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Basement Paul wrote:Today I removed the radiator. I want it to be bigger. I thought it had a two core but it is a three core. Tomorrow I'm going to take it back to the local radiator shop to see if they can add a fourth row. I've had some cooling issues when driving at freeway speeds or in the heat, so before spring hits, I'm going to try to remedy the problem.

When I read this the first thing I thought was "Modine". Seems you landed close to that.

This afternoon I got a voicemail from the radiator shop that my new radiator was in. On a whim I stopped by the radiator shop on the way home to see if anyone was still there. They "close" at 5pm, but many times there's someone hanging around later. I rolled in around 5:35 and the senior owner was still there.

As you can see below I got my new aluminum radiator. It appears to be an almost exact fit. I will have to reroute the upper tranny line, and run return line from the heater core to a slightly different location, but otherwise looks to be the exact same size. The tanks are wider, the three cores are wider, AND it's aluminum which means it's lighter, and should cool better. The only thing I'm a little afraid of is that it's Chinese. If I didn't tell you that though, you'd think by looking at it that it's of pretty high quality. For $300 vs $900-$1000 for a custom made aluminum one, I'm ready to roll the dice.

This weekend on Sunday it's supposed to be over 40 degrees out so I'm going to pull the Caddy outside, flush out the motor with water a lot to try and get some of the rusty residue out, and then maybe start installing the radiator. Although there's no hurry so that might wait until next week sometime.

Here's the shots of the new one vs the old one:











-BP

The only thing I'm a little afraid of is that it's Chinese.

Don't worry. So is my Champion aluminum radiator but its doing fine. I think the quality is excellent.

Chinese food is good, why shouldn't your radiator be good???

GM

So today I went to back the Caddy out of the garage to flush out the engine block and heater core with some fresh clean water. When I put the car in reverse it seemed to be going into gear slowly. Then I started to see splatter on my nice clean wall in front of my car... turns out I neglegted to tie the tranny lines together and blew trans fluid all over the floor and drywall. Ouch!

I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of it, and I'll get it fixed this spring if not sooner.

Oh well, the cleanout seemed to work ok otherwise, but the cleanup on the floor was a HUGE mess, and the wall repair IS a HUGE mess. Hopefully my heads will show up this week.

-BP

The heads arrived today and upon careful inspection, they seem to be all they're cracked up to be. Big valves, lots of porting, cool.












This should keep me busy for awhile.

-BP

So I finally got my aluminum radiator "mounted" and figured out. I had to do some grinding, some cutting, some bending, and some sciferin', but I got it where I want it to be and am pretty confident it will work correctly. I'm not going to run the electric fans at first (I had them as backup before and needed them).

Next, on to the cylinder heads. Less figuring out, and more nuts and bolts. Should be fun!



-BP

Some disassembly required.







-BP

Today I got the heads off all the way, cleaned up all the water, and shlepped some WD40 on all the machine surfaces to keep them from rusting.

Now for some clean up and a little parts switching, and let the reassembly begin.









-BP

I spent a good portion of the last two days putting this thing mostly back together. ETA on startup... Saturday. I still have to change the oil / filter, attach the headers to the exhaust, replace the trans pan (bought a new Derale pan), hook up wires to the alternator, and put in coolant. Hopefully everything works perfectly and all I have to do is drive it around and enjoy my summer behind the wheel. The reality is I'll probably have some leaking issues somewhere, but mentally I'm prepared.

Here's a picture of it mostly done.




-BP

So that Saturday I got did get everything all put back together. I did get a chance to start it up, and it does run... poorly. After a lot of screwing around, it seems to me that cylinders 2 and 8 are not firing correctly. I've checked and double checked everything, and all I can figure is that the lifters in those cylinders aren't doing their job while the car is running and the exhaust valves aren't opening up. The header temps on those two pipes are essentially ice cold after I shut the car down.

I can see the valves opening and closing when I turn the engine over, so I know the cam isn't wiped, but I don't think when it's running the lifters have enough suds to open / close the valves. I had a similar scenario in my old Vette when I left the lifters sitting without pressure on them for several months before I reassembled the motor. I have new lifters on order, and will give it a shot sometime over the long weekend coming up (I'm off on Friday too).

-BP

That sucks that it doesnt run right after putting it all back together, especially such an odd problem. Since 2 and 8 are on the same head, and you just had the heads worked on, I'd be suspicious something was wrong with that head.

It would be a lot of fartin' around, but I wonder if you switched heads from side to side if the problem would follow the head or stay with 2 & 8.

-Dave

Did you do a compression test? Wouldn't it idle OK even with collapsed lifter(s)? Just make a lot of valve noise?

No valve noise, but it was popping back through the carb like the exhaust wasn't opening. I didn't do an "official" compression test, but blew compressed air through a big fuel line and each cylinder was able to turn the motor over no problem with about 100 psi (probably less since my seal wasn't that great). All the pushrods are straight, the rockers look good and are free, etc, etc, etc...

This isn't a tough repair, so I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, then I'll worry about compression tests. I'm reasonably confident. Also, I'm going back to the valley pan intake gasket. The head guy doesn't use them, but Edelbrock says they should be used with the Performer intake, so that's what I'm going with.

I don't think I want to switch the heads... that IS a lot of work.

-BP

popping back through the carb like the exhaust wasn't opening

Or, maybe not closing? Don't know if those heads have adjustable rocker arms? If not, and the heads were milled, could the push rods be too long? Just throwing out some thoughts here. With the lifters on the cam base circles, do the push rods rotate?