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okay guys...not posting this in the blog, but I got the radiator in the 37 and hooked it all up. put in the evans coolant. started the car and adjusted the clicking lifter, PITA to do while running and with fenders on. once I thought I got the tick out and put the valve covers back on...the tick comes back. wtf!!!!!

anyways. to the radiator. when I rev the motor it blows coolant all out of the radiator cap. that makes no sense to me. and when I turn off the warmed car and start the car again a bunch comes out as well, unless the car is cool, then it does not.

it was enough to blow the radiator cap off that I was using, luckily I have others and found one that gripped better and it does not blow off.

and for some reason my brand new aftermarket mechanical temp gauge quite working. it was working before the coolant dropped when the thermostat opened and I noticed it was seeping from the connection, so I tightened it. then it was reading zero. wtf!!

when the car was running I was getting this chirping noise, but it was not the belt. seemed to be coming from the valve area. after awhile of running now it has seemed to go away some.

wtf is going on here guys? why is the coolant flying out of the top of the radiator when I rev the car? this is a non pressurized system btw. original style radiator cap is being used.

The water pump makes the coolant flow from the head into the top radiator tank, from there it flows down through the radiator core. An easy test to see if the core has insufficient flow/is blocked is to rev up the engine a bit and see if the level in the top tank goes up I would conclude that teh radiator core is partially blocked.

Let it idle and check all areas of the rad with infrared thermostat

Is the temp gauge electric or mechanical. If electric, is the ground still good and was there plenty of room in the hole so nothing on the sender was crushed. Same with mechanical -- did the bulb twist with the nut and break the tube or push the sender in so something punctured the bulb.

Not familiar with the non pressure cap construction. Is there any kind of gasket so it seals to the lip on the fill opening? Also is the fluid level correct -- Packard spec'd full is about 1" below the top of seal surface in pressure radiators or in this case, maybe halfway in the tank or fill opening depending on where it is located.

its a mechanical temp gauge. I'm guessing when I tightened it I bent the capillary tube and it broke open and leaked the ether out. shit....my bad.

as to the radiator. it is a brand new all aluminum unit, custom built straight off of the original unit from the car. the cap has a small paper seal and it is an internal locking tab type cap....not external like the pressurized ones.

there is a bleed off tube inside near the cap that comes out of the top tank and runs down for overflow....which I thought was dumb since it isn't a pressurized system.

there should be no blockage as I put in a Gano radiator filter in the top hose...so if there was any blockage it would be there and would decrease the flow coming into the top of the radiator. since its flying out I'm gonna say the flow is good...if not too much. the reason I put the gano unit in was to prevent the new radiator from getting blocked up with the rust and scale from the motor drying out over the last few months.


if I rev up slow and hold the revs, no fluid comes out. but if I quickly rev the motor....fluid flows out of the cap. maybe I just need a better seal?

coolant was pretty full and has gone down probably close to an inch from the underside of the cap. less and less fluid is coming out the more fluid I loose....so maybe I just have it too full along with needing to have a better seal on the radiator cap. its just a thin paper seal.

as to the gauge...I'm starting to think that the fluid I saw seeping out of the sender connection wasn't coolant and was the fluid in the bulb, because even after loosening the nut some there was no fluid leaking....so it was probably the ether and it finished leaking out. so after loosening it...there was nothing left to leak.

my bad.

I'm wondering if I have a blown head gasket, which is just about the dumbest thing I've heard of. is that steam supposed to be coming from the radiator?

when sticking my finger in the radiator fluid...it seems like it has blackish stuff in it. I guess that could just be from the block sitting dry.

I checked the oil and the level is the same and I don't see water in it.

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Rust is red/orange. A block sitting dry will not rust. I have NOS blocks that are 60 years old and have no rust. I have had cars sit 40 years wet and when recommissioned there is no rust/scale problem. The Gano filter is not needed.

You can test the coolant to see if the HG is leaking. As I recall you used a copper colored gasket sealant, when the cars were new no sealant was used. I've never used a sealant and never had a leaker

tested the gases coming out of the radiator with the kit you can rent at autozone. didn't really turn from blue to green or yellow. the damn test fluid is so light blue I could not tell really. maybe it turned a bit blue green, I don't know for sure, but it never turned yellow.

I could tell it turned to yellow when I went to the back of the car and sniffed exhaust into it...so I know it was working.

I used the copper spray on the 55 and had no problems, not sure why that stuff would hurt this one.

I've never seen a radiator emit gas like that, then again I've never had a non pressurized system and I have never used Evans coolant.

but yes when I wiped the inside of the radiator with my finger it had a very fine black tint.

it probably is a blown head gasket. I guess a compression test will tell me more.

the reason I used the filter is that when I got the block back from the machine shop and blew air in it....small chunks of scale would come flying out. I didn't want that in my radiator.

evans coolant does not produce vapor...so wtf is that mist crap coming out of the radiator? if it was exhaust the freaking test fluid would have turned yellow right off with that much vapor coming out!!

this is horseshit.....I never should have rebuilt the damn thing. Feeling very defeated right now.

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Hang in there. You have to keep going. Henry V must be looking forward to the car someday.

Am assuming the block was hot tanked or otherwise cleaned. If so. some of the chemicals used in that process could have left a coating inside the water jacket and might be a source of the black -- or maybe a reaction between the cleaning agent and the Evans. Possibly some oil from the honing or machining could have run inside thru one of the uncovered water jacket holes while that was happening. The compression test will be the way to rule out the gasket so we will wait for more news with crossed fingers.