Radiator problem

Well I got the engine back together and I still had water gushing from the radiator! Crap ... so as you see from below I went on to do a little metal work to get away from the engine for a while.

I spent most of the holidays working on the tail gate. It is getting better with heat and hammer but still has a long ways to go ... the good news is this is the worst of the body work as far as dents go. I do not plan on getting it perfect but better. The pictures may look like its getting worse but really it's not, I promise LOL.

Yesterday I thought I would try out my fiber sanding wheel on the drill ...it works great! I went back over the passenger side bed panel and removed most of the major rust right behind the tire. I also revisited the top rail and the side panel parts I had already done. I brought one short section of the running board to bare metal as well. The wheel still has some material left but I will be getting a couple more of these.

The camera picks up rust I can hardly see LOL

 

Ready for the sanding wheel

Now the engine ....  OK, no water in the oil so far after a lot of run time, does not overheat (stays right at 180°), not seeing any unusual smoke from the exhaust ... so what the hell?

I know it needs a water pump, it is leaking from the weep hole. That will be sometime in the next week or so.

Then I thought, maybe the Flathead radiator has some weird construction property that wont allow me to get cross flow the way I have it hooked up. When I got the truck both hoses where on the passenger side of the radiator. So I made a diagram and asked on the trusty HAMB site:

Well they confirmed I should not have an issue with this configuration and I thought that would be the case. So this morning I took the thermostat out and top off the fluid at that location and put the hose back on. I then filled the radiator up and started her up. I could see the water circulating and everything seems to be fine. The truck never got up to temp, so I really wont know until I take it outside and run it enough to heat up to see what happens. I will probably do that after this post.

I also boiled the thermostat with a thermometer and it appears to open between 180° and 200° ... closer to 200° I think. I will have to do it again to confirm. Closer to 200 would probably not be ideal for this truck since it never seems to go over 180°. I think what is happening is a combination of the thermostat and the water pump, but I can not be sure just yet.

I am posting a picture of the water pump for my own use, but enjoy LOL

You can see where it has been leaking (brown area)

After looking online it seems I will just be getting the pump part  that the fan bolts onto and no the whole assembly ... I tried to remove this when the truck was in VA to replace the gasket without any luck. I did not try too hard because I did not want to break a bolt. Maybe with it mounted on the engine I will be able to get more leverage on it to break them loose. Crossing my fingers ... don't want to have to hunt down the whole thing!