BBR's 83GT - 552 BBF version 3.0 (at least)

[STINEY]

You said you might need a new hood, not sure if an 85 will work or if it tall enough.

http://youngstown.craigslist.org/pts/2938798084.html

Man, if that weren't 4 hours round trip away I'd snatch that up! Wonder how hard it would be to convert to hinges...hmmm...

[BBR]

That is the factory location for 460's. Makes for a nice looking install, but it's a PITA to tighten the belt because the adjuster is on the bottom!

[BBR]

All finished. Filled it up and turned the pump on....... no leaks! Knock on wood! haha Started the car and it took a while to get to 180 deg, turned the electric fan on and the temp went back to 170-ish and stayed there. OAT is 72 deg. I did not drive it though. I wanted to let it sit with water in it for a while before I ventured off somewhere.



The alternator is apparently doing it thing too. The belt was not tight enough so I would get a squeal when I blipped the throttle and when I turned the electric fan on. Whoo Hoo!

Only problem I noticed is that the fuel level gauge does not seem to be working. Either that or someone done jacked my fuel! I'll have to check the wiring diagram to make sure something in the old alternator wiring does not need to be connected to 12v.

[Mater]

huh noramly when senders fail they go to over full. tryed putting gas in it to see if it moves? maybe some one did steal your gas

[BBR]

I have a locking gas cap, so I really don't think they did. I think it's just not getting power since I removed the factory alternator and put in a 1 wire. Looking at the wiring schematic right now.

[BBR]

Oh yeah, the mechanical pump was making about 20 psi at hot idle and went up from there with rpm. The electric pump is making around 10 psi when it was warm.

[TheSilverBuick]

Hopefully that's enough psi to keep the boiling bubbles at bay.

[BBR]

If necessary, I think I can increase the high side psi a bit by installing a smaller restrictor in the water neck. Right now, it's just got a hollowed out t-stat in it.

I will test my theory by squeezing off the upper hose and watching the pressure gauge.

[STINEY]

I will test my theory by squeezing off the upper hose and watching the pressure gauge.

Easy there Hoss........ don't go getting all high-techy on us!

[milner351]

Isn't system pressure determined by the cap on the radiator?

Hopefully you can go back to running a thermostat once you've determined the electric pump has adequate flow rate to keep that big mill cool.

[BBR]

The more I learn about cars, the more I realize I don't know much about cars. Cooling system pressures is a prime example of that. I always figured it was all pretty much at the same pressure, but found out there is a high pressure side and a low pressure side.

From the pump to the radiator inlet (or t-stat, whichever is a bigger restriction) is the high pressure side. The other side of the radiator to the pump is the low pressure side. The radiator cap always goes on the low side. The pressure on the high side can be well in excess of the cap's rating.

My low pressure cap is a 16, but at idle, the mechanical pump was making 20 psi on the high side. As pump speed increased, it would increase rapidly and easily blow water past a 24lb. cap in the upper hose (high pressure side). This worried me because BBF's are known for barfing core plugs and I don't need that happening.... ever.

[milner351]

AHA - thanks for the lesson - makes sense, same reason why they put springs in the lower hose, DUH, I should have realized that.

[BBR]

It ws 94 deg here today so I got to do some hot weather driving today. Water temp got to 190-ish and pretty much just stayed there. It actually went down a bit at long stop lights. Made me real happy to see that. A real test will be driving it down the highway though. High side water pressure was 18lbs when the water temp was 190, so it does not look like I am in any danger of pushing water past the upper hose cap.

[TheSilverBuick]

Temperature going down when stopped is a positive sign.

[Beagle]

It's got a big honkin fan is what I'm hearing. Good to know they are up to it, item number 793 on my "look into it" list.