Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

[John H.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

were there any special engineering considerations given to the cooling system on these early V8's to control operating temps given that they didn't have permanent antifreeze, clutched fans etc.??

All Corvettes were factory-filled with permanent ethylene glycol anti-freeze; the cheap alcohol-based blue anti-freeze we used to sell in gas stations was never used as factory fill. C1 non-clutched fans, spacers and shrouds were quite effective in moving air - just noisy. As engine power went up over the years, radiators got better for improved heat rejection, and clutched fans were introduced to reduce the noise.

[Steven B.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Back when I drove my '59 as a daily driver it was just a 10 year old used Corvette 270 horse. It never overheated even putting around town on the local cruise loop. As far as I know the radiator has never had any service other than drain and refill with ethylene glycol antifreeze.

Tom

'Same with my 245 HP (with 097 cam and 270 jets) with untouched radiator in the 60's. Loop was city parking lot, past Dal's News Stand and right at John's Texaco to the bowling alley and back, right Tom?

[Stuart F.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Guess there was a "Loop" in every city. We used to refer to ours and our intent sayin; "Let's go scoop the Loop"!

In my home town; Racine, WI, the cops wanted to discourage the practice so they put in one "No Left Turn" sign which really messed us up for a while. Then they actually stopped us and warned us not to come through town again - so we started parking instead. Ironically, the cop we had the most trouble with (Lucky), had the gall to come out to our hang out gas station (owned by the Police Commissioner) for Friday night Pizza. We had a special 32" Pizza there every Friday night from Durango's. Some of our group worked there, and the rest of us had "dibs" on the lift!

Stu Fox

[Michael H.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Guess there was a "Loop" in every city. We used to refer to ours and our intent sayin; "Let's go scoop the Loop"!

In my home town; Racine, WI,

Did you ever go to the Saturday night outdoor movies in down town Union Grove in the late 50's? That's was, what, about 10 miles from Racine?

[Steven B.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Our's was Butler, Indiana (NE corner of the state). One day I turned over my Atlas Bucron Cheater Slicks in the parking lot, drove a block or so and Tiney Albertson, our one and only cop, stopped me as I got to the bowling alley. He followed me for about 1/2 mile---half the distance through town. He gave me alot of crap about no mufflers. I had the round ones and told (asked) him to look and see that I did have them. No luck. Besides, IF he could have gotten down that low there is no way he could have gotten back up. I went straight to Maxton Motors, our GM dealer , and ordered two mufflers--round of course. I happened to run into our mayor who was buying parts for his son's '54 Vette. Ray asked what I was doing. A couple of hours later, while eating dinner, the phone rang and it was Tiney. He told me I did not have to buy new mufflers. That was about '66. I have the mufflers in their boxes in the garage.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Michael;

Oh Yaaa! We used to go hunting "PoonTang" all over several counties and small cities, incl. Burlington, Union Grove, and of course Lake Geneva (lots of rich Chicago girls there that professed liking free love). One of my favorite spots was Brown's Lake. You know, I may have just lost some of my under carriage black goo in the tall grass fields. Oops, That was a later time frame.

Stu Fox

[Michael H.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

Michael;

Oh Yaaa! We used to go hunting "PoonTang" all over several counties and small cities, incl. Burlington, Union Grove, and of course Lake Geneva (lots of rich Chicago girls there that professed liking free love). One of my favorite spots was Brown's Lake. You know, I may have just lost some of my under carriage black goo in the tall grass fields. Oops, That was a later time frame.

Stu Fox

When I was a kid in the late 50's and my parents completely lost control me, they shipped me off to "uncle Elton's farm" up in Union Grove. (guess they thought I wouldn't get in any mischef on the farm)
The cousins and I always went to the outdoor show on Sat night and I still vividly remembr a white 57 Chev HT with glass packs and a 58 or 59 Corvette drag racing right up and down highway 45 about one block out of town. The guy with the Corvette almost always came back smiling.

[Jack H.]

Re: Did the old 283 dual point Corvettes overheat?

There's another, minor, contributing factor to consider here...

The early V8 engines did NOT use a fan clutch. The fan was rigidly bolted to the water pump and turned with 0% slip at all RPM's and underhood temperatures.

When the fan clutch was introduced (1960), it provided rotating mass relief by allowing the fan to spin at RPM's different from that of the engine via a variable slip profile based on BOTH engine RPM as well as underhood temperature. This was an EXCELLENT method for increasing peak HP AND reducing the 'howl' factor of the fan in the engine compartment.

BUT, nothing comes without a cost... As a fan clutch wears out (bearing wear + loss of internal hydraulic fluid), it's slip profile changes and that's generally in the direction of introducing MORE slip across the dynamic operation range of the clutch which translates into LESS cooling air flow through the radiator.

Bottom line, to compare apples to apples (distributor with vs. distributor without vac advance) EVERYTHING else about the two car's underhood compliment need to be fresh/new for a valid comparison. That's sometimes a BIG order for these classic cars that have 40-50 years of use/wear + 'restoration' parts installed!