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Cooling system limits again


Doug&Deb

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Keith, I was watching one of your engine rebuild videos and I had a thought on your cooling system issues. Your engine in the Plymouth is a 1953 with internal bypass. It was originally designed for a pressurized system. Perhaps changing the radiator to one that can be pressurized will cool down the engine. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Thanks Doug. The radiator in my Plymouth is pressurized with a 4 lb cap on it. 
 

I’ve thought about my heating issue for some time now. Weighing options. 

 

Recently I met a guy with a ‘38 or so Buick with a straight 8 engine. Overhead valve, rebuilt stock engine and stock cooling system. Tip top shape.  Same type of overheating complaints as me. He had more of a heating issue than me It seems. I gave him all the advice I could. I passed along all the learning I have picked up. Every little detail. He’d tried it all. To no avail.  We chatted, leaning over his fenders for a while. Our heads in the engine bay. It was fun!  My final advice that he agreed to try was removing the thermostat. Just to test flow. To learn if it is somehow impeding flow. He agreed to try that next. 

I thought about affixing a rad shroud. Nope he said. Waste of his time. Did nothing. More fan blades? Nope. Didn’t work for him. All band-aides it would seem. Just attempts at patching up the real root of the problem apparently. 
 

The electric push fan the on front of my rad was my next experiment. I was thinking. Well he tried that too. No improvement. He took it back off as it was impeding hiway airflow.  I Guess my plan to try that is out the window  now too. 
 

Another friend had a custom radiator built for his ‘48 NY’r. 4 core rows deep.  He told me to budget about $750 US.  That in theory should do it I suspect. My current rad is 2 core rods deep. I’m considering just going with a thicker rad, higher cooling capacity system.  As they say “There’s no replacement for displacement”.  I’m thinking of another phrase for a rad:  “Ain’t no room for apathy in capacity”. 

 

I can double the rad depth I have now. Twice the cooling rods.  “Spare the rod spoil the child” also applies it seems. 
Doubling down on the rad capacity is at the fore front of my mind now to get to the root of the problem.  Yes, ya gotta pay to play. 
 

Edited by keithb7
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You might want to talk to a radiator shop.  A 4 core definitely adds more capacity, but can actually impede flow in some cases.  An alternative might be a 2 core radiator with larger tubes. The larger tubes can actually increase surface area over a 4 core.  I had an OT truck and went from a 4 core to a larger 2 core and noticed an improvement in cooling.  Just one more thing to contemplate…

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