Re: radiator for a 288 versus a 327

Posted by gone1951 On 2011/5/16 15:25:55

Quote:


Had one thought. Did you replace the radiator cap between the time you pulled the motor and the time you reinstalled? If so is it possible you have the wrong cap. The distance between the top surface of the filler neck on the radiator and the surface where the cap seats inside the filler neck is greater than on most newer radiators. Something like 1 inch. If you just grabbed a 7 pound cap off the shelf at the local auto supply that looked right you may have picked up a cap for a newer radiator that may have a drop of say 3/4 inch vice the 1 inch it should be. Hence the cap would never seat. It would be like running the car with out a cap at all. Something to check. My car had the wrong cap when I got it and would boil over in just a few miles. Installed the correct cap and haven't had a problem in years.

The other thing is that you will always loose some water overboard if you top the water level off. As the water gets hot it expands and has to go somewhere. That somewhere is out the overflow tube and onto the ground. When it boils over and you let it sit and hence stop venting water and you restart it does it start to boil over again as it warms up? Where is the temp gauge sitting when it boils over.

If you check the water level after it cools down and you can check it without loosing a lot more water is the level say 1 to 1 1/2 inches below the top of the radiator or is it well below that level with the tops of the tubes showing with no water above them? If the level is only say 1 inch down I would run the car again and see if it just warms up and boils over again or will it then run without loosing any more water.