Get a little propane torch, put some heat on the block plugs. Several heat and cooldown sessions to help loosen any “environmental locktite” that may be there.

 

Thanks for tip , i should have that in mind
Finally i got the left side flap done and this is
also made of 3mm polycarbonate plastic.

 

That will help greatly, good work!

Clearance is needed between the shield and the radiator core to prevent abrasion that could wear through the radiator tube(s) over time. The clearance may already exist, I can't tell from the picture.

 

Hi thanks yes there is a clearence between plastic flap and radiator tubes , about 1/4". The
plastic flaps on both sides are resting on the vertical alu ridge so i don't think there are any chance the flaps will have any contact with the tubes.
I saw they have the waterwetter here also so i maybe buy a bottle in the spring. Should flush the cooling system more but we have had a lot of rain last weeks so i wait a little.
Very nice to have this forum and could get help and tip about our cars

 

Hi , have one question more , have looked in the chassies manual but not find : should it be some
flap between lower front of the radiator support and front bumper ? I can se two holes in the radiator support
but these maybe are for water to exit.

The car runs well now and we have had nice rides with the top down

 

Glenn
Great thread. Based on your experience I ordered some thermocure. My 66’s coolant is several years old and in California, in traffic, I’m happy for any cooling advantage I can get.

My ‘66 big cars were delivered with rubber curtains on the left and right side of the radiator and the bottom too. The bottom one fills the void (empty space) between the bumper and radiator.

All 3 of these curtains force air through the radiator core instead of flowing around it. In this case, without the curtains or your 3mm polycarbonate replacements, some air will go around the edges of the radiator, reducing cooling system effectiveness. If it helps, think of the front curtains or your polycarbonate (good solution!) as a “front shroud” forcing incoming air into the radiator.

For reference, my cars use 70% distilled water, 30% anti-freeze with 2 bottles of Water Wetter per car. For us in the US,that means about 3.5 gallons or so (12 liters) of distilled water and the rest in antifreeze / water wetter. I can’t recommend this combination in a place like Sverige where winter is cold, but it is what I use in California heat.

Cheers
Chris

 

Hi Chris and thanks for info . Yes i will fill up the void between bumper and radiator. The Thermocure worked
very well and maybe i do a treatment again . Thermocure is expensive and hard to get here so i should check
the internet. Would be nice to get these drainplugs in the block out also sometime.

We use a mix of 50% / 50% water and antifreeze here when there is no heat in the garage in winter. I have not
driven the car in slow speed cruising where it can be long stops with engine idling yet , only common roaddriving and
this works just fine.

 

Be sure to use a 6 point socket when dealing with block drains. I was able to get pass side out, driver side within the engine mount is still stuck.
Nice job on air deflectors, you could also slit rubber tubing length wise and slide on deflectors where it meets the rad. further sealing the gap

 

I think the drainplugs must wait a little , both Volvo and Subaru needs attention first yes using only
6 point sockets here . Thanks for tip , should continue with this.

Was it much stuff that came out of your drain hole in your car ?

 

I just got it loose and opened for a second to see what came out, fluid first so not much build up, soaked the driver side plug with Kroil 5-6 times over a week, also got engine warm twice, still no movement, hot or cold, so that one is staying in. Going to do a thermo-cure flush soon so may try it again.

 

Made a ruff sample of board to fill the void , should make a better flap later just testing.

 

Long ago I was a disappointed that Olds didn't use 2 different size fan shrouds in 1966 since the big car radiators were wider than the A-bodies. If you're going to run a shroud, shouldn't it cover the whole rear of the radiator to keep things as cool as mechanically possible? To me, uh yeah. To Olds in 1966, not so much. Years ago I was trying to improve on what Olds did in 1966 for cooling since 1) there are more cars on my roads; 2) our ancient cars spend more time at low speed in traffic than they used to; 3) At least in my part of the world, temps are higher on average, or at least when I drive; 4) they're older and weren't designed for our lower quality, lower octane gasoline.

Anyway 8-10 years ago, I raided the boneyards & snagged a couple of late '60's Tornado fan shrouds. I gamely tried to just bolt 'em in, but their mounting points were different from my '66 big cars. So I fell back to I cannibalizing them for parts to fix/ augment / improve my own shrouds so that they covered the entire rear side of a '66 big car radiator. I don't believe I ever posted shots, please excuse me if I've forgotten.

Long winded way of saying, here you go with my modified 1966 Oldsmobile fan shrouds which cover the complete rear of my bigger-than-Cutlass radiators:

Front View (with classy zipties!)

Ziptie some extra width on your '66 big car shroud using later GM driver's side parts. Be sure to use milspec tiptoes (ha!)


Rear View

1966 Oldsmobile Fan Shroud modified to cover entire big car (88/98/Starfire) radiator width, which was wider than Cutlass/442.


Hope this helps some of you. I'd guess you could get a bunch of shrouds as candidates for surgery and fit the best you can. Key thing is that the shroud pulls air from across the entire radiator core, not just 60%...

Cheers
Chris

 

Thanks for pics and tip on this Chris i have a little exhaust leak at the left manifold / heat riser , if i
remove this the heat riser will be removed.