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Coolant 'overflow' when not overheating.... what's up?

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Makes perfect sense.... so I'm guess the reason it may be happening is that I'm running a little hot to start with.... if I was at 180 when I park, it would still soak up extra heat, but not enough to pop the cap and belch all over the parking lot...
 
I was thinking Joe's comments as well whilst (it's a British car!) reading the thread. Some folks swear by Water Wetter and it might be worthwhile trying it - we use it in a couple of cars but I've never done my own comparison. Doug
 
We used Water Wetter in our race cars.....it has more cooling capacity than either straight water or antifreeze. Only problem is at 32 deg. F it becomes a block of ice, so there is no protection against freezing. Scott in CA
 
Works well but not good for where Mike lives. The reason WW works better than water is it breaks up the surface tension and improves the heat transfer.
 
Would it make sense to put a small amount of water wetter in the anti freeze? Definitely need AF here is WV. I've picked up some materials to block off the former heater vent hold behind the grill and the other smaller assorted leak holes. Also, I've confirmed that upon removal of the heater box, the former owner left the heater core return line back coming right back into the engine, thus dumping hot water back into the engine without cooling. Considering options for re-routing that, it will have to wait a while.

After I get it all sealed up I'll see where the old boy stands and go from there...
 
Mike
The water wetter is for use when you are not running antifreeze. Most "track" cars use it as Antifreeze is generally (depends on organization) is not allowed as It makes a mess if you loose a hose. Also the WW lubes the water pump innards.
Re the heater hose in the backof the block. IMHO the previous owner set it up correctly. With the valve closed the water jacket at the back of the engine does not get enough flow. Allowing some water back from the rear of the head to the radiator allows for better circulation and also tends to reduce air pockets in the rear of the block.
My BE was my daily driver from 67- 78ish (timeout for military) and I always left the heater valve open. On my FP car I ran the hose back to the water pump like it appears yours is setup.
Why did the former owner remove the heater Assy??
 
Not sure why the previous owner removed the heater. I can tell it was at one point there.
I've read that rather than routing from the valve to the input on the lower radiator hose going into the water pump, where it was originally plumbed, you can use a similar T type hose on the upper radiator hose and plumb the hot water from the back of the engine in there. In it's original arrangement, the water came out of the rear jacket hot, and was somewhat cooled in the heater core. Now, it's not, so the water now bypassing the non-existent heater core is just dumped, still hot back into the engine. By routing into the upper hose, it would dump first into the radiator.
The current plumbing across the top of the engine is via a copper pipe, which I guess allows a small about of heat bleed out ....
 
Flow is from water pump outlet into Bottom of radiator and returns from the top to the block. Pipe across the head to the outlet hose is factory.
 
So the flow thru the radiator is UP... from the lower hose, up thru the radiator and then out thru the upper hose to the engine...? I need to look up that other thread to see what I was missing about it....
 
No, flow is down through radiator. Gravity helps push water from the bottom of the rad into the water pump where it is forced through the engine and out through the thermostat when open back into the top of the radiator.
 
That's what I had read... so when you bypass the heater and take hot water straight from the back of the engine to the input tube on the lower radiator hose, you are putting that water straight back into the engine without any cooling opportunity....
 
Plumbing so that water exits from back of the engine and goes back into the large hose still has the benefit of diluting the “really hot” coolant coming off the back of the engine. I will be doing this same thing with Bugsy IV as soon as he arrives in FL at the end of September. I’ve got all of the parts and pieces to put it back together. Don’t need heater now with Daily Temps in thr 90’s but want thr additional cooling capacity just in case. And easy enough to reconnect if needed.
 
The Red Line Water Wetter page advises that it can be used with or without antifreeze; the cars we're using it in run 50:50 antifreeze to get to the magic -40 F/C. Doug
 
ALL centrifugal pumps are fed into the center of the impeller and the fluid is forced out the side. The water pump on the A series and most all cars is centrifugal.
Fluid is taken into the center of the pump where it is bolted to the block and pumped out through the outlet pipe on the driverside.
This outlet is connected by the hose to the lower part of the radiator.
The outlet at top of the Rad is back into the head where it goes throughthe head (hottest part of the motor) and down through th wearer passages into the block and then back to the center of the water pump.
 
Whichever way it goes hooking up the line coming off of the shutoff valve so coolant flows back there can’t hurt.
 
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