I have a 56 t-bird and wanted to get your thoughts on the HIGH OUTPUT water pump. I have an aluminum radiator could still run cooler do the HIGH OUTPUT pumps make that much difference for the money ?

Don't really know.  Where have you found a high output pump for a Y?

"Could still run cooler" isn't telling us much.  If it's not boiling over, then it's not too hot.  If temperature stabilizes, there's not a problem.  How do you determine how hot it is?  Factory gauges are not very accurate.  What exactly is happening?  You may not even have a problem to fix.

That said, it seems that most of the cooling issues in a T Bird are due to the 1" spacer behind the pump.  Removing that and spacing the pulley 1" forward may solve your problem.

Use the search feature, http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Search.aspx and look for posts by greenbird56 about cooling.  search "bypass restriction" "water pump" "cooling" "clutch fan" stuff like that and you'll find all sorts of info about running cool.



Lawrenceville, GA

Welcome to the site, sirrahnor.

Charlie's recommendation of where to look in the Forum archive of threads is excellent.

Not too long ago we had a thread on this subject.  Here's a clip  of it.  You'll be able to walk all the way through the thread once you're there.  Just click on the address button below.  IF you read the entire thread, it pretty much covers ALL the pieces of the subject you're inquiring about.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic112982.aspx?PageIndex=2#bm113045

Some reading I've done indicates that brass radiators dissipate heat better than aluminum.  That surprised me initially.  Based on Steve Metzger's info. that the 'Bird radiators are smaller in capacity than the passenger car, I'd be inclined to move to a 4 row tube design instead of whatever the 'Bird's came with originally.  Three row?

Hope this helps. 


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

  I live in the Mojave Desert and she can't take it lol The Aluminum radiator helped I found this high output pump http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?Parta~ShowPicTxt~Z5Z5Z50000219a~Z5Z5Z5AABNX I've checked this thought out before but never got anywhere with it. I'm now building another engine to be the best engine It can.be :-)

Like I said, look up greenbird56's posts.  He's in Arizona, probably about as close as you'll get to your climate, with real world experience.



Lawrenceville, GA

This is a modification that Classic Auto Supply does to increase flow on Thunderbird water pumps.  They add the impeller to the back side of a standard water pump and will not work on engines without the 1 inch spacer.

THANKS for the link, 56Roger.

Interesting read.  I wasn't aware of the product, thanks for sharing the info.   


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

I did call the folks at Flowkooler and was not impressed.  All they do is make a new impeller.  They then send the old pump and new impeller to a rebuilder who cleans and installs the new parts.  They don't install a ceramic shaft seal but use a old tech rubber seal.  I would think for the price, they would use a ceramic.  Too bad REBOP castings isn't still making pumps.

FWIW, Greenbird lives in Tucson, and I've been there at 107 degrees. His post on the bypass are something I've done. I've got two cars, the 55 bird and an off topic car, but a 67. Both have BeCool radiators with their shrouds and electric fan(s). With the a/c on, stopped, at 90 degrees (about as hot as it gets in Seattle), the fans come on at 190 degrees. They run 90-120 seconds, and shut off. The condenser fans keep running, but the main fan(s) don't come back on for 3 minutes or so. I believe the shroud design and fan design is a major part. Despite the advantages of brass over aluminum, the BeCool guys seem to have it figured out. My previous radiator was a 4 row brass "desert cooler". It might have been better, but it wasn't with the stock shoud.

Greenbird's fan and clutch setup, he lists the Hayden part number, would be my first choice if I was starting over. But when I did this work on the radiator/fan/shroud I had a VS2000 supercharger on the car, and I didn't have fan clearence. If I had a cooling problem again, I'd do the spacer out, pulley spacer in.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

After checking out the "high output" water offered by Flowkooler  purchased one....  Received the otherday..  I will try to post pictures..  The impeller appears to be a nice piece.  The casting is New with no Ford #s.. It has  "US488" for a casting #.. I believe the used castings that were talked about was if you sent yours in to be rebuilt.  I have yet to install. The only disappointment so far were the iron chips and filings from tapping the two outlets that fell out of housing !!        Check pictures.  Regards  Steve McD   [Thundercat]

Mars , Pennsylvania