Modified Coolant Tanks

I am looking for the easy way out. Some one I can ship the tanks to that is familiar with doing these modifications. Ship them from Hall to them directly.

 I have never heard of anybody selling or regularly fabricating the modified tanks you are seeking. 

 I have heard of hundreds of our cars that have absolutely no cooling problems without the modified tanks. 😉

 For decades now owners have chased the brass ring of a perfect cooling system and in the process numerous successful approaches have proved to be of value. 

 Whatever floats your boat, I guess ?

Larry

Just out of Curiosity, Did the Ford GT 40 have over heating Problems? But then again they Probably Didn't/Don't drive in Stop and Go Traffic as much? 

I looked through the index of the definitive history...  Racing in the Rain, by John Horsman (RIP), and could find no mention of GT40 overheating, radiators or cooling systems described in his book.  So I have to conclude they weren't severely impacted by overheating.

Of course...  GT-40 didn't run the 351Cs, but other than that - there are a lot of similarities.

Honestly - it would be interesting to hear how the GT-40 reproductions are configured, radiator-wise.  I think there are at least 3 of our members here that are running them - at least I can think of three.. there are probably more.

Rocky

High performance and Pantera's of nominal performance are both prone to overheating and heat soak.  I think that fact is well established and everyone understands that.  The cooling mods listed on the cooling sticky are factually beneficial.  I drive my car every day,...  every day, and have for about 15 years.  It has a mild 425 HP and I can tell you for a fact the swirl tank mod was critical in the drivability of my car.  My car is well behaved and the engine is quite comfortable in it's surroundings and on many days I do not even require the fan.  This was not the case before, I regularly make trips and hour south of here and the car was prone to heat soak.  The swirl tank mod fixed all of my cooling issues.  As someone with years of daily seat time in a Pantera I would not build one without the swirl tank mod.  It is standard procedure.

If you really want to get fancy....  look at the picture / diagram of the 1 piece swirl & expansion tank in the upper right - in (Photos and Video (Clips)).

Looks like a cool design...  my only question is how do you figure the volume required for the expansion tank?

Anyway - there is a drawing and a picture there.  If you are going to have something fabricated, maybe you could try it, and give us a report!

Rocky

 Since my purchase in 2002  I have put over 50,000 miles on 2511. The only time that it has ever overheated to the point of boil over was when I had accidentally disconnected the fans when hardwiring the valentine radar detector. 

 My cooling system has been stock with the exception of stainless steel pipes, water pump impeller fitted with a back plate and the radiator to surge tank air bleed hose as outlined in one of the TSB bulletins.

 I will say it once again:

 If you can exit the freeway after a long drive and then spend 30 minutes in stop and go city traffic and when finally at your destination observe there is no gurgling, boiling or release of expansion tank coolant, your cooling system is working just fine. 

Larry 

So what I'm hearing you say Laurence.. is your cooling system is in fact modified and you have never had a car with the swirl tank mod... 

I fail to see how any of your posts are adding to the information or helping this gentleman with his swirl tank mod.

Exactly how are you adding to the knowledge base here?

I think if some one has a car that is cooling perfectly that they realize that.

Is your contribution actually that if someone road trips their car and it doesn't overheat that their cooling system is working??...lol...  

Dear plt1,

-sp 

My name is Larry. 

 I could make an attempt at spelling your name, but you don’t even bother to sign your postings. 

================

 I just took the time to reread the original posting and I apparently misinterpreted what had been written. I thought he had bought new tanks with which to perform the modifications but I now see he is replacing tanks that have previously been modified.  Since that has already been done, and apparently he has no issues, then I see no issue with him replacing his current tanks with the stainless steel tanks. 

 What I do see an issue with is the many owners that have posted or I have personally spoken with over my 18–19 years in the community that state their car’s cooling system is broken, but share no tales of gurgling, trapped air bubbles or expansion tank overflow.

 A new owner quickly learns that the most often discussed issue is cooling, and year after year it seems someone is coming up with a new approach to “fix” that problem. 

 And over the years those many approaches have found many owners satisfied with the cooling performance results.

 I fear many owners, not truly understanding what an overheating problem actually is, fall victim to the endless onslaught of “I fixed my cooling system!!”  and find themselves believing that since they do not have modifications then there must be something wrong with their system.

 I have no doubt there are owners that have performed this extensive tank modification when in reality the cooling system was previously ...actually... functioning just fine.  

 I shared my experience with a minimally modified system in hopes of conveying to owners that there are, in addition to totally functioning stock systems, varying levels of modification approaches.

 Just because one owner believes in one approach being “standard operating procedure”, that should not be taken to indicate that ...some... procedure is in fact needed, and ...that... approach is the only never-fail approach.

  Once again, whatever floats your boat. 

Larry

My name is Paul, I think most guys around here know that, including you.

So I still don't what your post has to do w this thread? ...  The thread is not about stock cars that don't over heat, or if it's possible...  

So is your post relevant or not?

So do you have any actionable advice for this gentleman ?

To carry the discussion a little further (hopefully in a positive, helpful way), there is always the desire for "margin", in this case, cooling capacity in excess of the original design specs or capability.

Pantera owners search for "margin" a lot - look at horsepower, brakes, tire sizes, and upgraded shocks/suspensions, for a number of relevant examples.

I think the coolant mods can certainly give owners "margin" in excess of the original design (and with it, confidence).  Certainly it is hard to objectively quantify how much improvement you gain - especially with modifications to an already functioning cooling system, but....  who would argue that a system that AUTOMATICALLY bleeds air out of the cooling system (both at the radiator, and at the swirl tank) is a bad modification - especially when we know that air trapped in the cooling system can have adverse consequences?

I would agree that the first thing an owner should do is ensure his original cooling system is working as best as possible - but then...  why not add margin?  We Pantera owners do it all the time.

Anyway - I hope The Captain can find someone with a TIG torch and SS rods.  The changes are pretty straight forward. 

You can probably buy bungs, and brass bayonet fittings on eBay, and just give the fabricator the two tanks, and say...  Make this one like that one.

Good luck.

Rocky (a.k.a. Chuck)

PS>  The name of my Toyota FJ-40 Land Cruiser is "Rocky", so that is how I selected my forum name.

Chuck wrote:

“ Give the fabricator “

 I have done exactly that multiple times over the years. Most recently I wanted to add drain plugs on the two forward coolant pipes.  I sourced stainless steel bungs, drilled the necessary holes and took the pieces to a small shop that was more than happy to help me out for a nominal fee. 

 Make some phone calls, let the shops know you have all of the parts and weld locations established and all you are seeking are welding skills.  Pretty sure most cities of any size have a shop like this, the trick is finding them. 😉

Larry

The only time the car actually expelled coolant was after a spirited run on a autocross course. I have extra compression and a 662 solid roller cam. So I am looking for every incremental reduction in temperature I can get. Short of cutting the hood. I don't want to cut the hood. I couldn't sleep at night.

How about a source for the SS Bungs?

Maybe look in to SACC's Water Pump Pulley, say's it will turn the Water Pump 11% Faster. That couldn't hurt!

It took seconds to find this by searching eBay...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-N...f:g:GwoAAOSwRTVaUF~~

You need to figure out what size hose nipples you want to screw into them to be sure you are ordering the right item....

Rocky

@cuvee posted:

Maybe look in to SACC's Water Pump Pulley, say's it will turn the Water Pump 11% Faster.

That would be AMAZING!

Rocky

PS - In my quest for cooling system "margin"...  I have one.  It looks good, it lasts a long time, and I have seen downside.