[Herb Hagan]

Nice work Guy,
I too have a 68 that will be getting a complete RAII top end and will have to use this for reference material, I may run an aftermarket intake as well.

Thanks,
Herb

["Guy]

Thanks Herb!
Your stuff looks trick too! Good luck with your 68 and let me know if you want some more pics of the box and throttle bracket set-up...glad to share! And thats a fast Ventura...whoa.
And Skip that TA is awsome too it reminds me of Herb Adams taken 10th in the 24 hour Rolex at Daytona! I had 76 white 455 4spd, Herb Adams handling parts sweet hot rod...had to get rid of it when first born came back in 1980, wish I had that car now.

[Skip Fix]

WHy could't you just tap into the part that seals to the water pump?

Looking in the water pump the whole cavity is open from the heater fitting on the timing cover to that bypass portion of the water pump that seals to the crossover.

[Skip Fix]

Nice job channeling the air cleaner looks stock.

[Doug Christie]

Skip, would you want hot water being sucked directly into the water pump without first being cooled by the radiator?

[Skip Fix]

My point was plumbing it into the crossover anywhere goes to the water pump there through that hole. I wasn't wanting to connect there to make it go to the pump but there is already a connection and if you run a heater hose it is doing it also. I just thought it would be a lower straight spot to plumb to instead of the 90 fittings, or just T-ing both to the heater hose connection.

[Doug Christie]

Your correct on the coolant going to the pypass and being drawn in. I would plug the bypass and either run a restrictor plate or modify the thermostat so all the coolant is drawn through the rad.

[gearbanger]

I still believe that blocking the bypass is a good idea, as I have done it. But there are some issues with doing it. I bypassed it and drilled a few small (1/8") holes in the t-stat to act as a bypass but still force the water to go through the radiator. This has to be done to allow some circulation while the t-stat is closed. Otherwise your heads are flaming hot before the t-stat gets the signal to open. Problem is, it weakens the t-stat to drill the flange and I blew a couple of stats out of the seat and wedged them in the waterneck. Also too much bypass equals it takes forever to warm up and it will run below the t-stat temp if it is cold out. I am thinking I will only drill a small hole in the plug that I put in the bypass hole and not drill the stat. That way the t-stat will still have total control of the temperature, and the bypass will not be recirculating very much water.

[ra3goat]

It seems that an ideal system would have a valve that could vary the flow of coolant going to the bypass or the radiator for a given temperature. example: when cold, all water is bypassed. when hot all water goes through radiator. when engine reaches desired operating temperature, the valve allows some through the radiator and some to bypass if necessary. This would require some sort of feed-back...this is getting more complicated, and I think there is a company that has a variable speed/flow controller for electric water pumps.

["Guy]

World of outlaw late model cars that I've seen plumb the back of the heads above the thermostat housing. Anybody use this set-up?

[buwalda]

StewartComponents website has a close-up picture of where to drill the bypass holes in the t'stat.

[buwalda]

Those of you routing water from the rear of the heads to the water cross over at the front might get a rude shock if put a thermocouple in the head near each exhaust valve/port.
If you look at the Pontiac block, it has very few coolant holes in the deck, especially compared to other makes. Most of these holes are towards the rear of the block, with hardly any at the front. This means the combustion chambers [ 1,3, 2,4 ] towards the front of the engine rely on water being pumped to the front of the heads, from the back of the heads. By fitting these bypass hoses, you are diverting some of that flow that should have gone to cool the front chambers. Ofcourse your temp gauge will show a lower temperature because it is getting this cooler water from the rear that has not picked up heat that it would have picked up, if it had traveled the length of the heads, as it was designed to.

[67cruiser]

Please forgive me here guys but you are really going thru alot of extra work and money for really a simple system. Just run a line to the top of the crossover and a simple rubber line from ea. head. I could probably buy another intake for what you guys are investing in this?? Pretty doesn,t make it any faster just pretty!! Just my opinion here!!
doesn,t mean a hill of beans, i just like investing in the bottom end in good rods and pistons to keep it together!!

[Skip Fix]

67 Cruiser- that's what my plans for the dyno were but looks kind of shabby on a car fully detailed out . The AN fittings don't add that much its just if it really helps or not. As Geoff suggested maybe not, but then the factory had one head with and outlet(heater core) and one without, so a difference between sides.

[gearbanger]

Too bad Tom Vaught is not posting anymore, because when we talked about this before, he said something about the type of system the ford modular motors have is kind of like what you are saying. The thermostat closed forces all the water to recirculate in the block. As the thermostat opens, it forces more and more water to the radiator. So it regulates temperature by controling how much cooland goes through the radiator. Pretty neat idea. It is basically a huge thermostatically contolled bypass.

I can't remeber the term he used for that type of system though.

[Herb Hagan]

Use of the AN hardware for me was a safety issue, do not need water leaks @ 120+ MPH. With the new top end hopefully will be 130+ MPH this season.

Herb

[Skip Fix]

Sell me a kit Goatnad!It's pretty and works.

[Herb Hagan]

Skip,
What's your #? It may be better to do it yourself, I can get you all the info on parts you would need. The only custom parts are the head adapters, they are available from Don Benner (PYmember "Nastiac") 410.771.8800. The AN tubing requires a 37 degree flaring tool, which Summit carries the inexpensive model, Scott Esterle can help you with that. The aluminum tubing can be bent by hand, though I did use a bender. Drilling and tapping the crossover for NPT to AN adapters is straight forward as well, but what type of valley pan you run will dictate the fitting style and placement.
If I do it, I wouyd need your intake or crossover to fabricate/install lines, which would mean shipping costs. Just let me know.
Herb

[Skip Fix]

Herb I can do the drilling and tapping. They make bushing to go from 3/4 to 1/2 or 3/8 NPT and you can get -8 for those heads. Although those adapters look a little cleaner. My bendining leaves alot to be desired but that was always on harder steel lines. Isn't here a piece that goes on the hard lines before you flair them? I even have some braided -8 line I got with an intake. The hard lines look pretty nice, where did you get those?

[Skip Fix]

I've got E heads that have tapped water outlets. Butler or KRE valley cover.

281-395-3811