Donnas '63 belching coolant....??
 

She is unable to drive this car any more, but really enjoys riding in it & the associated gear shiftings........

We drove it 15 miles to church, when we got back home, it proceeded to run a pint or so out the over flow of its original 4spd factory radiator. Three cores, vertical tubes, outlet on left top, right bottom. Has taken to doing this every time we go more than 10 miles.

New US made 180 T-stat did not help.........suspect it is time for a new, (bigger ??) radiator.

Are there any 3 tube direct replacements available??

Are there any direct replacement 4 tubes available??

Are aluminum ones street worthy???

Best brand to get??? Where??

PJH

PJ,has it always done it or did it just start?Has the timing slipped?As you know if the dist is loose it can retard itself and run hot.Tom

Don't know the history of your car, but the water pump clearance to the pump housing plate should be checked. Too much clearance will cause coolant flow to suffer .

My car did exactly what you describe until I tightened up my clearance. Go to the sticky "chalk up another for the cast impeller" at the top of this forum for a detailed explanation.

George

George,if a early 63 car it might have a 4 bolt pump and no plate.Tom

didn't know that...thought the pre '68 or so were 8 bolts, shows how much I know.....:( It could be a bad pump then.

George

Mid 63 got the change to 8.All the 63 SDs got the 4.Tom

I just bought a Cold Case radiator from Ames and I like it. My original's lower tank started leaking again at a seam. I said to myself... self it's time to put the aluminum radiator in. I'm glad I did if only because the original was getting ready to crap out on me. And the Cold Case looks pretty darned good too. It's well made and a whole lot less expensive than the other aluminum radiators out there.

IF you go aluminum I was told be careful and don't apply too much paint. That will affect the cooling. Mine is painted and in. I couldn't stand to see the aluminum thru the grills so I did paint mine. It's doing as they said it would. :thumbup: Temps do not climb like they did with my original re-cored radiator and stays steady at 180. At one long long redlight we have here the temp climbed to 190 but came right back down once moving.

Engine is a relative unknown........'76 400 bought for a song. Was a rebuild that had a std shift flywheel bolt in causing it to be locked up. I took enough of it apart back then to confirm. Has the '76 water pump/timing cover. Car has been problem free since installation of that engine in '02. Ran like a new watch then, still does. I suspect the '63 temp gauge may not be working as I get no cold lite as I do on my '61 car. May have 2000 miles on since '02.

PJH.

Could there be air in the cooling system? Or too much coolant? I've seen my GTO do both because of both reasons.

With the new cold Case I didn't have enough coolant in the radiator so I added half a gallon of distilled water and let it idle for half an hour. I shut the engine down and within 5 minutes it started marking it's territory. Once it quit I let it sit and the next day took it out for a drive. Parked back in the garage everything was ok... no more marking it's spot.

So don't add any water or antifreeze after your runs and see what happens. Let it sit and cool down then check the coolant level. You might find there's been too much in the radiator.

How about adding a coolant recovery bottle like on a newer vehicle?

Any coolant that burps out gets returned to the system, this way you can keep the top tank full and add some capacity.

That's true Bart. I plan on that soon for this Cold Case radiator.

Also check the radiator cap and the gasket. I got to thinking of that last night. Either or both could be bad. And yes, I've had a couple of new ones that were bad right out of the box. Or it was someone changing out the good cap and gasket with a bad set bck into the box. That happens too.