Running a Little Bit Hot Tonight!

No, but at this point it is just a hollow plastic cylinder and it should float. It is a Spectra so I'm hoping it is not cheap Chinese!

 

Tank is in, plumbed, 5 gallons of gas and the electric pump pushed it to the carb. No leaks so far! Pumped it and got gas, cranked and fired on just 2 pumps! It hardly ever does that after sitting for more than a day. Couldn't let it run as I still haven't filled the old radiator back up. Will do that in the morning to see where we stand and get the carb adjusted.

Only two issues I've seen is the tank corner where the vents are, passenger side near the axle, is really close to the exhaust. My old tank has that corner beat to crap so I'm assuming I can bend it as needed. May just take a file to it to get it back a few extra .10" away. The other one is the tank strap bolts that go in the back and the strap pivot, wouldn't snug back up so I used some old oil pump bolts and finally got some bite on it.

 

OK, swapped to the old brass 4-core radiator with no thermostat and all water. Ran 180-190 like that but it was a lot cooler this morning than normal too so not sure what changes really helped.

I'm going to switch from my 6-blade flex fan to my 7-blade clutch fan and see what that does.

As you can see by comparison of the fans sitting on top of each other, they are roughly the same size and this flex fan is no slouch but in the interest of science, I'll see what happens.

 

You need a thermo stats or a plate with a hole in it, summit sells em. The water needs either or to mix well for even water heating.

I run a 180 stat, buy 50/50 pre mixed coolant for no thought.

 

Already been down that route. 50/50 and thermostat is no go for now.

A local guy that used to work for Eaton in viscous cooling (aka clutch fans) says that research shows pure water has the capacity to transfer more heat than antifreeze and a clutch fan is better than a flex fan due to its ability to free wheel when not needed.

He also said if I'm running that hot with a thermostat that I don't really need one until I get it to run below the thermostat setting. It ran 220-230 with a 160 thermostat. That's not the solution.

Now that I just running water, I'm going to dump it and make changes since I don't have to save the antifreeze and clean up that stinking, slimy mess when it leaks in the floor.

Unfortunately, I have other issues as well that aren't going away, like screeching rockers. Not sure what that's about but I'm about to swap back to my old motor if this drags on to the Nationals.

 

Have you verified your pump and pulleys are compatible?

I was reading on George's site about water pumps and Mark DeConti said the following:

http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/BuickWaterPumps.htm

In 71 the pump length became longer and the pulleys changed p/n. The majority for 71 on up cars had A/C. However non A/C still used the 67-70 6 blade pump with different pulleys.
When I get some time, I will list all the p/n's for the pulleys and there application. It is important to use the correct pump, pulleys and year together to get the proper flow and belt alignment.
Using A/C pulleys on a 6 blade will flow coolant too fast, and using non A/C ones with the 5 blade pump can cause overheating at slow speed or idle.
I tried mixing types over the years and had these problems.
My 2 cents on this,
Mark DeConti

 

Greg, take a look here: http://www.flowkoolerwaterpumps.com...5_286/p316/Custom-Radiators/product_info.html

I just put in one of their water pumps and it is a quality piece and a little cheaper than TA pump. Seems to work good on my setup (supercharged all iron 462, 5 core brass radiator, dual electric fans) Might give them a call because the tech guy is the chief engineer and owner and really knows his stuff.

I run a maximum of 190 degrees with all the stuff that goes on under my hood.

 

Interesting that these two posts subscribe to differing philosophies. One advocates slowing water speed down by matching pulleys and pumps, the other advocates moving water faster with better pump design.

I find that fascinating!

Did you have a conventional pump prior to this? Do you have a thermostat? How did it behave then? What I'm looking for is the difference it made. TA quotes testing 230+ with stock and 170 with theirs. That sounds about like what I'm seeing.

That's within my tolerance of "see what happens" as I've spent more and got less before. I'm not willing to throw money at the problem but I'm willing to invest in a proven solution such as this.

Top pulley is the same off original motor. Bottom pulley is same size as one off original motor. Water pump is replacement style short and pulleys line up perfectly. Back when I was young, dumb and thought I was a drag racer, I put a 350 Buick pulley on the crank and it ran fine but threw a power steering belt every time I hit 6000 RPM. Eventually tired of that and put a big pulley back on it. Pulleys are big enough it is tough to get a power steering pulley between them.

Not sure how many blades are in the pump. If I take it off, I'm putting one from above on it. I can't believe I have a radiator capacity problem with either the huge 4 core or the 2x1" aluminum core radiator. Either one should be able to cool this motor and more. It is actually a 500 Caddy radiator that had AC and a trans cooler in it. I have neither AC nor hot trans fluid running through it.

I also do not believe in coolant flowing too fast (unless it is to the point of it becoming a cutting force as in a water jet table.) As a student of observation, it is impossible NOT to dissipate heat through a radiator. Physics dictates that heat flows to any area of lower heat.

 

I seemed to have dropped 10 degrees. But part of what I was doing was going to smaller drive pulleys. So a drop with less pulley was a good result for me. I run a 160 degree thermostat.

The reason I said to call is I feel that it is better to talk to a real expert in a field when they are available. Let them explain the theory and then you can make an informed decision. All I can say is the product is very well made and performed to my expectations.

Here is a picture I took.

 

Interesting that the vanes are not directional. I haven't seen the back of a TA super pump.

As I see it, the Buick pumps pull water in from the middle of the vanes and push it out on either side.

 

I seem to have run into a snag putting my clutch fan on. I can't find the proper studs. The ones I got at Advance Auto were backwards, way too much fine thread that hits the pump body and too little coarse thread that won't give any margin of safety on the clutch side.

Anyone got a part number or a source for something that will work?

 

The flex fan could be causing some of your problem. Runs warmer at a higher RPM? When you increase RPM, a flex fan.. flexes (the blades become more straight with less of a pitch). I put a flex fan on my car thinking it would free up some horsepower by reducing rotating mass, but the car ended up running hotter. Living in Arizona I had no choice but to put the clutch fan back on until I finished my 05 GTO electric fans setup.

 

I can appreciate that. I ran it with flex fan on the other motor for 30 years without a problem. I'm trying to put the clutch fan on but can't find the proper studs. I don't know if I can get a bolt in there with the space available.

Anyone have a line on the proper 5/16-24 x 1/2" with 5/16-18 x 5/8" studs? Several sites show the proper item but when I see specs, they are reversed. The fine thread is 5/8" long and will hit the pump snout before they bottom out and the 1/2" of coarse thread is too little to go through the pulley and fan with any margin of safety for a lock washer. I want threads sticking past the nut.

 

So, you trust carb studs with something as fast and potentially destructive as a fan and clutch at 6,000 RPM?

 

Those are also wrongly constructed, too much fine thread, not enough coarse thread. They will hit the water pump body, threading way past the flange. That's what I have now.

Perhaps, but if the bolts come loose, havoc!

I guess I'm making my own then.