Over heating problem solved

[phat rat]

Some of you know I was having a problem not being able to get the cpe to run cool after having blown a belt and overheating it badly. For those who didn't know, I tried many different things. It was finally decided that I must have a cracked or warped head. The engine was torn down and rebuilt with the only thing found to be the possible cause was a slight warp-age of one head and the shop didn't think it was enough for that to be the problem. Today the mystery was solved. I had been running a 2 core triple pass aluminum radiator. The radiator guy said he wouldn't be able to get a good flow check on it because of it being the triple pass. So being the radiator was 8 years old and possibly a problem I decided to have a new one built. Well it turns out that was the problem. When it had overheated last year it built up so much pressure in the radiator that the tubes expanded and closed off the finned area between them. You cannot see through the radiator, so no airflow, hence no cooling.

[58 Yeoman]

Hooda thunk?

[phat46]

Glad you got it figgered, that will be a good one to put in the memory bank!

[WZ JUNK]

Interesting.

Sorry you had the trouble but I am glad you found the problem.  That is a new one for me.  

John

[phat rat]

I'd never heard of it either. The radiator guy said he has seen it quite a bit on circle track cars, but not on a street car. I knew that I had cooked it good but had no idea of that. I had wondered if possibly a divider of the triple pass had messed up and was creating at least a partial blockage. That was why I'd talked to him about doing a flow check.

[kb426]

Years ago, one of my friends told me that if I raced long enough, everything imaginable would happen. I've added that to my descriptions of hot rods if you drive them enough. I believe that if you are active, you will always have stories to tell. Strange deal on the radiator. If mine ever overheats I'll remember this.

[Carnut]

Yep, something to keep in mind now if I ever get the money to afford an aluminum radiator.

Wonder if any Corvette owners have experienced this problem, think they got into the aluminum radiator business.

Kinda like the old double wall exhaust pipes on the older big GM cars in the 70's with the problem of getting the exhaust hot and then splashing thru freezing water causeing the outer walls to shrink and cave in the inner wall an block the exhaust. Those sold a whole lot of tune ups and various and sundry headaches.

[phat rat]

The bad on this was where it happened, about 25 mi east of Springfield Mo. The good was MOjunk (WZjunks' brother) coming along and helping. We were 60 miles from his place so I followed him home. After trying to fix it at his place he put me up for the night and my son brought my trailer down the next day to haul it home.

[wayne petty]

that explains a lot....   i had heard that after a few races there was so much trash in the radiators that there was no air flow and they would have to be replaced...

i am taking that you are also installed a new 13 or 16 pound radiator cap...   was there a chance that it was a 30 pound race cap?


wow... something i did not know..  thanks...

i did know that without a thermostat the water flow through the radiator a high engine speeds can expand the top tank... many times enough to break the solder joint and blow out the coolant...


the radiator shop owner laughed at me when i ask him to use low melting point silver bearing solder to put the top tank back on a friends radiator..

i had 4 kits in my hands.. figured it was enough to do the top tank..

the stuff is strong enough to solder eyeglass frames with..  and they don't break afterwards..

[phat rat]

If I'm remembering correctly the cap is/was 18#. Everything else about the radiator looks fine, just those big tubes expanded. As I said you can't  see light through it even looking at the sun

[57larry]

could this happen on a copper radiator?