Ford V8 radiator maintenance
 

Decided to remove the radiator today for a flushing.

Makes changing out the distributor much easier too.

Attachment 128373 Attachment 128374

work continues
 

I didn't take too many photos, but here's what I did or ran into.

To take out the radiator, you have you take off the push bar, mesh guard and wind tunnel - in that order.

Drain the radiator and undo the radiator pipes top and bottom so the radiator can be pulled out towards the front. The hoses will need some wriggling as they likely have rusted to the radiator, pump- and head outlets.

After disassembly, I cleaned the radiator and the upper radiator pipes. I thoroughly flushed the radiator with tap water until only clean water came out. The small overflow pipe running down the side of the radiator needed poking with a wire and then compressed air and water to clean it up.

The ends of the pipes which are held in the rubber hose connection pieces were rusted so I cleaned them up with a wire brush and have repainted them before refitting.

I disassembled and lapped the surface of the tap to make it watertight again.

The radiator hoses were replaced at some point in time with generic Gates 45-mm inner diameter hose, they are still in good order so were cleaned up for further use.

I plan to put the radiator back in and then fill it with tap water to flush out the engine. This will probably take a few cycles to clean the engine from old coolant. Only then I will fill with fresh coolant.

Currently working on changing out the distributor with an electronic one. Working on the ignition with the radiator out is so much easier!

To be continued.

Attachment 128406

Original part number "91C-8290" stenciled on the upper radiator pipe:
Attachment 128405

Why not use a radiator flush compound???
 

..... it is messy...... and caustic......

Or maybe a mild acid solution to dissolve the rust scale overnight???? best done on open (dirt) ground......

Let us know how you Pertronix works...... are you planning to use the matching HD coil at 40K volts??? if so your sparkplug wires may not properly handle it and short out inside the tubes........ with the full coil/Pert. set up you almost need modern high capacity wire......

...and remember no solid core wire...... not recommended by Pertronix.....

Once completed it will run almost as good as a Chev........

Hanno, rather than fill your block back up with shite, flush your block first.
You can use the recently mentioned phosphoric acid or Muriatic acid (mixed with an inhibitor to stop corroding the good bits) Block off your water pumps and fill the engine to the top. If you set up the water pumps so that you can drain it carefully, you can save the acid in a plastic container for future use. You can let it settle and save most of it. Then give the engine a good flush both ways and once you have it all re assembled and sealed up, put a good corrosion inhibitor (+ antifreeze?) in it. Following all safety advice of course!

I agree with all of Bob's suggestions except that he suffers from some sort of schizophrenia as evidenced by his last line. :devil: :D

Hanno
The engine have original blue colour?