Okay guys, my friend is looking to buy a 85 Vette and I didnt know where else to post. Its got tons of motor work done and is supposivly pushing 400 horse. But the car overheats quickly. We're not sure if the computer has been replaced but someone also mentioned flushing the radiator out. The guy did put a 160 therm. in it though. It also as a high performance cam, heads, headers, exhaust, intake, throttle body, and a lot more things done to it. Could it be anything else besides flushing the radiator? Every tube has been replaced inside the motor and everything so I dont think it could be a crushed tube. The engine only has 20,000 on it because its been repbuilt and rebored to a 383.

Any advice guys to what may cause the overheating problem? Thanks

 

overheating can be caused by a number of things. this 160* stat you mentioned could be defective and be stuck closed, not allowing coolant to go through the engine. are there any leaks? the water pump could be bad, or maybe the heater core. it also could have a blown head gasket. one time i installed one of those fan switches in the side of my Vettes block where the stock switch went. well, it turns out the aftermarket one was way too thick and was blocking the flow of coolant. as a result, my car would overheat in about 5 minutes. i put the skinnier, stock switch back in and had no problems. but anyway, i would take it to a competent mechanic and have the car completely looked over cause it sounds like this car has problems and the owner is trying to just get rid of it

 

Damn dood, you GOTTA tell me how to bore to a 383, then I can get rid of that annoying $600 crank

 

lol.

 

check the pump, put in a 170, and get a bigger radiator. Try some water wetter too.

 

Number one cause of vettes overheating is leaves and crud accumulating between the evaporator and radiator. It needs to be cleaned out every couple of years.

 

Kevin, you mean between the condenser and radiator.

Right?

 

C4's of those years of have cooling problems right off the showroom floor, even more so when you throw in 150+HP. A possible culprit could be the lower radiator hose collasping, air dam, but he probably needs a bigger radiator with those higher compression ratios, the timing, and those headers heating up the engine compartment. Oh yeah don't let the "20000 miles" fool you. The 383 as-is is pushing the strees limits of the engine and when you toss in those high performance parts, you know what the guy's been doing with it.....

 

Number 1 Reason Not to buy someon elses project right there, Unless its someone you know personally and trust the history

Check the Coolant mixture, ive know more than a few "experts" Who think that Running more antrifreee actually helps Keep temps down.

Problem is, the SP Heat of Water is about twice the SP heat of The Glycol Mixture If I remember correctly.

The best coolant you can get is Strait Distiled water

Excepting Water Wetter obviously.

 

Thanks so far guys, just out of curiousity what would you say the horsepower is with just the 350 bored out to a 383 without all the aftermarket parts.The car's selling for 8,000 and all the reciepts are there and the list of reciepts is literally about 8 pages worth. He has about 5,000 worth of parts in it so would it be worth 8?

 

haha

If you didn't catch on earlier i was making fun of you.



You can't "bore" a 350 to a 383, a 383 is STROKED and bored .030 over.

 

Sure you can, Just need alot of Block Filler!

 

Haha, or a motown