Finaly drove my BBB 455 Regal.

After fixing my coolant leak of a popped freeze plug, and cleaning some of the junk out of it's way, I finally got the Regal out from it's long winter slumber.

The pic is after I got back from putting some fresh gas in it, and some air in the tires.

Still has the power , did a couple sessions of pavement painting, but still seems "off", (hard to explain) and still wants to hit 210-215 degrees after stomping on it. wont go down for a long time. Dosent seem to be "hot" under the hood, like a overheating engine should.

 

If it doesn't seem that hot under the hood, it's probably an instrumentation problem. I went through this recently with my '70 Chevy truck. The gauge was all over the place. I hung a new Autometer gauge under the dash, and it is rock solid at 180 F, except when pulling my Skylark up a steep hill on a trailer, when it goes all the way up to 190 F.

...and a 455 Regal equipped as yours would be an outstanding ride, I'm sure. Even my old 400 cu in '66 Tempest (well, to be fair, it WAS a Judge motor) was a thrill ride...90 feet of rubber into third with a 3.55 posi and 11" tires.

 

Congratulations Chris, glad you got it on the road again! You'll figure out the cooling system. I like the Regal, I'm a G body fan myself. And I like the multi-color body panels too! See my avatar and signature, I've got 3 different hues on my car as well.

 

Most likely have an air bubble in the system.

 

What carb and cam do you currently have?

 

X2 my thought as well.

 

What thermostat?
Clutch fan?
What radiator?

I have had the best luck with a '80's 1 ton 454 Hayden clutch, 180-195* F thermostat and most G-body replacement radiators are of aluminum construction similar to those in '93-02 F-body cars. They will run warm if the timing is advanced as well.

 

Funny this was brought up again... just got inside from switching out to a Dodge Intrepid dual fan assembly, from the single GN one, will be going with Water Wetter, distilled water, and a 180 stat..

Also plugged off the heater hose nipples, got rid of that big u bent hose between the water pump and the top of the manifold.

RIght now its a gutted t-stat , and a 3 row brass/copper rad, from Jack Cottons.

Will get it wired up in the next cople days.

 

Here's a link to my fan install http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...ic-Dodge-Intrepid-Fans-install&referrerid=589

 

Hey Chris - nice to see this up and running. I remember when you first brought it home...

Cooling. Damn, I had a battle to the death with this 5 years ago.... With these symptoms, it's your rad. If it's too hot after applying power but OK sitting still then try a larger rad. If it gets hot sitting still but is fine when power is applied focus on the fan.

Based on the rad posted here you're undersized just slightly IMHO. A griffin dual core finally sorted out my issues when i had similar symptoms (heat wouldn't drop after I stomped on it).

Some easy mods - remove the rear weatherstripping, notch up the hood a bit and add the air dam under the rad support for an extra 10*. Go with an external trans cooler for a bit of juice too.

...hope that helps!