'66 A Body folks, please...

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64ragtop

64ragtop

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I've come to believe that adding a hood to radiator weatherstrip to the 64ragtop will help with the hiway overheating that I've had in Texas summertime with the A/C running.
The only one that I found is for '66 A bodies. It's 54" wide with 15 holes punched in the bottom and comes with the clips for installation.
This one: http://steelerubber.com/search?year...ible#hood-to-radiator-weatherstrip-70-2376-43

Aren't the radiator supports on all the A bodies from '63 thru '66 the same? If so, it looks like drilling matching holes in the top of the radiator support is all that's needed
to make this part backward compatible to my '64.

Does anyone have pictures of their '66 A body car with the weatherstrip in place and/or the radiator support withOUT the part in place.
I've read of some homebuilt hood to radiator weatherstrips, but the one I found looks nice and should (I hope) function as well on my car as on your '66es.

Thanks!

BC
 
64ragtop said:
I've come to believe that adding a hood to radiator weatherstrip to the 64ragtop will help with the hiway overheating that I've had in Texas summertime with the A/C running.
The only one that I found is for '66 A bodies. It's 54" wide with 15 holes punched in the bottom and comes with the clips for installation.
This one: http://steelerubber.com/search?year...ible#hood-to-radiator-weatherstrip-70-2376-43

Aren't the radiator supports on all the A bodies from '63 thru '66 the same? If so, it looks like drilling matching holes in the top of the radiator support is all that's needed
to make this part backward compatible to my '64.

Does anyone have pictures of their '66 A body car with the weatherstrip in place and/or the radiator support withOUT the part in place.
I've read of some homebuilt hood to radiator weatherstrips, but the one I found looks nice and should (I hope) function as well on my car as on your '66es.

Thanks!

BC
Click to expand...




I think my 66 dart has the holes on the hood, here's a picture of it in prep, I think my 65 was that way too. the seal wouldn't get damaged by leaning on it and working on the car . I do not have holes in the parts car or either of the 2 66's that I ahve.
View attachment !!!!!hood seal.jpg
 
Thanks for the correction, folks! It makes sense for the weatherstrip to be on the hood, rather than the radiator support. The previous owner had installed some extra insulation on the hood. Maybe the holes are under it. Which brings up more questions (of course). What years A bodies had the hood to radiator weatherstrip either stock or optional - or what years had the appropriate holes in the underside on the hood? Or, if not by model years, which trim levels had the holes, or the weatherstrip?? 66D-vert's pic of the bare hood with the holes shows me that I haven't pulled the old non-stock insulation far enough back yet. Anyone have pics of the piece properly installed?

Thanks again, everyone, and keep the info coming! Darn, I love this site!!!

BC
 
64ragtop said:
Thanks for the correction, folks! It makes sense for the weatherstrip to be on the hood, rather than the radiator support. The previous owner had installed some extra insulation on the hood. Maybe the holes are under it. Which brings up more questions (of course). What years A bodies had the hood to radiator weatherstrip either stock or optional - or what years had the appropriate holes in the underside on the hood? Or, if not by model years, which trim levels had the holes, or the weatherstrip?? 66D-vert's pic of the bare hood with the holes shows me that I haven't pulled the old non-stock insulation far enough back yet. Anyone have pics of the piece properly installed?

Thanks again, everyone, and keep the info coming! Darn, I love this site!!!

BC
Click to expand...
I know every 66 and 65 I have owned had one on the hood (or what was left of them anyway) only a few of mine had the insulation on the hood. just my GT models and one 270 that I had. I've seen a few 64's that had them(support to hood seal) too but they were restored cars, so maybe they put them on even if they didn't have them.
 
Thanks again, folks!!! If it turns out that there are no holes in the 64ragtop's hood as shown in your posts, removing the hood and drilling my own could be an option. I'm not really looking forward to it.

After reading that previous thread and the current one, I'm pretty sure I'll order the '66 piece and modify it as needed. It ain't rocket science and I think your pictures have shown me what I need. I'm a little embarrassed, though. I really should have searched that previous thread out for myself. ("Search" is your friend and mine) I thought my little bump in the road was SO unique - - (didn't think is more like it!)

Any other thoughts, pictures advice or comments are welcome and I'll welcome the chance to learn more.

BC
 
The seal reminds me of a large bottom seal for a garage door. If it does not need to be original, that may may work.
 
What I've been thinking on that matter is just where on the hood would the piece be mounted to give the best seal, and how to fasten it so it wouldn't embarrass me coming loose while I was showing off my engine compartment. Originality is not an issue, but performance and durability are.

I was surprised to find that the seal for the '66 cars needed to be cut for a '65. I'm pretty sure the '63 to '65 hoods are the same and the '66s were more squared off, but different lengths never crossed my mind.

Well, live and learn!

BC
 
I don't have any over heating issues, but I am adding an "AggressiveTed" scoop to direct the air to the radiator better. He has alot of Great ideas!
 
if you are overheating on the highway you must have other issues.

what engine is in the car and what condition are the thermostat and radiator in?
 
It's a mild 318 with a new 180 degree t'stat & 14 lb cap. Radiator is good coolant flows when t'stat opens, 50% antifreeze - water, new hoses, It just starts to creep up higher than I like to see in Texas summertime (95 - 100 degrees) with the A/C running (of course!!!) Now that it's Fall it won't be as hot, but I'd like to be ready for next Summer. I also like Aggressive Ted's air dam that cuts down on airflow under the car.

BC

BC
 
What temp is it running? I can almost guarantee that a hood to core support seal won't help in this situation.

At speed, a butt load of air is crashing into the condenser and radiator, more than enough to cool your engine.

The idea that hot, under-hood air is getting kicked back around or too much is going over or missing the radiator isn't realistic.

I would make sure the condenser is clean and the fins are n good shape. Same with the radiator, loosen the condenser and take a look. You can use a fin comb or similar tool to straighten damaged fins.

My guess is that it's a capacity issue. You just need more radiator.

Or.... You don't have an issue at all. Many people on here rely on a factory gauge that doesn't tell the actual temperature.

People panic when they see 200 or 205 on hot days. That's not hot.
 
Thanks for trying to save me some money. (Unless I end up buying a new radiator!) True, my factory gauge doesn't show degrees, and being 49 years old with only "factory accuracy" to begin with, I don't know what the actual coolant temp is. What has concerned me is seeing the needle slowly creep upward from a steady reading about mid-scale (comfortably in the "normal" range) to the upper end of the "normal" range. I've only seen this at highway speed on a hot Texas highway in the summertime and with the A/C running. I've never seen it pass the upper line of that scale. Letting caution be the better part of valor, I've always pulled over and let the car idle 'til the gauge was about centered again.

I hadn't heard anyone say that the hot underhood air was going back around through the radiator, but the air coming through the grill IS going to follow the path of least resistance. It's not hard for me to think that there is SOME resistance even through a clean radiator, A/C condenser and tranny cooler with straight fins. Over the top of the radiator, under it, or through the cooling parts - I certainly can't say which is the path of least resistance.

I'm not in a big hurry to spend money foolishly buying a relatively cheap piece of rubber when what I REALLY need is a relatively expensive new radiator. I'm changing to an R-134 A/C system, and maybe the Sanden compressor will help with the cooling.

Thanks again to all for the input! To keep this thread kinda centered what I'd really like is to hear from someone who installed the hood to radiator weatherstrip and ACTUALLY DID get an improvement. Seems to me that Ma Mopar didn't hang that thing under the hood 'cause it's pretty!

But, as always, I could be wrong.....

BC
 

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ragtop, if you don't have the holes and don't want to drill, just use 3M weatherstrip adhesive like what is used on your trunk weather strip.FYI there was also a seal on the cowl that sealed to the hood when closed. My 64 had one at one time.
 
64ragtop said:
Thanks again, folks!!! If it turns out that there are no holes in the 64ragtop's hood as shown in your posts, removing the hood and drilling my own could be an option. I'm not really looking forward to it.

After reading that previous thread and the current one, I'm pretty sure I'll order the '66 piece and modify it as needed. It ain't rocket science and I think your pictures have shown me what I need. I'm a little embarrassed, though. I really should have searched that previous thread out for myself. ("Search" is your friend and mine) I thought my little bump in the road was SO unique - - (didn't think is more like it!)

Any other thoughts, pictures advice or comments are welcome and I'll welcome the chance to learn more.

BC
Click to expand...


I've been thinking that if you don't have the holes and didn't want to drill them. then you could take a piece of the door windlace that grips the pinchweld and put int on the radiator support top piece. that way the rubber bulb of the windlace can act as a seal to the hood without drilling.
I think I found it at rt specialties @ 2.50 ft
looks like this View attachment DSCF3848.jpg
I used a portion of the windlace also for my trunk seal(all except the bottom strip where there was no way to hook it to the metal. (I used regular trunk seal there on the bottom with the black weather strip adhesive to seal the ends together)
 
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