Getting ready to travel

Yes it does. Thats another reason why I chose it. The 4.3l Chevy is also known as the 3/4 V8 since its the same block but with the 3 and 6 cylinders cut off, if I remember correctly.

Oh and also. Its a TBI V6, not one of the newer vortec ones.

If I remember right the 4.3 has the same bore/stroke as a 350.

I have the van out of storage now and have been checking things out and working on it.

donivan65 I explained that brake light problem wrong. What happens is when the headlights are on the brake light on the dash comes on, normally it is off.

I replaced the thermostat cause it would get too hot when it would idle. Now it sits at about 175ish when idling. I still think its running too hot when slowing down from highway speeds. It moves up to about 200 degrees. Is that normal or should I try a different temp Tstat? The one I put in came from the previous owner and I didnt see a temp rating on it. My van doesnt have a fan shroud installed but I have one. I was trying to put it in and it didnt seem to fit. I will upload a picture of the front area of the doghouse later and maybe someone can tell me why, or maybe its just supposed to be really tight.

I found out I do have the sway bar on the front. Mine must have been like a fully optioned van or something. It has all the bells and whistles besides the V8 from what I can tell. Even that slide out step at the rear side doors. Works good still too.

The front end needs some definite tightening up. There is a lot of play in the steering wheel and it doesnt point straight when I am going straight. Potholes also seem to redirect the tires quite easily as well. That and the two electrical gremlins is what I will be working on.

Well I was just going through some radiator stuff and I have come to the conclusion that my van either did come with a V8 or somebody put the V8 radiator in it. I was wondering that since I didnt see a cap on top.... I have a surge tank thats not installed so maybe thats why the van still runs hot. Not enough fluid. If I could be instructed on how to install it with maybe some pictures or whatever that would be great.

Its definetly a crossflow but I dont have a surge tank on it. I thought my fluid level was low when I changed the T-stat and hardly any fluid came out.



How custom does that look in there? Cause as I said I couldnt get the shroud I have to fit. Or did the crossflow not use one?

Also if you could give me pictures or instructions or anything on how to correctly install my surge tank in there I would be very appreciative. Thanks for the help so far.

Well that's surely the wrong radiator in there... Your thermostat is higher than the radiator so air cannot be bleed from the system(that's what the surge tank is for). And you cant hook up a surge tank to that radiator. Your best bet is to find one like donivan's pic of the downflow radiator. Or cheat like I did...

This brings the radiator cap above the radiator to bleed off air. The radiator has a high psi cap and the thermostat housing has a lower psi cap.
Basically... your radiator cap has to be the highest point of the cooling system...That's where the air goes and gets bleed off.

Ah, that is correct. I wonder what mine is then. Here is a picture of the cap area:



The cap says do not open on it. I tried filling it through there once. The fluid seemed low, that could be why the van seems to be running warmer than it should even without the shroud. Is that also the reason that the shroud wont fit?

Well I will definetly look into the options you guys have given me. Although I wont be running this engine for a whole lot longer so its not going to be a huge deal. I just wanted to retaine driveability while it wasnt taken apart.

Speaking of shrouds,anybody got a pic in or out of a L6 shroud and how they fit? Neither of mine have one.All I have is a belly pan on my 2nd gen.
Could one of these be cut to fit?
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Fan-Shrouds-by-Walker,1333.html
Just wondering.
Nevermind...found pic,courtesey of oo3 archives

Thanks so much for the info donivan. I was able to fill it all the way. I opened up that sending unit and hooked up one of those fuel primer pumps that boats use to the overflow nipple to pump coolant into it till it came out the top. Got it filled up and started driving around. The van never got over 190 degrees.

Something bad came out of it though. Apparently I have a bad water pump or a bad gasket somewhere or something because the front of the engine was leaking quite a bit when I parked it in the driveway running. I cant imagine that it was leaking that much when I was actually driving it because it still never got hotter than 190 even after watching it leak so much. Its an annoyance but since I am going to replace that engine anyways I dont think I am going to put too much effort into fixing it. I just wont go on long trips and will make sure to keep it topped off.

It isnt the Thermostat. Its lower than that and I was checking it as it was running. It looked like it was leaking from everywhere. I dont know if thats cause the fan sprayed it all over or if its cause it really is. It was very hard to pinpoint where it was coming from since everything had already gotten wet. When the engine was off it was dripping off that lowest pully.

It doesn't look like you have an overflow container hooked up to your radiator... maybe your rad pressure cap opened up and sprayed antifreeze all over(now that you actually had it full). As your coolant heats up it expands and needs a place to go. Then as it cools it sucks coolant back in. Just a wild guess but I would check out...

No, thats not it. The radiator cap is a ways away from where all the wetness was. Also I left the hose I used during filling connected to the overflow nipple on the radiator and positioned it in front of the radiator. So it couldnt have come from the overflow hose either.