heater hose routing

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Bygblok

Bygblok

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I'm trying to get a new radiator for the Dart and it seems that it may be an oddball? I understand that on most of these the heater hoses come from the block and return to the water pump. Mine appear to go from around the pump and return to the radiator on the passenger side of the upper tank(see 2nd pic) Any idea's on what to replace this with? Gary is working on it too but I'm a GM convert with my first Mopar and it seems that at some times, sister cars from Mopar were even put together differently!


 
Is there not a place on the top of the intake, probably has a plug in it? If there is, you could probably get a hose barb to replace the plug and do away with the radiator connection. I have seen a radiator like that, but it did not have the heater hose routed to it, it had some other type of connection with smaller hoses.
C
 
yeah, Gary sent me a picture of what it "should" look like and I'm not sure what I've got to work with. I don't have the car here to look at it so it's not as easy as just running hoses at this point. I'll figure something out....soon I hope! Thanks
 
We really need to know if the hose under the A/C goes to the manifold, to the pump, or tee'd into the bypass.
 
Mike is going to send me a bunch of shots from different angles so I can tell where that one hose goes. It was likely moved because of the compressor mounting if I had to guess. No other reason I can think of off hand to do that. Thanks for the patience guys. Trying to make this thing roll again before the first week of July.
 
I hope the upper radiator hose hasn't escaped your attention. Looks like it needs to be shortened to get the kink out of it.

Russ.
 
Double M said:
I hope the upper radiator hose hasn't escaped your attention. Looks like it needs to be shortened to get the kink out of it.

Russ.
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the core support is set back from a little front end impact to a trailer hitch. The whole radiator and all got pushed in about two inches so that's why I'm replacing everything. The hood wasn't messed up but I'm going to a stock hood to get it all closer to being correct. I bought it with the slightly bent nose because I just couldn't pass on it because the car is really nice.
 
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okay, here's a better pic he just sent me of it. It appears that the hose routing was done to better clear the bottom of the compressor and I'll have to maybe use a 90 degree nipple to hook it up the proper way or find an alternate source of water for now. The big thing is getting the correct radiator and Gary can hook me up there for sure. Thanks again for being patient and with all of the help. Glad you guys don't hold grudges on old GM guys! ;)

dart.jpg
 
Bygblok said:
I'm trying to get a new radiator for the Dart and it seems that it may be an oddball? I understand that on most of these the heater hoses come from the block and return to the water pump. Mine appear to go from around the pump and return to the radiator on the passenger side of the upper tank(see 2nd pic) Any idea's on what to replace this with? Gary is working on it too but I'm a GM convert with my first Mopar and it seems that at some times, sister cars from Mopar were even put together differently!


Click to expand...
Bygblok said:
I'm trying to get a new radiator for the Dart and it seems that it may be an oddball? I understand that on most of these the heater hoses come from the block and return to the water pump. Mine appear to go from around the pump and return to the radiator on the passenger side of the upper tank(see 2nd pic) Any idea's on what to replace this with? Gary is working on it too but I'm a GM convert with my first Mopar and it seems that at some times, sister cars from Mopar were even put together differently!


Click to expand...
Nothing personal, but this looks like another hack-up from somebody who did not understand the theory of what they were working on. If it was you, deny everything. LOL

For the heater to work correctly you need coolant to come out the fitting on top of the intake manifold, which is below the thermostat. That is important. That is where the coolant from the engine is hottest and it is available when the thermostat is closed. It goes from the intake through the heater core and back to the fitting on the water pump, which is the suction side of the water pump. That way the coolant can circulate through the heater and the engine with the thermostat closed or open.

I still can not tell where the heater hose on the engine is connected. I have no idea why somebody would connect a heater hose to the radiator like that. Ask yourself, how is the coolant going to flow through the heater with the hoses connected the way they are without being cooled by cold coolant in the radiator? If it can circulate at all when the thermostat is closed.
 
Kinda looks like someone tried to return the heater coolant back to the radiator instead of the water pump because the AC compressor was in the way and they got it backwards.
You could really only get away with that if the other heater hose came off the intake.
And it wouldn't circulate with the thermostat closed.
In fact, if I am correct it's probably sucking air from the top of the radiator directly into the water pump causing cavitation, and therefore over heating.
 
TrailBeast said:
Kinda looks like someone tried to return the heater coolant back to the radiator instead of the water pump because the AC compressor was in the way and they got it backwards.
You could really only get away with that if the other heater hose came off the intake.
And it wouldn't circulate with the thermostat closed.
In fact, if I am correct it's probably sucking air from the top of the radiator directly into the water pump causing cavitation, and therefore over heating.
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Not sure about the rationale used on the hoses but I know it didn't run hot at all. It has some aftermarket gauges and now that I look closer at the picture it almost looks like maybe the sending unit for the temp gauge is plugged in that hole. Either way I'll correct it as soon as I can to make it right.
 
Bygblok said:
Not sure about the rationale used on the hoses but I know it didn't run hot at all. It has some aftermarket gauges and now that I look closer at the picture it almost looks like maybe the sending unit for the temp gauge is plugged in that hole. Either way I'll correct it as soon as I can to make it right.
Click to expand...

Ok, good it's not getting hot because of it, but the main point was that if that heater hose on the radiator terminates at the water pump instead of the intake it could only cause problems by sucking air off the top of the coolant in the tank.
The heater not working very well for one.
 
nm9stheham said:
You mean you have not received the emailed death threats? Someone's gonna get in the trouble for this.... LOL

So is that a blown Opel GT in your avatar?
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The opel is a promod I spent quite a few long nights crewing on. It's been apart for a number of years now and we're toying with bringing it back out with a nitrous motor to run some 4.70 baby-promod races. Car has run some 3.90's but it's all really old parts now. Had some fun and won a few races with it too.
 
That heater hose routing will work, the "pressure" side of the pump will push coolant thru the heater core and empty into the lower pressure upper rad, being "emptied" thru the lower hose by the suction side of the pump, but by doing so, the function of the thermostat is likely greatly reduced, increasing warm-up time.

The early heating feature of the heater core while the thermostat is closed is negated by this routing, otherwise it should be quite functional.. imho

Drilling an 1/8 or smaller hole in the thermostat to burp the air from the system merely avoids that nasty surge of coolant that spews back when the thermostat opens, 10 secs work to avoid a wet (slippery, pet unsafe) floor. jmo.

cheers
 
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OBTW, that upper rad hose needs to be corrected to get that kink out. Just cut an inch off at a time of the rad end 'til it lays in right. Being kinked will cause the rubber to crack prematurely, and not help flow.

Inertia, that heater hose to the water pump area looks like it is feeding to the low pressure inlet side of the pump, not from the pressure side. So the heater core is fed only from the very low pressure drop from the top to bottom of the rad, or so it looks to me; not much flow there.

As said, that hose now going to the rad normally comes from the pressurized area near the t'stat. There looks to be a temp sensor in that hole with the AC installation. Perhaps you can fab a Tee'd outlet from below the t'stat, to replace the nipple that feeds the bypass hose, that has 2 outlets: one for a shortened bypass hose, and a smaller one for that heat hose that is now going to the top tank of the rad.
 
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all small blocks i've seen A/C or no A/C have the heater hoses connected at the same places.. one is on the intake the other is on the water pump..


DSC06180.jpg
 
nm9stheham said:
Inertia, that heater hose to the water pump area looks like it is feeding to the low pressure inlet side of the pump, not from the pressure side. So the heater core is fed only from the very low pressure drop from the top to bottom of the rad, or so it looks to me; not much flow there.
Click to expand...

nm9 - you're absolutely right, it looked to me like it looped outta the front of the manifold, I shoulda blown it up bigger.
Thank-you..
 
at least I know what to fix now so I can make this thing right. Gotta pull that core support out about two inches first though so everything fits right again. Everything else is an easy bolt-on fix. If the trailer hitch had been two inches higher I wouldn't even need a bumper! I hate buying it this way but the car was an absolute steal for the money. I'm looking forward to my first Mopar cruiser now!
 
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