Some of you know of my troubles with my old 235 and its overheating and that I
rebuilt a new one but had similar problems with it. Well, to make a long
story short....USE A THERMOSTAT. I will never know if that alone was the
trouble with the old one, but it may have been. Perhaps all that was wrong
initially was a blown head gasket, but since I pulled the thermostat before
replacing the head gasket, when I DID replace the head gasket, I left it out.
I kept getting water gushing out of the radiator, so assumed I had an exhaust
leak into the water jacket. But, same things happened with the new engine, so
I talked to Patrick (of the 3.55 gears Patrick), who said to put the
thermostat back in and see what happened. I guess that, and the 7 psi cap
were what were needed (I also added an overflow tank just for security).
Anyway, the truck made the trip to Boise without so much as a whimper. It ran
perfectly...got up to 195-200 on a couple of really long upgrades in the Blues
(mountain range in Oregon), but otherwise stayed at 180-190 the rest of the
way. I guess the thermostat not only controls the temperature in the engine
block and head, but also slows down water surges, and between that and the
7psi cap, no water gushed out the radiator, and all seems to be well.
Unfortunately, I had too much other weight of parts to keep the old block, so
I had to junk it. I suspect I might have been able to put the old engine back
together with another new head gasket and THERMOSTAT and 7psi cap, and it
would be perfectly good 10,000 mile engine. Oh well....I keep telling myself
the block was cracked so I won't be too p.o'd at myself for possibly having
spent close to $1000 to rebuild an engine I didn't need to...and maybe one of
these days I'll even start believing myself.
But, anyway, my '49 is now in Boise, so if any members are in the area, keep
an eye out for a Forest Green 1/2 ton (in need of a new paint job) with
sunvisor...say hi if you see me.
Rob
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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