory relief spring in the pump due to your 38 psi max reading, which is fine for bone stock, but I'd feel safer with a 60 psi spring in there. 20 psi hot idle in gear is excellent. What weight oil you using?
The engine is in a truck and the gearing is not for highway. I mainly drive country roads at probably around 50mph.. too many bends and I only have drum brakes all round. At 1900 revs I'm doing roughly 50mph The spring in the oil pump is the one recommended and that came with the TA oil pressure regulator (can't remember which colour) I can always turn the bolt on the oil pressure regulator? If I accelerate to 2300 then oil pressure goes up to a little over 40 psi. I'm using 10/30 oil Still the break in oil.. I've only done 30 miles.
My car is 2400rpm at 75mph. 195/75/14 tires, 2.41 gears, TH350. With my new 235/60/15s, and GN 3.42 I'll still be at 3300, for reference.
Mark, he has a 200R4 is why. And IIRC and a 3.73:1 rear gear, that would give him a final drive ratio of 2.4991:1.
Yep and I have a lockup TQ 28" tire 3.73. I drive on the shoulder once in a while to get the idiot off my rear. Rock spray lol. I told you to have Vince build you one but you wanted to stick with that 350t Now you can spin at 3 grand like I use to to stay at 60mph. I can go to 410 gear now. The trans change made the car slower out of the hole with the 3000 stall as compared to the loose 3500 stall I had with the 350 trans. But the low 1st gear helps to make up for that and my 1/8 mile is exact as the 350 trans. Now if I loosen up the convertor some and put in the 410 gear that should get my 60 ft time back to 1.70 it is 1.90 now and you can tell and feel that. Luckily I make that up by the 1/8.. I'm telling you all the 2004 trans is the best thing I ever did. It has held up fine even with those nitrous hits off the line.
So.. an update from this evening. Haven't changed anything. Still water, no thermostat. temperature the other day was 77F t, today 57F. Started it up, let it warm up a bit, took out for a drive, oil pressure still all good, 20psi idle hot, 40 psi cruising at 2000rpm. While driving around temperature stays steady on 150 (remember no thermostat). After driving for quite a while, maybe around 15min around town and a bit of highway (we call it dual carriage way), got back to workshop, still at 150, parked up and left on idle, took exactly 22 minutes to get the temperature up to 195 and then seemed to just stay there. While running we did the head gasket test with that chemical test on the rad and it showed yellow - sign of head gasket failure. But there's no smoke out the exhaust or water level dropping in the rad. Switched it off. Got the rocker covers off and re-torqued the head, some of the bolts do needed to be re torqued as they moved slightly. Started it up again, waited to get to 180... took it out and as soon as I started driving, it drops very quickly to 150, so definitely cooling it down. Didn't over head at traffic lights at all, but then again, where I live there isn't much traffic, you sit at a traffic light for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.. sometimes you are even lucky to get through the whole town without even stopping. Anyway, plan for tomorrow. I have bought the 180 thermostat, so I'm going to fit that so the engine doesn't run so cold and also flush the radiator and put some coolant in there.
If you want to be sure if the head gasket is not leaking do a leak down test on the engine and with the radiator full the water will push out the top of the radiator if the head gasket has failed. About the easiest way to find out. Yes, I would put in the 180 thermostat that will keep the engine colder longer before it starts to heat up sitting at idle for 20 minutes. When it does start to heat up you will be moving down the road by then. Besides that no thermostat is keeping the engine cold too long. I have nothing special here just a new now 20 years old radiator with the clutch fan and shroud. I Never went past 195 on the highway after driving for 1 hr at 3000 rpm. If I let it sit in the driveway at idle in gear I can do it for a very long time and sits at 185 all day. Once you get the therm in and get a fan shroud on there you should be cooler. Even my Toyota Corolla XRS has a small fan with a shroud around it. It will turn on at 200-205 and cool it to 195. Then while driving it stays at 185.
Right.... update! So, got home put the 180 thermostat and proper coolant... it's not a warm evening today, it warmed up nicely on idle, took it out for a drive and it sat just a little below 180, while driving around town etc.. got home and let it idle for a bit got to 190 or so. came back 10min later, turned key to ignition position and the temp was now showing around 200, as soon as I started the engine, the temperature started to come down straight way to just a little over 180, within 30 seconds of driving I was again at just below 180. I'm taking it to work tomorrow, see how that goes, there will be some traffic but again, where I live is nothing major...not even 5min sat in traffic.. I'll let you all know how it goes. thanks! JP
Always gonna read a bit warm after getting up to temp and then sitting off. Heat soak and what not. Temps sound good. I'd do that leakdown test, to be sure. Basically fill the chambers with air (engine off) and hear where it's coming from. As said above, bad headgasket will see bubbles in the rad, depending on where it's broken (if it is, it's running well so probably not, but best to do on any newly rebuilt engine), plus it will tell you how well your valves and rings are sealing. A compression test wouldn't hurt either.
The fact that your temp stays down on the highway but goes up when idling tells you that you have insufficient airflow through the radiator at idle. It is most difficult for any fan to match the airflow at 60mph. Over here the Dodge Caravan fan is a popular choice, also the Volvo which would be easier for you to find. The Volvo fan relay is also a preferred item and easily connected to a standard screw-in temp switch. Should be able to get all that at the junkyard. Jim
You could probably just run a fixed blade style without a/c, or a clutch style fan, also both using a shroud.
Well, more updates. took it to work today, was all good.... 180 driving... and been through commuter traffic, stop start for a whole 10min... needle didn't go over 180. Got home, parked up, let it idle for about 5min and went to 195 and stopped there.... I will look into the timing again, see where Im at. should I do it on advance or just check where it is on idle?
When it is sitting there idling, the timing is at a minimum. The 1972 Buick engines used 4* BTDC as an initial timing. They had a tendency to heat up at idle. The factory recognized this and the TV switch on the intake would apply manifold vacuum to the vacuum advance when the coolant got to 220*. That would cool the engine down by advancing the timing up to about 20* and bump the idle at the same time. You can do the same by hooking the vacuum advance to manifold vacuum. The 1969 engines had a distributor that was timed at 0* (TDC). They had their vacuum advance hooked to manifold vacuum. Not enough air flow across the radiator may also be contributing to this. I would ditch those fans, and go to a good clutch fan and shroud.
