OT, but my son is out of surgery and home. He has a big ol' pin sticking through two bones and the growth plate of his right pinky and out the side of his hand. He went from hungry and crabby to hungry and LOOOOOOPY. Before we went to the surgery clinic he helped me take the radiator out of the truck. He doesn't remember it and denies he had anything to do with that job More and more like his grandfather JK. Anyway, all seems well on that front.

t

 

Tyler this is the same one I was talking about. I also bought this radiator. this link is direct to their website.http://www.wwwsuperiorradiator.com/

 

Here is one of theirs on eBay. I did a best offer of 250 and shipping to me was 50
1948-1952 TRUCK aluminum radiator | eBay
I tried to offer less and it didn't work out.

 

OK, got it straight now. So are these 4 row radiators or whatever? Bigger cooling capacity than the stock radiator I just removed?

 

Tyler, your latest video with the eruptions is a classic air bubble clearing itself. If you'd left the cap on loosely, so the air could escape but water couldn't (as much), topped it off while running, I'd bet it wouldn't have happened again. But your water looked filthy, or maybe it's just the camera.

 

Well they are a 2 core, but the "core" as it's called, are the tubes that the coolant runs down through. on ,what we know as a 3 core or 4 core, would have tubes that are a small tube(aprox. 3/8" wide) so a 3 core(typical would have a total tube width of aprox. 1 1/8". a 4 core would give you a total of 1.5" aprox.

This particular radiator is a 2 core, but...the cores(tubes) are 1" wide each. giving you, nominally the same cooling surface as a 4 core old style and then some.
Some say the old 4 cores are actually too thick to be as effective as originally thought. I can't confirm or deny this, but my point is...this radiator should have no problem cooling your 351W.
I had a '78 Bronco with a 400c.i.- Edelbrock performer package(cam,intake,carb) with a new 3 core(old style) and never had a
problem with cooling/heating. long story, but trying to help.

 

I just watched both your videos for the first time. My suggestion would be a new water pump and radiator and flush that motor before installing both. I would remove the old radiator,thermostat, and the lower radiator hose BEFORE flushing the engine. That will give you as much free flow as you can get. Your old radiator is simply OLD, yes it could be repaired probably, but You will have a pretty penny in repairs and you can buy the new one for a little more,maybe even less, in the long run. Plus the original radiator is only designed for aprox. 4 psi. you 351W came with a radiator that would hold 13-16 psi. That extra psi can help raise the boiling point of the coolant. Thats not the main goal, but it does help the whole picture in the end. The second video has the indication that the engine is definitely overheating just by the way it starts. When a motor is real hot, it will hesitate to crank, like it did. The other thing I see( like my 351W transplant) you fan sits really low, and with no shroud to help direct airflow, can also contribute to lack of efficient cooling, so you may want to put an electric fan on the new radiator. One that will pull air through the entire radiator.
If that engine continues to overheat, you are subjecting it to cracking or warping something that is no fun to deal with. Warped, cracked block or heads are not what you want to play with. Hope that helps!

 

Jeff and Ross,
Thanks for the input guys. I have already pulled the radiator and will replace it with a brand new one. I will also replace the water pump. Ross, you said it looks like a bubble clearing, but Jeff you say it looks like overheating. I really don't know which it is...Hopefully changing the waterpump, radiator and fan, plus cleaning out the cooling system really well will solve all this.

Best,T

 

I'm not disagreeing with Ross, there could be air coming up there as well, but based on the way it started in the second video( nice job on the video btw!)
after it had been running, the second startup in the video, it clearly sounds like a hot motor trying to restart. It's kinda hard to troubleshoot from a video, on some stuff, because the second startup can also be caused by the ignition timing being a little to advanced. I don't want to throw too many possibilities out there though. I am sure your head is spinning enough right now. Don't worry, it will come around, just needs a little TLC!

 

Hey Tyler,
Soak those waterpump bolts with PBblaster over night before you
try to take that waterpump out. Maybe even a couple of times before
trying it.

Nice job getting that radiator out of there.

Ben in Austin

 

Hahaha! Thanks Ben. It was pretty ironic how the radiator removal went down. My son helped me with it rt before we went to the hospital for his hand surgery. We are SUPPOSED to be making memories by rebuilding this truck together, but he doesn't remember pulling the radiator at all! It was a full 2 hours before he went under, but still...zero recollection of it! We were back at it today though. He got the dressing on his hand all greasy. He can't do much right now but was eager to help where he could. We were just trying to pull off the crappy old brush bar from the front bumper so nothing too complicated. But every flippin bolt was rusty and stubborn.

Front clip is next. Then water pump. Then engine.

T

 

So my last post brings up an issue with regard to all this radiator/cooling system stuff. It seems this engine will certainly need significant work--gaskets, rings etc. I think it wise to get it looked at real closely and I am running on the assumption that I will need a pretty thorough overhaul.

Assuming that is the case, it doesn't make sense to me to buy a nice, new, clean radiator and new water pump and put them on an engine/block that is probably gonna continue to pump rust etc. into and through them. Would it be wisest to go ahead and pull the engine, get done whatever overhaul/rebuild that needs to be done, THEN hook up the new pump and radiator and hoses? Is there any point in doing the pump and radiator right now, before the assumed overhaul?

t

 

Yes, ultimately that would be best if you are gonna have the engine rebuilt.

 

Hey Tyler,
You won't hurt the radiator or waterpump by putting them on now.
Just as an aside you have rust on the underside of the hood - that seems unusual to me - you might have had steam & water leaking under there for a while.
--------------------------------

Hmmm... You seem to be in a hurry to go after that engine - It doesn't sound all that bad. Is it leaking oil? Do you have water in the oil? What does the compression check of the cylinders tell you?
Do you have a plan for what you want done? Rebuild bottom end?
New top end with new cam? Electric ignition is very nice - your get rid of those finicky points. New valve covers - a lot of choices there for looks.

Why not continue down your path & complete the engine overheating work? Make sure that works before tearing into the engine. Drive it for a while - see what it tells you. (It's running - that's nice).

Ben in Austin

 

Good point Ben, I agree. Maybe you don't need to rebuild it. That's gonna be a pretty fair amount of down time and work for ya. If you get the overheating issue conquered, you can have some run time on the truck and let it tell you more. I will admit though, a fresh and clean engine is easier to paint! LOL, but thats not a good enough reason to have it rebuilt, at least for me.