Deja vu! I pulled in another one - AGAIN!

[67_C-30]

A buddy called me and told me about this truck a few years ago, and I went out and bought it. It has real decent bed and pretty solid cab besides outer rockers and cab corners. The floors, cowl, and kick panels are nice. The PO tried to bondo the corners of the doors, but overall its a very nice starting point for a project. I was going to build it for myself and I ended up finding the SWB '71 A/C cab truck I have, and then ended up buying my red '69 C-10 so it got bumped down the priority list. A while back, my brother was wanting a project and I ended up getting rid of it to him. He got hot on it for a while, and did work to it including installing a good running 350/TH350. Lately he hasn't touched it and he sorta lost interest. It just needs exhaust put on it and it will be a driver. He called me last week and said he may get rid of it, so I bought it back. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I know I'm going to put some ramhorns on it and have the exhaust run to get it driving. The brakes still work fine, so its not going take much. My crazy brother even commented that if I got it running and driving that he might buy it back. I told him it was going to cost him though!

[Longhorn Man]

I'd check the brakes and bearings man. I just pulled some bearings out of the 1/2 ton suspention that just went under the burb.... smelled like the crap in the grease trap at work. (very bad) They ended up being pitted and junk. Woulda been bad news had I just said screw it and rolled with it.

[toddtheodd]

Don't run the ram horns if they intake has been upgraded. When I upgraded my intake, it caused my truck to get hot on the highway. The faster I went, the hotter it got.
When I replaced the ram horns with long tube headers, it stopped overheating.
Todd

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by toddtheodd

Don't run the ram horns if they intake has been upgraded. When I upgraded my intake, it caused my truck to get hot on the highway. The faster I went, the hotter it got.
When I replaced the ram horns with long tube headers, it stopped overheating.
Todd

That makes no sence at all. Esp since the truck ramhorn manifolds is the second best flowing SBC manifold ever made, out flowed only by the vette units.
I honestly suspect your timing was off or vac advance was plugged into the wrong port.
There is just no way that running manifolds instead of headers would make the engine run hot.

[semperfidoordie]

that's a real good looking rig man. Hope you do good things with it

[dukcaln]

Originally Posted by semperfidoordie

that's a real good looking rig man. Hope you do good things with it

x2

[bad6772]

Ditto.........Never heard of that..........

[67_C-30]

I gotta agree with LonghornMan and bad6772, ram horns are the only manifolds I use (if I can) and they about the best there is.

[toddtheodd]

I had never heard of it either, which is why I spent a fortune replacing everything else first.
I had replaced the stock intake manifold and carb with a edelbrock performer rpm and 750 square bore carb...
Then, the faster I would go on the highway, the hotter it got. At 40, it would run with the gauge in the middle, at 60, it was pushing the hot line, and at 70, it was at the overheating mark.
I replaced the water pump, 3 different temp thermostats, heater core, and hoses.
Then I reverse flushed the radiator. Then I replaced it with a 4 core radiator.
When NONE of that worked... at all... I replaced the exhaust with hooker comp long tube headers, and then the truck ran cold and I had to put a higher temp thermostat back in it to get it back up around the middle.
Oh, and I didn't adjust the timing or vacuum or anything after switching out the exhaust, so it wasn't that.
Take a bone stock motor and exhaust, replace the intake and carb with better flowing models, and it will over heat. Simple physics in that the motor is now sucking in more air than can easily escape without the motor working harder to push the air out. The higher the rpms were, the hotter it got because it was fighting to exhale.
Stock intake and exhaust is like breathing in and out through a coffee stirrer. When I replaced the intake, it was like running while inhaling through a paper towel roll, but still trying to exhale through the coffee stirrer.
When I put on a freer flowing exhaust, the motor didn't have to work to exhale, and the temps went down.
That is my best guess as to an explanation. I truthfully don't know why it ran hot the faster it went, but replacing the exhaust fixed it.
So now... you have heard of that.

edit
I went to my profile trying to find all the threads I started, and it only goes back 75 threads, or else I would link to all the posts where I was posting trying to figure out why my truck was running hot, and what I was doing to try to fix it.

edit edit
For those of you running ram horns... what other motor mods do you have? Would love to hear from the people with superchargers on ram horns...

[67_C-30]

I'm not saying you didn't have those problems, but I still have to disagree with the theory. An aftermarket intake and carb has never made any engine I've had run hot with stock exhaust and everything else. Ram horns came from the factory on 350HP 327's, 350HP Camaro 350 LT1's and even 302's in the Z28's. The 302's and the LT1's had a high rise aluminum intakewith 780 cfm Holley carbs and aggressive duration solid cams. I have built numerous hobby stock dirt track engines that run higher RPM's than any street engine would with ram horns, because you cannot run headers. Were you running stock single exhaust with stock muffler? That would be the only way I could understand maybe why it was happening. It sounds like a lean condition or high timing to me that would cause what you describing.

[toddtheodd]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

I'm not saying you didn't have those problems, but I still have to disagree with the theory. An aftermarket intake and carb has never made any engine I've had run hot with stock exhaust and everything else. Ram horns came from the factory on 350HP 327's, 350HP Camaro 350 LT1's and even 302's in the Z28's. The 302's and the LT1's had a high rise aluminum intakewith 780 cfm Holley carbs and aggressive duration solid cams. I have built numerous hobby stock dirt track engines that run higher RPM's than any street engine would with ram horns, because you cannot run headers. Were you running stock single exhaust with stock muffler? That would be the only way I could understand maybe why it was happening. It sounds like a lean condition or high timing to me that would cause what you describing.

It was running 2 1/4" dual exhaust through glass packs.
The first day I ran it open headers. Then I realized just how loud that was and put the very same glass packs from the previous exhaust welded onto the collectors and bolted to the headers with no pipes. Then, when it came time to pass inspection, I had a dual 2 1/2" exhaust run with Dynomax Bullets exiting straight back, 18 inches past the cab of the truck under the bed.

I don't know dude... maybe my ram horns were f***ed up (though I didn't see anything in them), but the overheating stopped immediately after I replaced them, and I've never had a problem since.
As I said, I had to put the 180 temp thermo back in because the truck was running cold after I switched headers.

Todd

[67_C-30]

That's definitely a new one to me, too. Like I said, I'm not at all doubting or questioning what you said your truck was doing. I've been building engines for over 15 years, and I've seen stuff to this day that couldn't explain and didn't make sense. We know everything that is happening has a reason, but finding that reason is not always easy! I'm glad you got it straightened out though.

[toddtheodd]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

That's definitely a new one to me, too. Like I said, I'm not at all doubting or questioning what you said your truck was doing. I've been building engines for over 15 years, and I've seen stuff to this day that couldn't explain and didn't make sense. We know everything that is happening has a reason, but finding that reason is not always easy! I'm glad you got it straightened out though.

Oh believe me... not as glad as I was. I was starting to think I had a serious problem with the motor itself.
The way I came to the solution was by asking myself what had changed. And the only thing different was that I had put a higher flowing intake on it. I was planning on hooker headers anyway, I just went ahead and put them on sooner than I could really afford (hence the reason I first ran open, then reused the glasspacks to tone it down a little... couldn't afford the full exhaust at that moment).
Luckily, my gamble paid off.
Todd

[72BlckButy]

Nice score, looks like a great project!

[67_C-30]

I'm probably going to get the exhaust on it and check everything out, drive it around to shake everything down, and then sell it. I now have 4 SWB fleets and 1 SWB stepper (along with a bunch of parts trucks, (3) 1 Tons, (2) 3/4 Tons, (1) Blazer and Partridge in a pear tree) and lord knows I don't need yet another project. It would be a nice foundation for good project though!

[original_balzer]

I just cant belive the ram horn story. Musta been something funky in that situation. I have run over 500hp on ram horns no over heating.

On the other hand my 77 runs cooler now with ram horns than the headers that was on it when I got it. BUT theres a reason for that too. The headers where like swiss cheese and all the heat and some of the fumes where right there in the engine bay, instead of being sent down the pipe.

[powell72]

Sell it huh? Yeah, O.K.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by powell72

Sell it huh? Yeah, O.K.

It sounds good in theory doesn't it???

[powell72]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

It sounds good in theory doesn't it???

Whatever you need to tell yourself is fine with me, just make sure we get an updated group photo with the new truck in it.


The sickness is strong with this one...

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by powell72

The sickness is strong with this one...

I'll have to tell my wife that one!! She will no doubt agree!

[Longhorn Man]

yeah, but in theory, comunism works.

[ChevLoRay]

On changing the intake and carb and having it run hot...

I went from the stock intake with an adapter and an Edelbrock 1401, to an Edelbrock Performer with an Edelbrock 750 Q-Jet. I didn't pay any attention to the temp guage, but I got some heat soak issues that made the starter crank slowly. I put a heat shield on the solenoid and never another issue.

The Q-Jet ran much leaner than the AFB-type, and that made for a hotter running engine, in my case. Lean engines run hotter. The 1401 was jetted for performance and it ran way too rich, which lead to a cooler-running engine.

So, what kind of carb did you run before you changed the intake/carb?

[toddtheodd]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

On changing the intake and carb and having it run hot...

I went from the stock intake with an adapter and an Edelbrock 1401, to an Edelbrock Performer with an Edelbrock 750 Q-Jet. I didn't pay any attention to the temp guage, but I got some heat soak issues that made the starter crank slowly. I put a heat shield on the solenoid and never another issue.

The Q-Jet ran much leaner than the AFB-type, and that made for a hotter running engine, in my case. Lean engines run hotter. The 1401 was jetted for performance and it ran way too rich, which lead to a cooler-running engine.

So, what kind of carb did you run before you changed the intake/carb?

It had a 4 barrel Q-jet on it.

Oh, and the ram horns were in pretty bad shape when I pulled them. Did I say pretty bad shape? I meant covered in rust and blackened in places.

Todd

[WIDESIDE72]

My guess on the truck running hot after the carb swap was itwas too lean and the headers covered this up some. Also, where the headers coated? Coated headers will get the heat out of the engine compartment faster.
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[special-K]

OOPS! You clicked on the link in Jamie's present post and responded to a hijack in his 6 year old one Still helpful info,though