The V8 saga

[Mike Kimball]

I went for a long engine run today under new conditions.

1. Head gasket no longer a problem.
2. I put the 160 degree thermostat back in. (Not sure why I got such a
cool one.) At the suggestion of a friend I drilled a #40 hole in the
thermostat. He said it would help get rid of trapped air. Seemed to make
sense.

Observations:

1. Hearing a sort of chattering sound that seems to be coming from only one
side of the engine. Used a mechanics stethoscope to try and isolate it. I
had already reset the valves after hearing valve tappet sounds on earlier
runs. This sound was different. I still could not isolate the sound.
2. Coolant started coming out of the overflow while only showing 11 psi on
the gauge. Oil temp steady at about 200. I never saw any coolant temp.
Sensor is hooked up, wire looks good. No idea why I'm not getting temp on
the gauge. At least it took a lot longer for this to happen. About 15
minutes or so. The radiator fan was running when the coolant overflowed.
The fan is on at 180 degrees.
3. After the engine had cooled down and no coolant out of the overflow
observed a continuous drip, drip, drip from the bottom of the timing chain
cover. Followed it. I swear it looks like it is coming from the lower bolt
that holds the timing pointer on to the timing chain cover. How can that
be?! I could find no coolant stream above that.

I decided to proceed with my plan for the day. I mounted the prop. Reran
the engine for a short time. The chattering seems to be gone. Gear
backlash in the PSRU while under no load? I couldn't hear that with my
stethoscope earlier. With the prop on perhaps the resistance holds the
gears against one side eliminating the backlash? I had not heard the
chattering on earlier engine runs so why now? Maybe a tiny exhaust gasket
leak that sealed itself on the last run with the prop? Exhaust gasket leaks
can sound like all sorts of other things.

Question: I have a crossflow style radiator which would normally have the
inlet above the outlet. In my installation the inlet and outlet are at the
same level. The radiator is mounted roughly horizontal with one side higher
than the other. The inlet and outlet are on the high side. Would this
cause problems?

Mike
044SR




-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------