50 mile second day

[Anonymous]

i kept it down to 60-65 last night. i replaced the cap with a 16lb at lunch and added a bottle of thermal transfer improver(NOS). it never got over 180 coming in this morning but i again kept it down to 60-65(indicated) this is actually closer to 70 due to my oversize tires.

i did order a new replacement radiator anyway. i bought from the the radiator guy on ebay for the best price i could find. i could not find a bolt-in for the 68 falcon six other then an original 2-row. ive got enough hotrods to keep up with and just will leave this one pretty stock.

the hot oil pressure holds at about 21 which i agree scares me. it is about 12 at idle "hot". but i have driven thousands of miles on old chevy sixes worse than this. just watch it close.

i wrote earlier about rebuilds. the rings are fine, it isnt using oil at all. i plan now to leave the pistons alone and do it in two steps. first pull the pan. clean it out. put in a new oil pump. mike the rod journals and put in new rod bearings. this is a fairley easy weekend dabble. and should bring back the oil pressure. the sticky lifters are noisey at start-up but quiet down quickly. i will worry about the head later, but my thoughts now are a post 77 head just for the hardened seats and some potential power/economy improvement. rebuild with a 3 angle job and good stem seals.

i did a search on this website "radiator" got lots of information. i was reading about "heat soak" which i didnt quite understand. are syptoms similar to vapor-lock? i havent seen this yet although my engine is stock.
i know once you get all that iron hot it takes some time to cool it down. i usually try to ease off the freeway for a couple miles to get it cooled off anyway.

thanks for your posts yesterday in reponse to my first extended trip. i really enjoy this website.

 

[I66coupe]

Heat-soak occurs when the engine is shut off. There is no longer any air moving over the engine or coolant moving through it. The engine heats up a bit before it starts to cool down due to the hood and fenders trapping the heat in and keeping air from circulating around it..

If your engine is running on the warm side, it may boil over just a bit from heat-soak when it is shut off.

 

[Anonymous]

Heat soak can cause several problems. It can evaporate the fuel in the carb or vaporize it in a line causing a vapor lock. It can heat up electrical components such as starters or condensors and cause them to not function. Usually waiting and letting the engine cool back down will get you on your way. Replacing the radiator is a good idea. Flow testing a radiator is not a reliable method of assessing a radiators heat transfer capacity.