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The Shop Truck

1971 Chevy C20 with a custom flat bed.
Overview Gallery Discussion
Truckman4life said:
If the water was flowing too fast it wouldn't have time for the heat to be removed in the radiator. That is what the thermostat is supposed to do though. Stop the water flow so the heat can be removed then allow it to circulate.
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The problem was way worse before I drilled holes in the thermostat. The bottom of the radiator was cool to the touch while the top was boiling hot. With holes in the thermostat it worked much better.

I think my next test is going to be a thermostat where I remove all the guts and just use it to seal the housing. That should prove whether it's low flow or too much flow causing the issue. Maybe I'll go pull the 187°F thermostat out of my old water pump and try it as well.
 
Truckman4life said:
Water pump is still spinning the correct direction right?
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I would hope that Wegner wouldn't make that mistake, but yes, it's being driven by the back of the supercharger belt so it's spinning the opposite way as the engine, just like on a factory LSA/LS3
 
Well, I just swapped the thermostat on the right for the "thermostat" on the left and it still can't keep the temps cool. This time it only got the temps down to 206° and couldn't get any cooler. I did have the intercooler heat exchanger bolted back in place, but that didn't make much of a difference when I took it out.
I talked to Wegner and I have a new water pump on the way. Not sure if that's the problem, but if it is, they're going to refund my money.
 
Forgot the picture.
IMG_20260527_144317086.jpg
 
AgDieseler said:
You’re being tested.

David
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I passed the first test, it's nice to drive around without my eyes glued to the oil pressure readout. Now I'm trying to fix something I already fixed once and did a major upgrade just in case...
I'm not sure why the gods of internal combustion are harassing me so much on this build.
 
well having a hot top and cool bottom is the way it's supposed to work, that is not a bad thing. maybe 25-35° difference between inlet and outlet.

thinking out loud, at idle air over the rad is less than moving say over 25mph. Even those bad ass fans pulling through that heat exchanger stack may be taxed.
What if the coolant isn't in the rad long enough to give up the heat ?
If you are up to it, a 187° with 1, 3/16" whole.
Even if this changes the results for the better, am cringing a little thinking about adding the condenser heat to this stack.
 
r3dd0g said:
Well, I just swapped the thermostat on the right for the "thermostat" on the left and it still can't keep the temps cool. This time it only got the temps down to 206° and couldn't get any cooler. I did have the intercooler heat exchanger bolted back in place, but that didn't make much of a difference when I took it out.
I talked to Wegner and I have a new water pump on the way. Not sure if that's the problem, but if it is, they're going to refund my money.
Click to expand...

I suppose only you know the answer if it will stabilize under 225 or so in your ambient temp, in something like traffic based on the time it takes to ramp up.

Also, this may have been gone over before, but I have had some crazy gauge sensor variances I've seen in the last 3 or so years versus aftermarket ecm temp senders. With that said, my trust of OEM temp senders is also waning.

Right now my LS3 gauge sender is -5 degrees vs ecm and I run around in the desert generally at 205 at ecm sender at crawl speed, with no inner fenders and also no blower.
 
Wes Harden said:
well having a hot top and cool bottom is the way it's supposed to work, that is not a bad thing. maybe 25-35° difference between inlet and outlet.

thinking out loud, at idle air over the rad is less than moving say over 25mph. Even those bad ass fans pulling through that heat exchanger stack may be taxed.
What if the coolant isn't in the rad long enough to give up the heat ?
If you are up to it, a 187° with 1, 3/16" whole.
Even if this changes the results for the better, am cringing a little thinking about adding the condenser heat to this stack.
Click to expand...
Before the to of the radiator was 215ish and the bottom was cool to the touch, maybe 80-90.

I looked at the thermostat that came with the kit and realized it was a high flow. It's opening is about 1.25" where the other ones were 1.125". That doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a huge difference in area. It's a 187, I installed it and we took the truck on a 70 mile drive with the intercooler bolted back in, and no condenser or grill.

We're done with the 200 mile break in at this point, but I may drive it a bit more tomorrow before I pull the pan for the swap. It drove great, as long as I was moving, the fans would keep it cool, over 40 it would cool down enough for the fans to shut off. Stopping still saw the temps rise, but cruising at even 10mph would cool it back down.

I'm done at this point other than trying the new water pump when it shows up.
 
That looks like it'd be a weekend project in its own lol.
Lot going on in the front of that engine.
 
Unfortunately I'm pretty good at removing the accessories/water pump etc. I think we've had this engine in and out at least a dozen times now.
 
I'm hoping to have the new pan, remote oil filter mount, and oil cooler installed by the end of the weekend. The pan is beautiful and should be a nice upgrade from the Chinese junk that's on there now.
IMG_20260528_131101607.jpg

IMG_20260528_131109986.jpg

I've got 2 turbo drainbacks in my timing cover and 2 in my pan, time for a quad turbo setup!
 
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