Quick question:

Doing my top end rebuild and cleaning up the engine bay soon, can I remove the coolant resevoir and just run a hose to the ground like in older Chevys, or will missing a coolant resevoir be hazardous to my motor in terms of overheating?

_Clark

 

I'm not too sure what you mean by running a hose to the ground, but some people on this site have found smaller over flow tanks and placed them under that front plastic piece under the hood. Or you can buy one from Summit. Either way I recommend you keep it.

 

In my two buddies Chevelles, they don't have overflow tanks, just a rubber hose about 6" long that hangs off of the top of the radiator so the coolant just flows to the street if the car overheats badly. It's basically if you took the tank off and left the rubber hose hanging.

 

Some other alternatives are 1) a smaller stock tank - I installed the smaller one and I like it, or 2) an aftermarket tank - they make all different shapes, sizes, colors, styles, etc. Just about anything will work - I once saw a Bud can used as an overflow.

My car does on occasion get hot. The overflow tank not only serves as a place for the expanding hot liquid to drain to other than the ground, but it also serves as a method of maintaining coolant levels. You get hot, coolant expands, flows out - no tank to flow to, you lose it. Car cools, coolant is sucked from tank back into system - no tank, no replacement coolant. Tomorrow, you get hotter, since now your coolant level is low. Are you willing to wait until it cools, and check the level daily?

I know - no tanks on older cars - however, also remember that in the old days, gas stations pumped the gas (full service), not just sold it (self service) - they always popped the hood and checked these things for everyone on every fill up. The driver had no need to always check fluids - it was always done for them. Also, no one was ever stuck in "5 o'clock traffic" for hours on end, with A/C running (there wasn't any), and 14 million cars side by side heating the highway with exhaust. I'd keep some kinda tank, unless it's a track car - even on your Sunday country cruise you may wind up in a 20 minute idling, overheating delay.

 

Earlier systems without overflow tanks were designed to run with about 1" of air at the top of the rad when cold. There is no reason you can't do that on a 3rd gen- it won't affect cooling hardly at all. However, if you get a coolant leak there will be no way to know it without taking off the rad cap and see of the coolant level had dropped at all since the last time you checked. External overflow tanks are easy reference if you have a coolant leak- you'll see the level getting lower in the (see-thru) overflow tank day by day.

 

Cool, thank you guys for your input. I'll probably go with a smaller aftermarket tank then. CamaroNewbie, you said you had one, do you have any pics of it under the hood? Thanks

 

side note; my local race track requires an overflow tank to be allowed to race. No idea why. Anyway, just something to keep in mind.

 

This is true. Atco, which is near me, could care less, whenever I go, they pick their heads up when I drive up, make sure my wheels are there and write a number on my car.

Englishtown (Raceway Park) is more strict, so that is a good point. They actually make you lift your hood.

 

Sorry - no pics - no digital cam at the moment. Just hunt the boneyards for a 3rd gen with a smaller tank - it looks the same, just smaller.