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Turned out to be an air bubble behind T-stat. The way I had the small hose routed that fed the crossover tube it went up higher than the level in the radiator and didn't get fluid in. I went and bought a longer piece of 5/16 heater hose and routed it different. Seems to flowing well now w/no leaks.
I ordered a new oil cooler block off plate and a 90 deg 1/8 NPT elbow today; hopefully that will end my small leak on the oil pressure sending unit.
Edit 5/8: installed the new oil cooler block off plate. If this was the source of the leak (which I think it was), this should fix it. I just don't think the old cover had enough threads to get a good seal for the NPT.
Last edited by Goldhawg; 05-08-2014 at 05:17 PM.
Reason: Added picture
Hope to keep the wood, but man is it expensive. Unfortunately I can't reuse mine since it is cut out of the radio. We'll see.
But I did get a universal size griffen radiator from Summit yesterday; I think I'll be pretty happy but I think it sits a bit taller than my stock radiator. I'll make it work. At less than $300, seems pretty good.
Update: I just got a leak on the cross tubes on my THIRD griffen radiator. I talked to the engineer at griffen after the first two, and he convinced me that the way I had mounted the windstar electric fans would torque the radiator and cause it to fail. They had never had the problems I had. So on the next one I welded some bosses on the four corners of the radiator, and mounted the fan to that. That should have spread out the load, but alas I have another leak. I will not be getting another griffen. Thinking about this setup off ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-1972-GM...hWayJK&vxp=mtr
Or just thinking of putting a c/l or pick a pull f-body in for super cheap and see if I can run w/no leaks!
I'm also thinking about swapping in a flowkooler water pump "while I'm in there" as I have a large gap between the temperatures at the head (which controls my efan) and at the block (where my temp gauge gets its signal). My efan runs most of the time. Thinking more flow thru the engine (since I'm usually at low RPM with double overdrive) would help.
I used a radiator from DNAMotoring on a 72 Cutlass with a 454 in the last couple of weeks and it worked great. Was extremely cheap but a direct drop-in, nothing had to be moved or modified at all. Temps went from running around 230 to struggling to get above 190. Even during the 20 minute cam break-in the temps never got over 185.
I used a radiator from DNAMotoring on a 72 Cutlass with a 454 in the last couple of weeks and it worked great. Was extremely cheap but a direct drop-in, nothing had to be moved or modified at all. Temps went from running around 230 to struggling to get above 190. Even during the 20 minute cam break-in the temps never got over 185.
Update: I just got a leak on the cross tubes on my THIRD griffen radiator. I talked to the engineer at griffen after the first two, and he convinced me that the way I had mounted the windstar electric fans would torque the radiator and cause it to fail. They had never had the problems I had. So on the next one I welded some bosses on the four corners of the radiator, and mounted the fan to that. That should have spread out the load, but alas I have another leak. I will not be getting another griffen. Thinking about this setup off ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-1972-GM...hWayJK&vxp=mtr
Or just thinking of putting a c/l or pick a pull f-body in for super cheap and see if I can run w/no leaks!
I'm also thinking about swapping in a flowkooler water pump "while I'm in there" as I have a large gap between the temperatures at the head (which controls my efan) and at the block (where my temp gauge gets its signal). My efan runs most of the time. Thinking more flow thru the engine (since I'm usually at low RPM with double overdrive) would help.
Im using that ebay radiator in my 68 cutlass. Seems decent although we will see how well the fans work once i start actually driving the car. Cools the motor down idling in the garage pretty good.
Exhausting update:
I just purchased a set of used mid-length SS Holley blackheart headers from ChuckD71, had him ship to Jet Hot prior to coming my way, and I redid my exhaust to accommodate. I had problems with the passenger side extension; just did not want to go fully on the header itself. I was loathe to try and expand it since I'd already had it coated, but i beat on it enough to get to to cover the slits in the tube. It being a bit lower (I suspect because not fully being all the way up) meant I didn't have to modify the crossmember at that side. Because I'm using the BRP mounts (which cause the engine to sit higher), I had interference with the crossmember. So I cut it out and Tig welded a piece of stainless steel that I think will certainly hold it. I also had to cut the converters out and do work on them and the X-pipe, but a few hours of work with my Tig did the trick. I did find out I used the wrong filler (I used 308 and should have used 309 since the crossmember is mild steel), so I'll have to take it out, grind the weld out and rinse, wash, repeat with 309 filler which I just got. My Tig skills still need work, but its night and day better than my first attempt years ago (as you can see from the original welds I did on the X-pipe).
Nevertheless my driving impressions are very positive. I haven't really done a full out run, but stepping on the gas at 2000 rpm feels much more responsive, and it seems to pull a lot stronger. I was originally at 385 RWHP; I feel confident I'm now well over the 400 level. Overall I'm happy with the setup, but I'll probably make my own custom crossmember over the winter.
Looks good. I wasn't sure how the pre-fitment coating would work out but looks like it wasn't a huge issue. Pretty neat trick on the crossmember, maybe the Gforce one would be an option. I had one, they are built like tanks and have a lot of exhaust clearance.
Summer update. Got over 11,000 miles on the swap since the install oh so many years ago, and this summer was mild and fall is really nice in Ohio so I've been driving it to work most days; put almost 2k miles this summer. Got one of the Maguiers DA polishers and cut, polished and finish waxed the Cutlass and it looks good! Driving is super smooth. Only issue is I have a lingering P0171/P0174 code that I can't figure out. Most often its an intake gasket but Ive searched for leaks and even made myself a home-made smoke machine and couldn't find any source of intake leak. Doesn't seem to affect it much, but I hate always having the SES light on.
05-04-2014, 05:24 PM
