coolant hose?

[Stano]

Ok if you remember a few weeks ago I was asking for all your expertise (sp) on engine cooling. Well I got it down to a tolerable temp but I was looking at the big block in my dads dually he picked up yesterday an there is a hose going from the water pump to the intake below the waterneck, and the regular heater hoses from the intake and the radiator. My question is since I shaved my heater in my 67 and I have the bosses plugged in the intake and the water pump would a hose running from the water pump to the intake like a big block have any affect on my engine temp? I have a small block if you hadn't guessed. LOL I was also wondering if anyone else had shaved their heaters and plugged their intake and water pump had any problems running warm?

[O'l Buck]

i'm not 100% sure on this, but i would think it would mess with the natural flow of things to have one of the ports blocked off, If I were gonna do something like that, I'd find a piece of pipe the right diameter, clamp it to the intake bolts along the valve cover and connect it with hose to hook the two ports together.

[Stano]

I understand what you mean about the natural flow, but what about some later GM that has one heater hose hooked to the intake and one to the radiator. There is no direct water flow from pump to intake here. How bout this does anyone have a truck that was not equipped with a heater and has a V8? I have a feeling this will plague me for many moons.

[Duallie]

The extra little hose is to keep a small amount of the coolant circulating past the thermostat, so that the temperature of the coolant better represents the temperature of the whole engine.
There may also be an issue concerning the prevention of pump impeller erosion due to cavitation, especially with aluminum impellers.

IMHO

[Slammed67]

My heater is also shaved and I just plugged the holes in the intake and water pump. I haven't driven it yet, but I don't see how it would affect cooling.

[COBALT]

Remember that the engine is cooled by convection (heat transferred to a moving fluid). Heat is grabbed by the coolant, and then expelled out of the radiator to the outside air. The water pump is designed to pull cooled fluid from the bottom of the radiator and throw it back at the engine. The heater is basically a parallel system that does exactly the same job as the heater hoses and radiator, but it doesn't have a thermostat. Hot fluid comes out the manifold and is sent through the heater core to return either cooled or the same temperature depending on whether or not the heater was on. Therefore, the water pump is controlling forward pressure through both systems, and these two systems are parallel.

If you block both passages depending on how your water pump was designed it may cause cavitation inside the pump, which could cause turbluent flow to and from the radiator. Your cooling effects may be hampered because fluid which would normally be sent to a heater core would instead tumble around in the pump, and ultimately be sent to the radiator. You should end up with higher pressure in the water pump, which may cause radiator hoses or thermostat housing to leak over time. Ultimately you may just have a higher chance of overheating. I'd connect the two passages with a small piece of pipe, and allow the pump to do it's job (again, unless you have a pump that won't be effected). Over time you may wear your pump out, or you won't see any effects at all. I would hope you have a good radiator, though...