Cooling an SBC

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have a SBC with an 8-71 on Alchy I have been running a cooling system but at the end of the year the block split a cylinder at the top so I filled the "new" block all the way up. I also noticed that it wants to pressurize the coolant system through the hole in the bottom corner of the head, I am going to make aluminium plugs for each corner and weld them in but if it starts pushing into the cooling system again does anyone know if I can run it with no coolant? Or will it cause more problems becouse of the center exhaust being next to each other? Thanks.

 

hope this helps...I ran a blown sbc for years filled with nooooo water with no problems ran 6.40's in the 1/4. also will tell you the best thing you could ever do is buy a hemi..if you plan on running hard with a sbc it will cost you a lot of bucks. my question to you is how did this thing work with ''water'' and o ringed heads? if not o ringed u must not be getting muched boost.as far as the split cylinder!! was it in 3 or 5 or 4 or 6? that is a very weak part of this motor.in the first part of this post i said nooo problems running 6.40's it wasn't but we broke more parts than you could ever imagine, the heads were a very weak point. I also still have a few parts if you need anything. I sold this motor to a guy in cal. he has been wanting to sell some of the parts off of it..i had a mike dunn offset air retard also a weaver dry sump system and a rcd crank support this guy was wanting to sell these part. all parts were new any questions let me know or give me a number and I will call p.s i do have also a diaper and a very nice set of zoomies with 8 egt bungs in them

second wind racing

Dave 'CHROME" Lowe

 

we run a SBC in top alcohol here in Australia as our rules still allow them and we do use water to maintain even temps especially around the centre of the eng where the exh valves are together, rodeck and brodix blocks (2 Combo's)
and i must say we,ve never had any problems in the last 10 years only 1 broken valve spring and we torched a head/block due to a blocked nozzle, so sorry guys id have to say its a cheap engine to maintain and we,ve had a really good run with them our best et is 6.03 and with the new brodix eng we hope to run well into the fives (5.8 zone)
We hope to use some of the newer Brodix BD heads which are symetrical and in this case we may try not to use a coolant.
we've hardess tested our heads and with coolant the head sealing area between the exh valves is softer so without water/coolant i could see this problem being a lot worse. Anyway thats what we've found, good luck

 

block cracks

The block I was using was old (1991) and was not siamesed. Block was filled to the water pump holes, the cracks occured from the stud between cylinders 1/3 and 2/4 same place both sides. "New" block (new for me) is siamesed and I stood it on bell housing mount (dowel pins removed) and filled it through the water pump hole and the front freezeplugs. I was running water from the back of the heads (drilled and tapped for -8 an fitting) and taking it out the water pump holes using a remote pump to circulate it. Now I am going to tap the front of the heads and remove the water. The heads have raised up in the center also .0055 on the right (even) and .0030 on the left, so I am going to resurface the minimum to straighten them and I was thinking about injecting water through maybe a -4 fitting between the cylinders in the center of the head. I am running T/D with the car I have posted before with the combination and as long as I can get by without total demolition of parts I would like to stay with a small block. I am hoping if I stay mild it will live. It ran 6.721 @ 202.65 at the Snowbirds then pushed the epoxy out of cylinder 4 head runner and slowed to an .82, smoked like I killed a piston everytime I lifted in the lights but didn't get anyworse so we ran it all the way to the final where we were handed our "ass". I have a stock of SBC parts and for what it would cost to switch I can run for many years....maybe this is a false economy? Thanks for any help or information.

 

Cooling S.B.C.

Hi. It's good to here from someone in Kansas that running a blown S.B.C. I've got a 285" RED that Rod Urish ran that I put a 14-71 Hi helix Kobelco and a lenco drive in late last year and pulled a 6.67 @ 211 on my 2nd pass which made me feel pretty good. On the cooling issue, I drilled and tapped the dimples between the exhaust valves for fuel nozzel ports and using a couple of valves, one being on the foot throttle, when it's in WOT, it injects Co2 in between the exhaust valves and across the head to a hole drilled thru the copper gasket and out the freeze plug holes. It would be great to talk sometime to see what you do with your car and maybe we could get together some time. Jerry McGonigle 620-663-4949, C=620-664-1060, Hutchinson, Ks.

 

Running 5.8 Or???? In A Sbc Rick Santos Would Be Proud...it's Hard To Do That With My Big Cubic Bae Motor

 

the previous owner (Mark Brew Queensland Australia) ran a 5.87 @ 231 some 10 years ago in this car with a santos sbc so with whats around these days i think its definatly achiveable, another guy in western australia has a 435?? cube sbc that has run 5.69 and his aim is to be the quickest in the world...we just want to run 5's consistantly with our 388 cube Meyer dragster and sneak up slowly( Low $$$ team)
We actually take water out from between the inlet ports (where the egr port would normally be) and have "steam" outlets at each end of the heads
(-3) ,water is pumped in through the water pump holes in the front, and yes i mill the heads every second event as that trouble area becomes distorted and leaks up to 90% on a leak down test, so we have the engine apart after every event to keep an eye on things.
Love my Small Block Chevs.

 

sbc

speaking of Rick Santos (a.k.a. GOD!)was he running water heads or solid heads? I was told,last year at P.R.I. buy the owner of clark gaskets that he ran water thru the block and heads .

 

Time to up grade to an aftermarket block?

We ran a SBC in a old altered, 6-71, 4 bolt 010 block, Crower crank with a hemi snout, billet Brodex heads. And a P.G. We went 7 teens at 2000 lbs no problem with the block half filed and no water. As soon as we put 35 lbs of boost to it, (6.99) it broke every thing like parts were free. The joke was that my wife would ask me every time I got back from the track, if she had to go to the store to get some more kitty litter for the shop floor. The point is a steel sbc will only take so much I guess

Bob

 

Sbc

I am using bow-tie blocks, billet caps in the center and straps across the front and rear caps. The "new" block has billet on all five, it was a dry sump that I am converting back to a wet sump and I ordered a rear billet cap to put on it. The heads are aluminium and when I take the bottom apart and see what the bearings look like I should have a better idea of how close to the edge I am.....hopefully! I am only running it 5.5% over so I am trying to stay mild, just make everything as effiecent as possible. I also run Oliver steel rods so that may be a limiting factor on how hard I run it, again the bearings should tell a lot, the system one has stayed real clean for the 50 runs I have on it.

 

Frank Intini check your personal.

 

FUNNY CAR BOB..............."" YOU ARE SOOOOOOO RITE ""

AS FOR RICK SANTOS, would you like to call him? If so let me know and I will give you his number..home or shop? he has a lot of info...very smart...









yes.....it's got a hemi

 

Cooling SBC

Yeah that would be great if you could give me Rick Santo's number, I tried the email address in ND and it didn't work.


Thanks.

 

ricks number 510-357-9041

 

pressure in cooling system

If you are pushing water,you have a combustion leak or air trapped in the heads.This trapped air will expand causing this push condition.You will need to "port" all four corners of the heads,manifold and return them to the rad,what type pump and size hose are you using

Jm mcfly@prodigy.net