36 Roadster Cooling

[G.M.]

This is a follow up on the two 36's I removed the radiators from a
few weeks ago. Had the radiator tank removed and the radiator shop
rodded out the tubes. Before we had over heating over 50 MPH due
blockage. Both radiators are back in will put water in the phaeton
tomorrow. The other day I put 4 gallons of vinegar in the roadster.
got it good and hot. let sit a few days, drained, flushed and refilled.
Today drained and flushed with running hose, both drains open for
1/2 hour. Closed drains with water a little lower than a gallon.
Added a gallon of Prestone, ran a few minutes and added a bottle
of Barrs heavy duty copper flake block sealer. Ran 15 minutes and
added a bottle of Water Wetter. The temperature varied with a high
of 160 the entire time. It stabilized at 156 after about an hour and a
half. Most run time was at a engine speed of about 30 MPH. Slowed
to fast idle and stayed at 156. Put a house fan in front of the grill
and ran 15 minutes checking the heads where the water pumps bolt
on and stayed at 145. Running with a house fan duplicates forced
air at 40 MPH It looks like the problem is solved. I might add
there is NO 3 lb valve on the over flow, water was filled all most to
filler cap. The over flow has a 1/4" rubber hose to an over flow bottle
and NO coolant was pushed into the bottle. Outside temperature was
a little below 80. Next a drive test and expect it to run the same as
the static test. Engine has Skips high flow pumps. Skip also reset the
distributor on his Ford~Heyer strobe machine to the original Ford
specs, rebuilt the coil and tested the condensers on both cars. The
roadster started up on about 2 turns cold and 8 or 10 times after it
was hot started on the first engine turn. Tomorrow we will see how
the phaeton works. G.M.

Need to add another bottle of water wetter tomorrow, 1 bottle is
not enough for 22 quarts. I only had 1 bottle this morning.

[rockfla]

Sounds like you are well on your way, good to hear. Keep them running down the road and thanks for sharing!!

[tubman]

Just curious. Was this with or without thermostats? It seems like you have the cooling problems well in hand. Wouldn't it be better to run it a little hotter for everyday driving? Either install thermostats or if they are already in, changing them to 180's. It may not be exactly the same, but the guy who rebuilt the engine in my Corvette, put in a 160 thermostat, and I had problems with plug fouling until I changed it out for a 180. (the problem was exacerbated because the plugs specified OEM for the engine are too cold for regular driving.)

[G.M.]

Originally Posted by tubman

Just curious. Was this with or without thermostats? It seems like you have the cooling problems well in hand. Wouldn't it be better to run it a little hotter for everyday driving? Either install thermostats or if they are already in, changing them to 180's. It may not be exactly the same, but the guy who rebuilt the engine in my Corvette, put in a 160 thermostat, and I had problems with plug fouling until I changed it out for a 180. (the problem was exacerbated because the plugs specified OEM for the engine are too cold for regular driving.)

When testing you don't want thermostats or anything that RESTRICTS the
flow. We want to know the coolest the engine will run. You can't do much
to make it run cooler other than more forced air. Thermostats do nothing
to cool an engine, they only make it run hotter. Once the coolest temp is found then we can adjust the running temperature to whatever we want.
In cooler climate locations I prefer 180 stats, but the stats must have large flow openings so the flow through the engine and radiator is the full flow of the pumps and not cut down by any restriction. I'm located in SW Florida
and the temperature seldom gets below 80 degrees. Although I do have Fords with Bob Shewman's full flow stats that run between 178 and 182 I doubt I will put stats in the 2 36's. We are getting almost twice the flow
with Skips pumps and don't want to do anything to cut it down. G.M.

[G.M.]

Originally Posted by G.M.

This is a follow up on the two 36's I removed the radiators from a
few weeks ago. Had the radiator tank removed and the radiator shop
rodded out the tubes. Before we had over heating over 50 MPH due
blockage. Both radiators are back in will put water in the phaeton
tomorrow. The other day I put 4 gallons of vinegar in the roadster.
got it good and hot. let sit a few days, drained, flushed and refilled.
Today drained and flushed with running hose, both drains open for
1/2 hour. Closed drains with water a little lower than a gallon.
Added a gallon of Prestone, ran a few minutes and added a bottle
of Barrs heavy duty copper flake block sealer. Ran 15 minutes and
added a bottle of Water Wetter. The temperature varied with a high
of 160 the entire time. It stabilized at 156 after about an hour and a
half. Most run time was at a engine speed of about 30 MPH. Slowed
to fast idle and stayed at 156. Put a house fan in front of the grill
and ran 15 minutes checking the heads where the water pumps bolt
on and stayed at 145. Running with a house fan duplicates forced
air at 40 MPH It looks like the problem is solved. I might add
there is NO 3 lb valve on the over flow, water was filled all most to
filler cap. The over flow has a 1/4" rubber hose to an over flow bottle
and NO coolant was pushed into the bottle. Outside temperature was
a little below 80. Next a drive test and expect it to run the same as
the static test. Engine has Skips high flow pumps. Skip also reset the
distributor on his Ford~Heyer strobe machine to the original Ford
specs, rebuilt the coil and tested the condensers on both cars. The
roadster started up on about 2 turns cold and 8 or 10 times after it
was hot started on the first engine turn. Tomorrow we will see how
the phaeton works. G.M.

Need to add another bottle of water wetter tomorrow, 1 bottle is
not enough for 22 quarts. I only had 1 bottle this morning.

Added 2nd bottle of Water Wetter this morning and ran for over 1/2
hour at an engine speed of about 25MPH. Temp got to 158 for 10
minutes. Put fan back in front of grill and it came down to 146.
Slowed speed to fast idle and the temp kept coming down and stayed
at 126 for 10 minutes until we shut it down. So it looks like the 1
bottle of Water Wetter is not enough for the 22 quart capacity. these
are lower temps than yesterday and it was a few degrees warmer
today. The only change was the Water Wetter. I have seen the temp
drop the same way about 15 years ago when testing Purple Ice for
the first time. It took 15 minutes of running before the temp dropped.
I did have 2 bottles of PI as they recommended. Different product
same results. Skip happened to stop by this morning before we
started he was interested so I let him take the temps. Both sides
stayed within a few degrees of each other. He was surprised we didn't
get any coolant in the recovery tank. The free flow is a result of the
radiator being rodded out. G.M.

[petehoovie]

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I wish there was a video showing the water circulation in a engine equipped with see-through/clear neoprene upper radiator hoses....

[G.M.]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

I wish there was a video showing the water circulation in a engine equipped with see-through/clear neoprene upper radiator hoses....

I don't think you would see any movement of coolant through a clear
upper radiator hose. It would be a blur. With the radiator cap removed
and the coolant about 1/2 above the top of the tubes you can look
in from the front and towards the drivers side and see the water
rushing in from the hose and drivers pump. You can even shoot the
laser temperature gauge on the incoming coolant and see the change
in temp. I don't run with the coolant down that low but have drained
it down to see the flow. When it's full you see some motion of coolant
but not the rush you see when the coolant is low. G.M.