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DougVieyra · 12-20-2013, 01:34 PM

Being a detective can be FUN ! But for most of us, it is a pain in the ass.

To add yet another variable to the hunt for a solution to losing water from the radiator, is the occasional problem of an overly aggressive water pump; that is to say, the impellers are a schoch too large and push water through faster than can be digested by the normal return flow. This was a common issue for many of us in the '50's and '60's.

One solution I used on my '34 'C' engine was to install a 'Coolant Recovery System'. This was only needed when my car was driving at sustained high speeds for a long period of time. The water would be thrown out the over-flow tube and exit out to the engine pan. So I installed a one gallon plastic jug to rest in the engine pan and connected it to a heat resistant rubber hose which went to the bottom of the radiator's over-flow tube. Every 100 or so miles, I stopped to empty the jug (which now had about a gallon of water) back into the radiator. This 'Band-aid' approach works well, but is a bit of a bother and does smack of 'hookie'. But it did solve my problem.

The other thing that was done - a bit more 'proper' was to reduce the aggressiveness of the impellers. This can be done by reducing the amount of 'grab' of the impellers, by filling them down a bit, or drilling holes in them to reduce the 'grab'. The shaft/impeller unit will then have to be re-balanced, to avoid excessive wear on the pump.

Yet another solution was to replace the impeller with a smaller unit. The 'B' / 'C' pump impellers were quite a bit larger than an 'A', so a small impeller set could also be used to reduce the over-efficiency of the pump.

Also, as has been previously mentioned. the installation of a thermostat also help slow down the movement of the water flow, thereby reducing the loss to the over-flow tube.

12-20-2013, 01:34 PM	#10
DougVieyra Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Eureka, California Posts: 1,716	Re: Using too much radiator water Being a detective can be FUN ! But for most of us, it is a pain in the ass. To add yet another variable to the hunt for a solution to losing water from the radiator, is the occasional problem of an overly aggressive water pump; that is to say, the impellers are a schoch too large and push water through faster than can be digested by the normal return flow. This was a common issue for many of us in the '50's and '60's. One solution I used on my '34 'C' engine was to install a 'Coolant Recovery System'. This was only needed when my car was driving at sustained high speeds for a long period of time. The water would be thrown out the over-flow tube and exit out to the engine pan. So I installed a one gallon plastic jug to rest in the engine pan and connected it to a heat resistant rubber hose which went to the bottom of the radiator's over-flow tube. Every 100 or so miles, I stopped to empty the jug (which now had about a gallon of water) back into the radiator. This 'Band-aid' approach works well, but is a bit of a bother and does smack of 'hookie'. But it did solve my problem. The other thing that was done - a bit more 'proper' was to reduce the aggressiveness of the impellers. This can be done by reducing the amount of 'grab' of the impellers, by filling them down a bit, or drilling holes in them to reduce the 'grab'. The shaft/impeller unit will then have to be re-balanced, to avoid excessive wear on the pump. Yet another solution was to replace the impeller with a smaller unit. The 'B' / 'C' pump impellers were quite a bit larger than an 'A', so a small impeller set could also be used to reduce the over-efficiency of the pump. Also, as has been previously mentioned. the installation of a thermostat also help slow down the movement of the water flow, thereby reducing the loss to the over-flow tube.