Which way does coolant flow?

340 SB
Which way does the coolant flow through radiator?
Would the top or bottom of the radiator be cooler?

Thx

water pump pulls water from the bottom hose (that why its good to have a spring in the bottom hose to keep it from collapsing)
At temperature, the thermostat opens allowing heated water through it into the top of the radiator... top to bottom; cooler water would be found at the bottom after it's been air cooled

Yep

Good info thanks, I had to install the temp sensor for my fuel injection in the radiator.
The fitting is on the top right side of the radiator, seems to always run a little cool, 160-170 so that makes sense. Probably a few degrees cooler than when it leaves the thermostat.

actually it may be that the top is air bound or has some air gap at the top.

if anything water should be hotest at the top of the rad.

Agreed, I think we're saying the same thing.
Radiator is hottest at the top, but wouldn't you expect this to be at least 5-10 degrees cooler than the coolant leaving the engine?

no, I woudn't.
it wouldn't have that much heat transfer just moving through the rubber tube going into the rad.
I would be suprised if it were that much cooler.

Better in the intake near the thermostat

Hot water-air always rise

I am sure there are others but I know some Corvettes ( later years) had reverse flow systems cooling the "hottest" part of the engine first ( heads and top end)...

I think the discontinued 4.7 is reverse flow.
I know the WP spins in reverse compared to other older Mopars.

Reverse flow systems are certainly getting more common in late model cars. A 340 could be configured that way but not easy.

Magnum pump and cover, spun the regular way. Not sure what good it would do.
Then again I might be thinking of the 5.7??

If you want some good reading on this go to www.moparchat.com then scroll down to & click on "circle track chat" & it is Sanborns' cooling mods that are in a sticky at the top of the page. It'll take you awhile to read thru/grasp it all.

The last Chevy smallblock before the LS motors used reverse cooling. The idea was to get the coolest water to the part that needed cooling the most. That way they could run a little more compression.So the water left the pump into both sides of the block then took a 90 and went up into the head. After the water spread around the head it was metered down into the block by specifically sized holes in head gaskets. The engines had air bleed holes aand tubes at the back ends of the heads.

The engine was called LT-1 like the original 370hp 350 from 1970. You can tell the blocks because on the front there are two separate holes on each side where normally there's be only one. Then also the blocks have pretty big holes for the water passage to the heads, at the front inside area of the deck. You can only use the engine with reverse cooling. Read all about it here:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/tech...system-526.html

It sounded like a good idea at the time, but I'm not sure exactly how well it worked. I guess I'd have to look at an LS engine to see if the reverse cooling idea survived.

R.