| IV Power Upgrades and Capacity Upgrades |
| My engine is basically stock. I am nowhere near the horsepower of most other Panteras, therefore I have not had to take extreme measures to create a cooling system to match the heat generated by such an engine. Even many regular-power Panteras have a cooling problem however. As upgrades to the engine create more power, (A higher HP engine doesn�t have to make more heat at idle, but due to the cams and the higher rpm needed to have them idle decently, they generally do), this increases the load the cooling system must handle, and the situation just gets worse. An owner with a cooling system that is not working correctly may, instead of locating the fault, enhance the performance of other components, in hopes of success. Maybe the end result helps enough to get by, maybe not. There are so many methods that have been used in the past to �fix� or upgrade the cooling system I could never mention them all, so I�ll cover a few: |
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| Upgrading the water pump to one with a backing plate. The backing plate tends to reduce cavitations (air caught behind the vanes), and increase flow efficiency. Pumps with this feature are usually made of aluminum versus the stock pump, which is made of iron (Aluminum dissipates heat faster than iron.) This is a worthy upgrade. However, do not try to �improve� a pump with no backing plate by adding one yourself, unless you know what you�re doing. |
| Hardware store aluminum pop-rivets corrode away rapidly (stainless steel pop rivets are OK), and the heat from most types of welding cause damage to the pump shaft seal. TIG-welding will work best since it only heats a very small area, but the completed job should be checked for balance, since if the disc is appreciably off-center, the water pump bearings will be rapidly worn. I have been happy with the Flow-Kooler brand. |
| Removing the thermostat, or changing to a lower temperature unit, only delays the warm up time, it won�t make the system more efficient once up to temperature. |
| Frequently a radiator with more rows is installed. Although this increases the capacity of the system to dissipate heat, it still may not solve the problem. I have seen humongous radiators installed. For example, Hall Pantera sells a very large unit called the Phoenix. I spoke to one owner who talked to Gary Hall, and Gary tried very hard NOT to sell it. Gary Hall knows that this is likely overkill, and talked to the owner for some time suggesting that other areas should be evaluated before ordering such a radiator. There are numerous kinds of radiators. Radiators can be made of different types of material, brass and aluminum are the most common. Currently, a good aluminum radiator is probably better (stronger) and it weighs less than brass. If the real problem is the radiator, perhaps a clogged core, the baffle leaks, or whatever, then changing the radiator is the correct solution. |
| Adding hood vents to increase the airflow through the radiator was a feature many owners have added. The factory also added hood vents during the late 70�s and�80�s. Here are some images of numerous hood vents that may enhance the performance of cooling. I�m not suggesting that these particular owners made these modifications for cooling, perhaps for ground-effects (airflow), or just for looks. I�ve only included them as possibilities. |
| d) Increasing the size and/or type of the main coolant transfer tubes |
| The steel water tubes going from the engine to the radiator and back, are plain mild steel, about 1-3/8" OD. Some people have tried to increase flow by changing all these pipes to 2" OD. In one car, this was done only to find that while the flow must have increased with the bigger tubes, the radiator itself was such a restriction that cooling did not appreciably improve. Others replaced the rust-prone steel tubes with similar sized copper pipes to correct corrosion damage & enhance the cooling, only to find that while the cooling did improve a little, most of the extra heat radiated came straight up through the center console and especially the gearshift, causing a marked deterioration in creature-comfort inside the passenger compartment! Nowadays, most give up a little potential cooling and replace the corrosion-prone mild steel tubes with stainless steel ones that do not corrode but also do not transfer heat quite as well. |
| e) Adding manual heater cutoff valve(s) |
| The comfort level inside the car is markedly improved if a manual valve is added to the heater supply line going to the under-dash heater. The reason is, the stock cable-operated heater valve cannot be adjusted to both completely shut off water flow when the weather is hot, and also completely open water flow for cold weather driving or defrosting. This is due to a leverage mismatch between the control lever and the valve actuator. Most Pantera heater valves are adjusted to open fully, which allows a constant trickle of hot water to flow through the heater core. While adding this manual valve does nothing for engine cooling, it vastly improves driver/passenger relationships and helps the air conditioning system to keep the compartment temperature livable. It is also a safety issue, since the short rubber connecting heater lines under the dash have been known to burst at high rpm, scalding ankles, fogging up the windshield, causing total loss of vision and subsequent crashes. |
| HeaterValves.jpg |
| a) Water Pump |
| b) Larger Radiator |
| c) Hood Vents |