SanDiegoPaul

Customer was in the shop yesterday with an old Rustang but he had one thing I liked under the hood: a coolant catch can that didn't leak! :boxing

I have replaced the bottle, lines, and cap to the overflow bottle, on my '76 with new ones but it is still not a sealed system. Radiator overflow goes into the bottle, and then the stupid hose that comes out of the bottle just sprays coolant along the frame or inner fender. Or the cap comes off the thing when the plastic gets good and hot after driving, and coolant sprays from the cap :mad Very poor design and the repro stuff is no better than the original one was.

Back to page 174 of the Summit catalog I got today. Who has pics of one of these things in the C3? Mine is a small block if that helps ...

I'm looking at their own brand, the one they sell for 49.95 and it looks like polished aluminum with a 1/4 nipple top and bottom. How to connect them? Or use the CSI one that has a petcock too? :auto:

redwingvette

"Radiator overflow goes into the bottle, and then the stupid hose that comes out of the bottle just sprays coolant along the frame or inner fender. Or the cap comes off the thing when the plastic gets good and hot after driving, and coolant sprays from the cap "

That shouldn't be happening. Sounds like you have to much coolant in the bottle to start with, unless your setup is different then my 73. The hose from the rad to the cap attaches to the end with the hose that goes to the bottom of the bottle. Then there is a hose that runs to the underside of the car in case of over flow condition. The bottle should be about 1/4 full of coolant when everything is cold. Maybe your radiator cap is not the right pressure setting letting more coolant out then it should.
Just a thought.

Fevre

:iagree: with Brian, something ain't right with your set up. Sounds like your cap is either not sealing properly or has a very low rating.

SnoDrgn

:iagree: Your set-up isn't right. The resevoir cap has two ports in it. The overflow from the radiator plugs into the one port that flows through the cap and there should be a hose connected to the bottom port in the cap dropping to the bottom of the resevoir. The second port is a vent port and should have a hose connected to it and then terminated to the fender.
When the coolant gets hot and expands it raises the level in the resevoir and the air above the coolant is vented via the vent hose. When the engine is allowed to cool the coolant contracts and is sucked back up into the radiator through the hose in the cap. What I found in my dad's Nova was that somewhere along the line the cap was replaced with an incorrect one and the only way to make the hoses fit was to reverse them in the cap. What then happens is that when the coolant expands it flows from the radiator into the resevoir but because the vent hose is connected to the through port the air in the resevoir can not escape and the pressure will build up until coolant flows up through the vent and pours out onto the inner fender. The other problem with this is that when the coolant contracts in the radiator it cannot suck coolant back in from the resevoir because the hose that is in the resevoir is connected to the vent port. :smash: :smash: Got the correct cap and fixed the overheating and coolant flow problems on my dad's car :thumbs:

BSeery

My stock coolant recovery container works well.

It's the cap that I have a problem with. When I autocross the coolant gets flung out of the cap and all over the engine and exhaust.

Nothing like pulling in after a run and seeing steam from under the hood, and dripping coolant from under the car. That will get your pulse moving.

I too plan to move to a nice SS or aluminum catch can that will be mounted close to the rad. That should free up plenty of room too.

SanDiegoPaul

Sounds like you have to much coolant in the bottle to start with, unless your setup is different then my 73. The hose from the rad to the cap attaches to the end with the hose that goes to the bottom of the bottle. Then there is a hose that runs to the underside of the car in case of over flow condition. The bottle should be about 1/4 full of coolant when everything is cold. Maybe your radiator cap is not the right pressure setting letting more coolant out then it should.


:flag

Thanks but I dont' think there is a prob with the setup. I broke the engine in, with the good old NAPA cap for the application. After seeing the spray when I drove it hard after the break-in, then I got a GM cap - again, for the right application. Same thing.

I then replaced the bottle and bottle cap. Same Thing. Am I missing something? The bottle is 1/4 full cold and 3/4 full hot, just as the lines on the side of it depict to be proper.
:mad :rolleyes:


[Modified by SanDiegoPaul, 9:43 PM 4/20/2004]