Discussion on "AIR" , for your motor. *LONG READ*

[badmix]

First off, I went to the You-Pull-It today, I went looking for air diffusers that go in the core support. But ill get to that in a moment.

Id like to say that our square bodies are becoming dinosaurs, esp. around here. Dont junk em, part em out. The one I went to , is the largest around here and they had ONE, square body suburban, Zero Blazers and Zero pickups.

Parts are starting to get hard to find. If you hit up a you pull it , maybe start grabbing parts for later. For example, Ill yank all the rear power window motors I can find, 9 outa 10 times it works and better then china junk. Anyways, that is my rant for the day..

Onto the discussion.

I had both of the air filter diffuser openings in the core support stuffed with some 3" off road 55 watt lights. since I got other lights, I wanted to clean up this area. so I removed the lights and now have a big ole hole on both sides of the radiator.

I decided to put the diffusers back in the spot, the other approach would be to put some metal plate over the holes and either weld or bolt it in. I just figured it be easier to twist the diffuser in for now, they only cost me $7 bux at the you pull it.

Here is my reasoning for NOT leaving the holes, As you drive down the road, cooling is dependent on air hitting the radiator.

If you have holes on either side, wouldn't air just get sucked thru the holes and actually pull air away from the front of the radiator instead of going THROUGH the radiator? I have a trans cooler and AC condenser up there as well.

My other thinking is , with air being rammed thru the holes, it would cause "some" pressure in the engine bay and could push up on the hood. Now an idea would be to put vents in the top of the hood, this might be a nice way to get hot air out of the engine bah. hmmm. Id almost like to put the org. air cleaner back and do a dual ram air setup.

Paranoid or on to something or it wouldnt matter either way?



* quick funny story, when I went up to the cashier to pay for the air diffuser, they wanted to charge me $14bux, I said, Uhm no. He then said 7, I said fine. After he rung me up, he asked what they were. lol. I explained it. But he didnt even know what he was charging for, i guess they have a minimum price for whatever piece of junk you bring up there. lol

 

[tRustyK5]

I dunno about paranoid, a few guys here have had some nasty cooling issues. Any way the cool outside air can cheat past the radiator is not good IMO. Air into the engine compartment is not an issue. Whether it cheats past the rad through those holes, or goes through the rad, it's going to end up in the engine compartment...then exit past the engine and down under the truck. Side louvered fenders would help, but really I don't think it's an issue on a big square 4x4 like it is on a car seeing triple digit speeds.

As for parts, every year that goes by the selection gets worse at the yards. Here in Edmonton I know of less than half a dozen K5's, and maybe the same number of pick-ups, Crews and Sub's. That's me spending 60 hours a week driving around the north half of this city.

Considering how many of these square bodies were built, and the fact this is truck country the scarcity is a little alarming.

 

[badmix]

Yea, its always been slim pickings, if there is a K5 in the junkyard, its picked clean and I mean CLEANNNNNNNNNN, every nut and bolt, usually just a shell. Trans and motors are always gone. I have yet see a Diesel one either.

 

[snowdriver]

I think it is a good idea to put them back in as well,also that lower front plastic air dam is very important to proper cooling of these rigs,it creates a low pressure area in behind the radiator and helps pull cooling air through the radiator

 

[badmix]

I have custom tube bumper,,so that "chin" got yanked a long time ago. lol. But I understand what your saying.

 

[snowdriver]

Seems most guys do ditch these,and seem to be fine without it,I actually yanked the one off my Toyota pickup daily driver,and it is fine except when temps get above 90,then it warms up a little in stop and go,but is fine running down the road

 

[82355]

also that lower front plastic air dam is very important to proper cooling of these rigs

I doubt it has much to do with cooling if they ONLY put it on models under a certain GVWR

Martin

 

[snowdriver]

Kinda blows a hole in my theory,but gm would not have put it there if they didn't have too??

 

[82355]

Looks.

Martin

 

[badmix]

Kinda blows a hole in my theory,but gm would not have put it there if they didn't have too??

Well, the fact that many of us have ditched ours and trucks dont over heat, dunno. I think its for looks but probably designed not to interfere with cooling.

 

[diesel4me]

Its getting very hard to score any square body parts here too,it's been "dry" as far as seeing any in junkyards after cash for clunkers,that wiped out the few left on the roads around here then pretty much..when you do see one in the yards they are usually stripped clean and every body part that may have been useable was trashed by the loader when they moved them around..often things get removed and buried too,like the NP-205 transfer case I saw pressed into the mud next to a '80 K-30 wrecker,that was likely run over by the loader..

When scrap prices went up over 250 a ton,everything over 10 years old vanished from all the salvage yards--and from people's back yards and garages,everyone and his brother had a ramp truck and was buying "junk" vehicles....now that its 80 a ton and expected to drop to 60 soon,perhaps more vehicles will get put aside and picked on instead of instantly crushed..

Rene is right --for the amount of trucks GM sold and made,in the multi-millions no doubt,it is amazing how few are still left...I went thru the same thing when I owned an air cooled VW--at one time there were millions of them around here,they were so plentiful you could buy decent runners for 150 bucks...then after 1990 or so,it's like they became extinct,you rarely see any at all here now unless your at a cruise night or car show..

Often when I come home from a junkyard "walk",I realize that I probably have more square body parts than THEY do!....

 

[1-ton]

In Arizona and Nevada there are still some square-bodies around. If you stand on a busy steet corner for at least 20-minutes, you are likly to see at least one drive by.

 

[paratrooper307]

Its getting very hard to score any square body parts here too,it's been "dry" as far as seeing any in junkyards after cash for clunkers,that wiped out the few left on the roads around here then pretty much..when you do see one in the yards they are usually stripped clean and every body part that may have been useable was trashed by the loader when they moved them around..often things get removed and buried too,like the NP-205 transfer case I saw pressed into the mud next to a '80 K-30 wrecker,that was likely run over by the loader..

When scrap prices went up over 250 a ton,everything over 10 years old vanished from all the salvage yards--and from people's back yards and garages,everyone and his brother had a ramp truck and was buying "junk" vehicles....now that its 80 a ton and expected to drop to 60 soon,perhaps more vehicles will get put aside and picked on instead of instantly crushed..

Rene is right --for the amount of trucks GM sold and made,in the multi-millions no doubt,it is amazing how few are still left...I went thru the same thing when I owned an air cooled VW--at one time there were millions of them around here,they were so plentiful you could buy decent runners for 150 bucks...then after 1990 or so,it's like they became extinct,you rarely see any at all here now unless your at a cruise night or car show..

Often when I come home from a junkyard "walk",I realize that I probably have more square body parts than THEY do!....

The pick and pull near me is one of the largest in the area, and they usually only have two to three square bodies, typically only pickups. They are usually picked clean on interior bits and in rough shape. My last score was some power steering and A/C brackets that are either impossible to get new or very expensive.

 

[campfire]

Side louvered fenders would help, but really I don't think it's an issue on a big square 4x4 like it is on a car seeing triple digit speeds.

You mean you don't see triple digits in your square 4x4?



FWIW, last time I had my square body in Canada I was regularly seeing triple digit speeds (metric, of course).

 

[Blue85]

If only there was some way to force air through the radiator. Maybe some kind of rotational motion to airflow conversion device that could be coupled to the engine...

I'm just saying that if you have a fan and a shroud you should be fine. The way I see it is there's plenty of air piling up in front of a square body at speed. The amount going through those 4" holes won't be much different than what is already passing around the headlights, etc. Remember that in the stock configuration, one of those holes is literally sucking. Maybe if you pull trailers up the mountains with a big block or diesel every little bit helps, but if those holes are making a difference the system is pretty marginal.