cooling tips for pilot house trucks

[gramps1951]

My 51 b3b  has a amc 258 inline 6 and with the heat of summer in north carolina she has been running quite hot I have flushed my coolant increased my cap to 18 pounds I was thinking of having  a summer time hood with louvers to let the heat out maybe just the stationary center part.  Might go with an electric fan with shroud set up but I don't love that look too much but if I have to I will. I have a heater core and have my coolant going thru that but it's not helping all that much my radiator is in good shape  and I have looked inside looks very clean nothing in  front of the radiator to cut down on air flow I have run it with cap off and have good flow and radiator is right size for the engine. when going down the road she seem some what hot but stopped in traffic way too hot for me. I feel if I could come up with a way of getting the engine compartment vented to let the heat out and force the air thru the radiator better this might solve by problem. I do have a thermastate  don't rember the temp but it was the right temp for the engine and like I said I do have good flow. do any of you guys have some tricks that have worked for you ?  thanks Neil

[gramps1951]

the engine temp is between  200 and 210 in the summer other times of the year 195  Thanks Neil

Edited June 5, 2017 by gramps1951

[JBNeal]

You could try running a lower temperature thermostat or remove the thermostat altogether to see how that affects the registered temperature inside the cab as well as adding insulation to the cab interior such as a good firewall padding floormat and under the seat maybe the back of the cab to allow heat to go around cab rather than thru the sheet metal as the insulation would deflect rather than transmit heat and maybe remove the hood to test how much heat would actually escape engine compartment before transferring thru the cab and if all else fails invest in gel freeze packs to ride on as a budget air conditioning but wrap in towels or people might look at you funny

[Don Coatney]

Suggest you find and install an aluminum 3 core radiator. Efficiency and cooling capacity of such radiator is much greater. Contact Champion Radiators and see what they have that might fit.

[The Oil Soup]

I put a champion radiator in my B4B and it seems to work fine with some modification to the mounts. http://www.championradiators.com/search?searchwords=Cc4749&searchsmall_612033242=

[David A.]

My 50 B2B started running hot and mine also looked nice and clean. Finally pulled the water distribution tube and found it to be in pretty bad shape, but I think the actual cause of the overheating was a build up of crud around the back piston. When I pulled the freeze plugs, the water jacket around #6 cylinder was completely filled with crud. No water, or at least a very minimal amount of water, was circulating around that piston which is also where the temp. send unit is located. I had to pull the  engine to remove the freeze plug in the back of the block to be able to get everything cleaned out. 

[gramps1951]

it's not hot inside the cab it is in the engine compartment that is too hot. I have run the truck without a thermostat before and that didn't help my problem. I have had this problem every year at this time.  Running the truck without the hood for a test seems like a good idear.  Thanks Neil

[NiftyFifty]

If that's the stick rad, it's not meant to run a can with 18lbs...amazed it's held this long.  These trucks didn't come with a pressurized system, I think maybe a 4lb to 7lb cap is about max...but maybe I'm wrong.  All I know is after getting away with my old stock rad for the last 8 years, it finally puked on me...sadly in the middle of a 3 hour trip and just across the US border from Canada.  Managed to plug it up long enough to get home..but I'm on the hunt for a new rad.

 

OilSoup, what kind of mods did you do to make that aluminum rad fit?

[desoto1939]

you are correct. your truck has a non pressurized cooling system. Get rid of the 18lb rad cap and go back to the regular cap it might be an R3 cap or and R4 cap. You will see these on ebay.

 

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Bobacuda]

My B4B has its flathead 6 and I use a "High Efficiency" core radiator from these folks.  Direct bolt in - no mods.  I have a 160 thermostat with a 3/16 bypass hole drilled in it.  So far, on 90+ degree days here in Texas, that new radiator has held the temp to about 150 max.  The temp will get up to 160 on idle, but once the air starts moving through the radiator, the temp drops rapidly.  I have driven my truck about 50 miles and put my hand on the hood, and the radiator, without burning myself.  I have either a non-pressure, or 2 lb cap, can't remember.

Since you are running the AMC inline 6, I would think that you need a radiator that is made to handle that engine.  Are you running an automatic and A/C with it...if so, more demand on the cooling system.  If you look on the attached website, they make radiators that will fit these trucks that will cool automatics and high horsepower engines.  They are easy to talk to on the phone and quite helpful.

There are less expensive options, but I know their's fits and works without modifications.

http://www.usradiator.com/dodge-truck-1948-54-all-radiator.html

Edited June 5, 2017 by Bobacuda

[The Oil Soup]

1 hour ago, 4mula-dlx said:

OilSoup, what kind of mods did you do to make that aluminum rad fit?

First thing on the new rad was to remove the downward pointing section of the top  hose mount, next was to remove the side mounting brackets off the original rad and modify them to get the new rad within 1"-3/4" of the fan. The new hoses I used; upper Gates 20573, lower Dayco 70480 cut to fit. 23" 218

 

 

[bambamshere]

I have recently just did my cooling stuff. It was running really hot. I removed the old 1967 thermostat and put a 180 into it. Changed all the hoses and the water pump. I have a 56 Fargo with a 251 and it is now running between 170 and 200. I also had to flush system. When I took the old pump off and drained it there was about a inch of grime and pepples in the bottom of it. Then I flushed it and found another inch of grime and pebbles inside of it. 

If you haven't done it flush it real good because it could be blocking something. I am actually running the rad that came with the truck. 

[gramps1951]

you guys didn't read my first post my engine is a amc258  inline 6 and is a pressured system 1974.

[NiftyFifty]

I still wouldn't run a 18lb cap, that's asking for a burst in a hose or worse.  As for tricks, not many other then adding an electric fan to move air when the truck isn't moving enough for the manual fan to pull it in.  You could run an additive like water wetter or the many other brands on the market, but you need a lot of it to make any difference.  Also try 70/30 mix on the coolant, get more coolant to lower your boiling point...same thing the water wetter product does

[Young Ed]

Have you confirmed your temperature gauge? Flushed the block and radiator? How crowded is the engine compartment?

[Merle Coggins]

Running a higher pressure cap won't lower the temps. It only raises the boiling point of the  coolant so that it can run hotter without boiling over. 

[NiftyFifty]

Maybe I missed it, but what rad are you running in the truck?  Right size for engine does t mean it's right for the air flow of the truck perhaps 

[gramps1951]

6 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Have you confirmed your temperature gauge? Flushed the block and radiator? How crowded is the engine compartment?

I did flush out the block and radiator with flash light looking in the radiator it looks very clean and it is about 2 years old.  I did'nt test the gauge it is a newer one than the truck not that that means much. I could get another guage and check my readings but I know she was too hot because before I changed the cap she would boil over

[gramps1951]

oh  the block is longer than the old flat head but it's not crowded in there.

[gramps1951]

5 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

Running a higher pressure cap won't lower the temps. It only raises the boiling point of the  coolant so that it can run hotter without boiling over. 

I know but atleast it's not boiling over and I am not done trying to fix my real problem. It looks like I have good flow but the water pump is one thing I have not changed out the whole time I have had the truck no play in the pump. They are cheap I can put in a new one and see if that might help.

[rcb]

Also depending on what you do with your truck, I've also seen good use of an electric fan mounted low, pulling cool air up into the engine compartment.

The 258 should be a 16lb max, but I don't know if it'd help you significantly. And, even with a new cap, sometimes it's defective. Does your lower hose have a spring?

Not ideal, but have you considered running slightly richer fuel?

Edited June 6, 2017 by rcb

[gramps1951]

lower hose has a spring thanks

[Don Coatney]

Is this a new problem or has it been going on for a while?

[bambamshere]

I would still check water pump and see if fan in is moving water. See if it has crud or dirt around it. See what the flow is like. 

[gramps1951]

I can see good flow in the rad. This is not a new problem it shows it's self in the summer down here in north carolina  every year.