I was told by another Buick racer that it's a good idea to take the "green" plugs out of the Stg. 2 Track Eliminator heads and run the water out and up to fittings on the Lt. & Rt side of the thermostat housing on the SP 2 manifold. I know that these plugs can be removed to run water under the intake, but on a full race motor that wouldn't happen. It wouldn't be too hard, just have to make a hole in the intake to clear the water fitting, I know small block chevys do this similar water routing, is it really necessary on a Buick?? Some more info., it's a Nitrous 470 ci, all girdled up, 13.6 to 1 comp. with a partial "fill" of hard block, aluminum rods too. To me it doesn't seem like it's something that must be done. What do you guys think?? And what have you done?
That would be the difficult way to do it, and not real effective in my opinion. Were I to want to run another coolant line from the back of the heads to the front of the motor, I drill and tap the intake manifold, right where the rear water ports in the head are. Then run two 1/2 lines to the front of the manifold, externally. I generally like to drill and tap at least a 1/8 petcock or plug in those locations, with an SP-1 manifold to get the air out of the head, when filling the cooling system. I have filled the engine completely, and then opened those petcocks to let the trapped air out, and got quite a bit more coolant in the engine. This is most problematic on the TA intakes, as the performer/wildcat and stock have a water outlet on the RR of the manifold, so you only end up with an air pocket in the LR of the motor. Running an electric water pump, before you start the motor, with the cooling system still open, can help to move that trapped pocket of air out of the LR of the motor. I became concerned with this recently, after firing a motor on the dyno, going thru breakin, and noticing the increased temps at the rear of the head, vs the front.. it was about 30* difference. Also, when we shut it down, I could hear the "steam pops" as a tel-tale sign the motor had air in the cooling system. It's not a bad idea to run those extra lines, especially in High HP applications. JW
Jim, That's how I did it also. I was told that it really helped to equalize the temps accross the head. I was also told that a good engine builder can look at you ex. valves and tell if you had this set-up or not.
Ya, depends on how the Exhaust guide clearance is done. Some run them a little looser, some tighter. You can certainly tell if a head has gotten hot, as it leaves scuffs on the exhaust valve stems. JW
