Coolant Overflow Tank info required

[v8ford70 98]

I'm thinking of installing a coolant overflow tank in my 70 coupe,interested in finding out what have been adapted & fitted in your vehicles.Cheers Phil

[69RavenConv 286]

Bought an inexpensive billet cylinder on eBay. Mounted using the existing radiator bolts.

[zach69grande 25]

^^^^^^Ditto, looks exactly like my set up

[barnett468 418]

you only need one if your engine overheats or if you have a low pressure cap or faulty cap so if that is the case i would fix the actual problem instead.

 

[Rsanter 152]

I have the same setup as above

 

bob

[Bob & Sue 110]

I like the looks of that, I have the original factory one that came with the car mounted next to the wiper fluid bottle. Need to find a NOS cap the original is fading.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

3 hours ago, Bob & Sue said:

I like the looks of that, I have the original factory one that came with the car mounted next to the wiper fluid bottle. Need to find a NOS cap the original is fading.

Mine didn't come with a factory overflow bottle- are you sure its factory? Do you have pictures? Barnetts post seems to indicate they didn't come with one either.

[Mike65 475]

AFAIK they never had one, the overflow hose just ran down the side of the radiator.

[Bob & Sue 110]

Well I guess they didn't come with one the PO owner had it installed at the dealership according to the receipts.

 

[stangnet33 88]

On 4/18/2017 at 9:31 PM, barnett468 said:

you only need one if your engine overheats or if you have a low pressure cap or faulty cap so if that is the case i would fix the actual problem instead.

 

On the ground was fine back then lol.

Not true,all vehicles after the early '70s now have one for a reason. some expansion and contraction of coolant is normal hence the purpose of the coolant reservoir so coolant can be pulled back into the rad on cool down and push back into it (especially after shut down) to make a closed system. Take the old Ford rads that had the rather large top tank shaped like a tent. If you fill them right to the top it's going to spit coolant out, keep coolant just above the rad fins leaving the tank part mostly empty all is good. But we want to have maximum amount of fluid in the system for max efficacy so fill to the rad right up and have a reservoir :)   

[fvike 173]

Overflow tanks are often mandated at race and drag tracks.

[barnett468 418]

19 hours ago, stangnet33 said:

Not true,

If you fill them right to the top it's going to spit coolant out, keep coolant just above the rad fins leaving the tank part mostly empty all is good. But we want to have maximum amount of fluid in the system for max efficacy so fill to the rad right up and have a reservoir :)   

ummm, yes it is true . I have had over 1000 (one thousand) cars and am fairly knowledgeable on cooling systems and none of the ones I fixed leaked coolant out and they all ran at around 187 degrees even in 100 degree weather with the ac on . Been working on these cars nearly daily for a living for around 30 years and part time for around 15 years before that.

If you have a system that is so marginal that just 12 more ounces of coolant makes it run cooler, it is too small, it's really that simple.

 

 

 

 

[Max Power 74]

On 4/18/2017 at 10:31 PM, barnett468 said:

you only need one if your engine overheats or if you have a low pressure cap or faulty cap so if that is the case i would fix the actual problem instead.

 

It is a requirement at every drag strip in America.

[barnett468 418]

9 hours ago, Max Power said:

It is a requirement at every drag strip in America.

 

Yes, but the op did not ask about drag strip requirements.

 

 

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

On 4/19/2017 at 2:12 PM, stangnet33 said:

....keep coolant just above the rad fins leaving the tank part mostly empty all is good...

i built a tank for dragstrip rules, and fortunately it doesn't appear to ever have gotten fluid in it.  i do as stangnet33 discusses and that could be why.

[Max Power 74]

22 hours ago, barnett468 said:

 

Yes, but the op did not ask about drag strip requirements.

 

 

Regardless, you stated that "you only need one if your engine overheats or if you have a low pressure cap or faulty cap so if that is the case i would fix the actual problem instead."

That is not true. You need one of you are going racing.

[barnett468 418]

42 minutes ago, Max Power said:

Regardless, you stated that "you only need one if your engine overheats or if you have a low pressure cap or faulty cap so if that is the case i would fix the actual problem instead."

That is not true. You need one of you are going racing.

Since he is not racing, that is an irrelevant point . We could fill up pages of threads with things like this that have absolutely nothing to do with an op's question and it would serve no purpose and would only add to the things they have to muddle through to get the answer to their question which is why I try to stick to their specific problem.

 

[Max Power 74]

55 minutes ago, barnett468 said:

Since he is not racing, that is an irrelevant point . We could fill up pages of threads with things like this that have absolutely nothing to do with an op's question and it would serve no purpose and would only add to the things they have to muddle through to get the answer to their question which is why I try to stick to their specific problem.

 

He never said he is not ever going to go to the track, and if you look again, he never even stated he has a specific problem. He just said he was thinking of putting an overflow tank in. That's it. That's all he said. Any problem here seems to have been created by you.

[barnett468 418]

11 minutes ago, Max Power said:

He never said he is not ever going to go to the track, and if you look again, he never even stated he has a specific problem. He just said he was thinking of putting an overflow tank in. That's it. That's all he said. Any problem here seems to have been created by you.

lol  you are the one creating a problem by saying that i am creating a problem and also by nitpicking my post because it did not include information regarding racing regulations . this proves that you are simply trying to make trouble and have little to no interest in helping the op by posting info that is more specific to his post.

 

 

[Max Power 74]

Not at all.

Face it, you did not accurately answer the OPs question because you did not consider all the options. Yes, even you can be wrong...LOL!

[fordguy69 24]

[Caseyrhe 650]

Who knew a overflow bottle could create such a HEATED topic

lol

[barnett468 418]

6 hours ago, Max Power said:

Not at all.

Face it, you did not accurately answer the OPs question because you did not consider all the options. Yes, even you can be wrong...LOL!

Well I am not wrong in this case like you are because I also had the foresight to give the op pertinent info that he might not be aware off . After doing this stuff for over 45 years, I have learned that people do not always ask the right questions and I therefore, give them info they might not be aware of.

Also, instead of using capitol letters for "LOL" in an attempt to make it seem more sarcastic, I suggest you use an emoticon like the one below as I have found them to be more effective in most cases.

 

OMG barn...I think I just peed my pants!

 

 

 

[SWPruett 83]

Meh.  I've been to a number of shows/events (indoor, lawn and outdoor lots) that required coolant overflow bottles for various "environmental" reasons.  In any scenario, adding a nice, discrete overflow/recovery bottle is a good idea in my experience.

[v8ford70 98]

Sorry that I caused so much confusion with my inquiry.I should have explained my question better.I try not to type to much as it takes me so long to find the letters on the keyboard as I am a very slow one finger typist.This is the first classic car that I am restoring ( can be viewed in Project Progress).I have owned a lot of vehicles over the years and they all had overflow tanks,so I thought that there must be a reason so I thought that maybe I should put one in my 70 Coupe as a precaution as where I live in Australia(Central Queensland) the temperatures in summer are around 40 degrees Centigrade.I have a new radiator cap,new larger radiator,new water pump,new radiator hoses,new thermostat,new thermostst housing,coolant.The motor ( 302 Windsor) has been running but not long enough to see if it overheats. I've still got a fair bit to do before it will be on the road as a daily driver.It will never go on the track, just street use. Me not knowing to much on the mechanical side find all the info on this site that members have inputted very valuable. Back to the overflow tank question would you be able to give me the size (length & diameter) of the billet cylinders you have installed they look good.I hope I have cleared up the confusion I caused.Cheers Phil