I have been systematically doing everything Scott Wheaton has reccommended to help me overcome my 68BB heat problem and when I got to the radiator part, it fixed it.

In the last two weeks I did all but the last two things on Scott's list (see below)

Last week, 85* outside temp at 80% humidity 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 225-230.

Installed my new Alumitech Radiator.

This morning, 95* outside temp at 85% humidty same 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 180-184.

This afternoon, 101* outside temp at 85% humidty same 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 198-220, BUT!!!! my AC was on the full 20 miles on this trip!!!!!

Scott suggested over the past few weeks and I did the following:

Advance timing on my "hot" cam 396 bored .060 over to 38*
Install all underhood dust covers and rubber seals
Install high volume stat
Make sure of HD fan clutch and 7 blade stock fan
50/50 mix of coolant
Install high volume water pump
Install Aluminum radiator

Well I bought the water pump but decided to install the radiator first as it would be easier.

Many thanks to Scott Wheaton and to Don at Alumitech. Don never pushed me to buy from him, but always gave me alot of moral and technical support and then a GREAT product that fixed my problem.

:hurray::thumbsup::beers::yes:

I thought you were talking about your weight....

I thought you were talking about your weight....

Boy, I'd be happy with 230.:hurray:

Which temp. Thermostat did you end up running? Glad to hear you got a handle on it. It is definitely frustrating having to sort out the high temps but we sure have been smoking hot here in Va. over the past few weeks.

Good deal,

Which temp. Thermostat did you end up running? Glad to hear you got a handle on it. It is definitely frustrating having to sort out the high temps but we sure have been smoking hot here in Va. over the past few weeks.

Good deal,
180 degree

I have been systematically doing everything Scott Wheaton has reccommended to help me overcome my 68BB heat problem and when I got to the radiator part, it fixed it.

In the last two weeks I did all but the last two things on Scott's list (see below)

Last week, 85* outside temp at 80% humidity 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 225-230.

Installed my new Alumitech Radiator.

This morning, 95* outside temp at 85% humidty same 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 180-184.

This afternoon, 101* outside temp at 85% humidty same 20 miles of mixed interstate and stop and go traffic my temp was 198-220, BUT!!!! my AC was on the full 20 miles on this trip!!!!!

Scott suggested over the past few weeks and I did the following:

Advance timing on my "hot" cam 396 bored .060 over to 38*
Install all underhood dust covers and rubber seals
Install high volume stat
Make sure of HD fan clutch and 7 blade stock fan
50/50 mix of coolant
Install high volume water pump
Install Aluminum radiator

Well I bought the water pump but decided to install the radiator first as it would be easier.

Many thanks to Scott Wheaton and to Don at Alumitech. Don never pushed me to buy from him, but always gave me alot of moral and technical support and then a GREAT product that fixed my problem.

:hurray::thumbsup::beers::yes:

Les
It was good to hear from you on the phone .. good chatt
I didnt know you were bored .60 over ... oh my

Well this might be a testamonial to when you have done everything else then try the Aluminum rad switch .... still think its a good idea to change whe water pump when you get time .

I noticed your running a 50/50 mix .. one more thing to adjust .. go 70%distilled water and 30% coolant .. 50/50 is not nessary except in cold freeze climats .

As we talked it seemed to be a 21% drop in heat conditions from where you were before .
2 more changes ...coolant ratio and w/p and it should hit 30% easy .

speaking of weight as one poster did .. I had to laugh .. lol ... yea I would love to see 21% LOSS ...my pants size is getting out of hand .. lol

Don

Les,great to hear the Alumitech did the trick but i am curious to know if any of things you tried before installing the new radiator helped at all ?

And if 1 or more of the things you tried helped reduce the temp a few deg which ones helped so others here in T/Chevelle can see what helped.

If i remember correctly didnt you have a 3 core radiator that was marginal to begin with or was it a 4 core?

Scott

Les,great to hear the Alumitech did the trick but i am curious to know if any of things you tried before installing the new radiator helped at all ?

And if 1 or more of the things you tried helped reduce the temp a few deg which ones helped so others here in T/Chevelle can see what helped.

If i remember correctly didnt you have a 3 core radiator that was marginal to begin with or was it a 4 core?

Scott
Scott, When you suggested I advance timing to 38* with an initial at 18* I saw a drop of a few degrees and a little drop with the high flow stat and also after installing all the underhood seals.

My three core stock radiator only had about 500 miles of use on it.

I think my challenge ended up being once I got heat soaked I just couldn't get rid of the heat, at high RPM's at 70mph (307 posi twelve bolt) the temp kept rising, in marginal traffic at 50 mph and low RPM's it would drop but I kept moving/scooting up the scale in temp during all this. Once I reached 225-230 there was no way to get it down even at low RPM driving.

After the 101* run yesterday with the AC on in heavy traffic and getting up to 220*, I'm going to go ahead and install the high volume pump I already purchased to help even more when running at those temps.

The way it is now is if I don't run in heavy 101* traffic with the AC on, I would stay around 195*, but I like the AC so on goes the new WP.

Thanks again and I'll keep you updated.

Les
It was good to hear from you on the phone .. good chatt
I didnt know you were bored .60 over ... oh my

Well this might be a testamonial to when you have done everything else then try the Aluminum rad switch .... still think its a good idea to change whe water pump when you get time .

I noticed your running a 50/50 mix .. one more thing to adjust .. go 70%distilled water and 30% coolant .. 50/50 is not nessary except in cold freeze climats .

As we talked it seemed to be a 21% drop in heat conditions from where you were before .
2 more changes ...coolant ratio and w/p and it should hit 30% easy .

speaking of weight as one poster did .. I had to laugh .. lol ... yea I would love to see 21% LOSS ...my pants size is getting out of hand .. lol

Don
Don, I would change to 70/30 with distilled water but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to completely drain the block as I can't find any drain plugs on my BB. Thoughts?

Weight watchers is helping to take care of my 230-184# problem!

Thanks again.

Don, I would change to 70/30 with distilled water but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to completely drain the block as I can't find any drain plugs on my BB. Thoughts?

Weight watchers is helping to take care of my 230-184# problem!

Thanks again.

Drain off 1.5 gal from the drain cock and add distilled water ..then see how she runs .

im going to eat more salad .. lol

Les,i am glad to see some of the suggestions you tried did in fact drop the temps some but as i thought the 3 core you were running was marginal at best as was proved to be the case when you went to the very nice new Alumitech AL Rad which dramtically droped the temps.

Scott

Les,few more questions,did you paint the new Alumitech rad and if yes i bet it looks very close to the stock rad,is that what you think after install?

Was it a true no frills drop in install as we all think it is with no issues at all?

I see your into the original look which i am too and would like to know these things for when i replace my radiator in the future.

You cant buy the original Harrison rad anymore and a copy of the original Harrison with what looks to be wrong # of tubes in the core with correct looking tanks is $1,000 on ebay from Heartbeatcity,it's a nice looking unit just not 100% correct from what i can tell core wise & too expensive anyway.

So 1k is too much for the repop Harriosn rad with wrong core and the GOOD 4 core rep radiators sold today are approx $300-$399 and they arent correct either with no harrison logo on the tanks,etc.

I have also been searching ebay & elsewhere (for yrs) for an original man trans Harrison rad for my car to have rblt/recored but i havent been able to locate one yet,an auto trans one yes but not a man trans rad for my 69 chevelle ss 396 .

So since i dont seem to be able to lacate a correct rad i am really leaning towards the Alumitech in the future for only $100-200 more with better cooling capacity since the other new radiators available for my car arent correct anyway.

Scott

Scott,

Yes I did paint my Alumitech with the radiator black spray paint I purchased from Eastwood, the paint is supposed to be more adaptable to the needs of a radiator not just in sheen or color.

As far as installation I had to grind out some of the rubber in the shock mounts as the Alumitech is a little wider at the tank seam, but that didn't take long with my handy dremel tool. The covers fit back correctly but I still need to trim off some of the left edge of my reproduction fan shroud where it touches the tank seam, I needed to do that with my stock radiator and never did.

Overall the stock appearance is very good, in-fact I bet it might even fool Bill Lessenberry and possibly Bill Rose...........NAW!!!!...... What am I saying......

Hope that helps, Les:D

Les,thanks for the info,i appreaciate it and have lots of fun crusing with your great looking 68 ss 396 .

BTW,i will be curious to see if that hi flow pump helps to further reduce temp esp with the AC on.

It would also be interesting to pull the backplate off the current pump your running after you pull it off to see if it has the stamped steel impeller or a cast iron one.

My gut feeling would be that if you had a stamped steel impeller in the old pump you would likely see some benefit from the new hi flow unit but if the old pump already had a cast impeller then you should not see much if any drop in temp but time will tell on that one.

scott

Overall the stock appearance is very good, Les:D

Unless you look closely for the Harrison logo and the tank stamps, you can't tell it from an original.:thumbsup: Les's problem with the fan shroud fit isn't a problem with the radiator, it's incorrect molding of the shroud.
BillL