cooling system

thinking about running a cooling system in my blown bbc door car 1500hp, any thoughts? pros or cons? any input would be welcome. have a filled dart block(to the bottom of the water pump holes,and aluminum water heads.
Thanks

 

is this a street car? in any way??

 

I did it for 1 year when I first got into the blown thing. I took it off after 1 year. It makes it hard to heat the motor up and then it seems to hold the heat in after a run not letting the engine cool off quick enough. Now I just use my barrel valve like everyone else for my radiator. Plumbing is an absolute nightmare! I had fuel lines and water lines running everywhere. I have never regretted pulling it off. I also have alot more room to work around the front of the engine. WIth everything I have hanging off the front of the engine now there is no way I could run a cooling system. Unless you plan on driving on the street there is no need for it.

 

this is no way a street car, how do you use the barrel valve to keep it cool? and will it be ok to use the water heads empty?

 

Cooling

The best way to cool it is reverse flow cooling. put in water from the rad to the heads and take it out from the w/p. or if the block is solid with water heads put water in front of the head and take it out of the back... We did also run water in the water block and heads, not anymore to much weight and troble...

 

Turn the barrel valve to a higher % to put more fuel in at idle and it will keep your engine cool. If you want the engine hotter lean it down. I usually pull the fuel shut off part way when warming up the engine till it builds a little heat and keep from washing the cylinders down. I have water heads and I run the engine without any water in it. It has never been an issue.

 

Running water heads dry.

If its a spread exh port head like a hemi or BBC dry shouldnt be a problem.

We run a chrysler wedge motor and tried running water heads dry and it wasnt happy with it, the center two exhaust ports made it really hard on head gaskets. Now we circulate water through the heads and couldnt be happier with it.

We dont cool the heads, its more of a temperature balancer for us.

 

When I ran a blown SBC I used to have water in the heads only and it was a pain in the ass and didn't seem to help anyways.We had trouble with sealing the water ports on the copper gaskets,lots of corosion,and it's one more thing to worry about. I see no point unless you drive it back to the pits after a pass.

 

Ok so here is a real dumb question if i run a dry system is there any way to measure engine temp to know if it gets to hot? or so i can warm it up to a consistent temp?

 

Yes.
Pick a spot on each head, like inbetween cyls 3/5 and 4/6 and either put a temp sender there (the ones that look like a crimp-on wire ring) for your data logger or multi-meter or just use that spot as your bullseye for your infrared gun.

 

Sure - you just want a CHT kit rather than a EGT.

Give me a call or e-mail - I have them

GK gkelley@motorsportsinnovations.com - 609-265-2110

 

I ran the reverse flow deal in my boat on race gas years ago worked great