Messages

1

Maintenance / Re: overheating problems

« on: September 11, 2009, 08:25:11 PM »

Thanks for the advice John, it's appreciated. I've been told that just with airflow (the car has no grille on it at the moment) at speed, (55mph plus) the engine should run around the 180 deg mark without a fan. Right or wrong I don't know. I just can't understand why after the water's been through the rad it's no cooler but hotter, thanks.....Nige

The coolant should be 25*-30* cooler coming out of the radiator than it is going in if the radiator is doing its job and has adequate airflow going through it. Most aftermarket electric fans are hopelessly inadequate, especially if they're the round type - they only pull air through the portion of the radiator enclosed within the circle, so at least half of the radiator core surface isn't seeing any airflow at all, thus no cooling is taking place.

They didn't overheat when they were new, because they had a full fan shroud (which pulls air through the entire core, all the way out to the corners), a big fan, and a clutch. Most attempts at "re-engineering" the cooling system with Summit catalog junk are dismal failures. The production cooling components were designed and developed as a complete "system", and they do the job if all the pieces are present and in good working condition.

Put the factory clutch, fan, and shroud back on (and seal the radiator to the support and the shroud to the radiator with foam seals so all the air is forced through the radiator instead of around it), and your cooling issues will disappear.

2

Maintenance / overheating problems

« on: September 10, 2009, 08:29:56 PM »

 I've got a rebuilt 406 cu in small block '69 Camaro with some overheating problems. It's got a 4 core rad on it from a big block car, an electric fan which comes on at 212 deg or manually if you want. The car seems to run around the 200-210 deg mark on an average temperature day. It has a new Weiand Hi Flow ali water pump & the rad seems to be clear after flushing water through it with a hose. The car seems to be running very hot & when a laser temperature gun is pointed at the hoses it has a temperature of 200 deg going into the rad & around 205 deg coming out on tickover!!! The fan pulls warm air through the rad but doesn't seem to lower the temperature. The car has been run without a grille fitted to it, so plenty of air can enter the front of the rad as well. When the cam was being run in, in the garage it actually burst a top hose (it was a second hand one thought of undeterminate age). When I took it out the other day the top hose blew off the rad

The rad is 530mm wide, by 430 mm deep & 70 mm thick. The tank with the rad cap on is 100mm X 430mm X 70mm. The other tank is 40mm X 430mm X 70mm. It's got a 14lb rad cap. The thermostat has A180 & 8.023 stamped on it (it's an American made one) I assume that the 180 stands for degrees?? It has a 7 blade, 14" dia, Bosch thermostatically controlled fan which comes on at 212 deg. I can also turn it on manually.

I drove the car today ( a distance of about 8 miles) & it boiled over. It was running around the 215-220 deg mark, but I don't think that the fan cut in. (There was no grille or front bumper on it so I would have assumed it should have stayed cooler just with the airflow as the radiator had no obstructions really to the airflow)

Once it cooled down & was topped back up again, I turned on the fan manually & it ran at just under 210 deg constant, but it's not been a warm day.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. It's got a manual trans & has around the 500hp mark, maybe a bit more. It has a circle track race cam, 11.1 comp, ali heads, single 4bbl. To all intents & purposes it's a street legal circuit racer. My friend has a "historic circuit race mustang" built to a similar spec & has no problems & runs around the 180 deg mark. We swapped his rad into mine & it still ran hot.

Could it be the thermostat?? what temperature one should I be using?? Is it the right rad cap at 14lb's?? Should it run an expansion tank?? Any help or advice would be appreciated as this is driving me nuts. Many thanks in advance, .....Nige
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3

Maintenance / Re: '69 manual steering rebuild

« on: August 25, 2009, 09:36:44 AM »

Thanks Paul, I'll give them a try, cheers.....Nige

4

Maintenance / '69 manual steering rebuild

« on: August 21, 2009, 11:46:53 AM »

I finally got to drive my '69 yesterday after a 5 year rebuild, but found that the steering was still a bit vague even after adjusting out the wear. Is it possible to get a full rebuild kit for a Saginaw manual steering box & if so, where is the best place to get it?? I've searched the net without any success, the down side is that I live in Britain so I can't just pop to my local speedshop, Cheers.....Nige

5

Maintenance / factory tach problems

« on: June 01, 2009, 10:26:20 AM »

Hi, I'm a newbie here from Britain & was pointed in your direction as I was told that someone here might well be able to help me.

I have a '69 Camaro with factory tach and cannot get it to work with
either stock points setup or MSD6 using the MSD tach output. I cannot
find the mythical 'filter' that MSD refer to so guess it's gone
already. Needle goes to 1000rpm with ign on and engine not running,
stays there even when driving spare dizzy with electric drill to
simulate running engine.Turn sidelights on, revs drop to 500rpm. Turn
headlights on, rpm drops to zero like voltage drop is affecting it.

Here's the thing: car has had a repro wiring loom and I have already
found two errors which caused lighting problems so I'm wondering if the
dash part is also wrong and causing this issue. Anyone able to tell me
for definite which connection on the tach is which? Multi plug
connector goes onto a 3 prong unit arranged like an inverted 'U'. One
is 12v power, one is earth and the remaining one is pulse but which is
which? Does this sound like it could be the problem?

Thanks in advance guys, any help greatly appreciated,as I'm at my wits end witht his now, cheers........Nige