I have a aluminum radiator up in front of the footbox on my dragster. AN fittings on the radiator and hoses running from it back to the engine. I have a CSR electric pump with AN fittings also. Filler neck has an AN fitting.
Problem is, obviously the radiator up front is lower then the water pump. If I change the water in later rounds the system gets air and won't pump water.
I'm trying to figure a way to put vacuum to the filler neck to get the air out so it pumps.
Has anybody used a vacuum pump like this? It's about a 6' run of hose each way.
I've seen online a tapered rubber cone with a fitting that I could just stick in the filler neck h0le, attach my a/c vacuum pump, and let it sit for a for 5-10 minutes.
Will this actually draw all the air out even though the radiator is 6' away and lower?

Dave what would happen if you lifted or jacked the car up maybe a foot then filled of course with the water pump going?

quote:

Originally posted by Footloose:
Dave what would happen if you lifted or jacked the car up maybe a foot then filled of course with the water pump going?

Hummmmm.....I'll try that in the morning.
Only issue I can think of is to get the radiator 2' higher/ or at least level with the w/p I may have to raise the front end 4'-5'
But if that worked I'd keep it in mind for a quick/panic fix if needed late rounds.

Just be safe

oh He11 yes...lol

I'll use the engine hoist and just hook it to the tow tab.
Be cool if raising it works. But I still hope the vacuum thing will do it because I don't have "helpers" at the track now days.

Get one of the Chinese inch-worm chassis, that'll solve the issue!

Buy one of these and don't look back. Makes filling the car a pleasure.



http://www.tooldiscounter.com/...yEAQYASABEgKTC_D_BwE

You would probably benefit from a bleeder valve at the radiator, maybe teed into one of the fittings. I had a dragster with a horizontal radiator, I used to fill the cooling system with the front tires in the trailer and the rears on the ground.

So your cooling system is just not big enough to keep the car cooled in the later rounds?

I've used an airlift cooling system filler a few times and it worked well.

quote:

Originally posted by Cashflow:
So your cooling system is just not big enough to keep the car cooled in the later rounds?

Of course not...why do you think I sometimes have to change out some water later in the day?
Fuel tank isn't big enough to make it through the day either....what's your point? lol

Dave, fill it at the radiator. Highest point on the low pressure side of the cooling system. Intake is on the high side.

Hi Mike, yeah I was thinking about pulling the radiator and welding on a filler neck with just a screw on cap. If lifting or vacuuming doesn't do it I'll try that.

They way you have it now, you'll always have air in the system. Ask Ed, he knows...nothing..lol

Dave,

My point would be perhaps you need a bigger cooling system. I had a homebuilt sprayer on my old roadster and it worked fine. Good luck!

Dave would a remote pump close to radiator help push the water to the engine. I am interested in this topic as I have a radiator up front in new to me dragster. It has a remote pump by radiator and previous guy said he didn't have a problem with cooling but he also was running on alcohol.

quote:

Originally posted by Cashflow:
Dave,

My point would be perhaps you need a bigger cooling system. I had a homebuilt sprayer on my old roadster and it worked fine. Good luck!

Actually I was agreeing with you brother.
This is an older (low frame rails and body) and kinda short car (225") so space is a premium. I would LOVE to have one of those diesel truck size radiators over the trans and a transmission cooler on top of it.
I have a luxury liner new chassis (252") that just came of the jig so I don't want to make mass changes in this old car...

quote:

Originally posted by smokinjeff:
Dave would a remote pump close to radiator help push the water to the engine. I am interested in this topic as I have a radiator up front in new to me dragster. It has a remote pump by radiator and previous guy said he didn't have a problem with cooling but he also was running on alcohol.

I had the front up 4' today and then tried the rear up 3', burp every fitting, vacuumed the system for 1/2 hour, even tried a different pump and still no water pumping.
I'm going to take the radiator out tomorrow and weld on a neck and screw on cap. I'm going to feed water from the garden hose through it and make sure it's not clogged.
I like the extra inline pump idea. What are you using?

Pump is not wired backwards right. Reverse flow

It's an inline meziere pump only not tandemed. I havnt ran it yet. Been going through whole car and fixing issues and making it right for me. Hope ya get it fixed. I was going to put 2 radiators on my old car and may on this one if I run gas. It may cause air pocket problems but I wouldn't know what to do if everything went smooth. Good Luck