ludicrous speed and your 20 year old heater core

[Lincolnmania]

gadgets car has finally hit ludicrous speed! look at the out of whack waffle! ans much to his suprise when toasting a honda prelude on the pa turnpike, his heater core went into sauna mode.........what a bitch getting a ballooned heater core out.......i broke a sweat watching gadget struggle to remove the heater core.......it's all apart now, beers all around to celebrate removal, now the fun part.......heres some pics of the carnage

[monterey1962]

Ballooned core? How the heck does that happen? Doesn't look like much fun. Btw, send someone out to do the core in my CV . . . again.

[gadget73]

Thats what happens when you wind the gears out. It builds excessive pressure in the cooling system, and the 20 year old thin brass stretches out. If you notice, the sides of that are all puffy. The new core has flat sides.


Core installed, box attached to the firewall, dash attached to the firewall. I have to put the column back up, put the dash pad back on, and hook up the heater hoses, then fill the system back up. Its a lot easier putting it together than taking it apart. Taking a beer break. I've had a headache all friggin day and straining to get that f'n dashboard back in place has not helped any. Time to locate a motrin or something, catch my breath, and finish this pig up. I also need to make a restrictor. Was probably going to just use a nut thats a little bigger than the inlet pipe and round it off, then stuff the heater hose on. The ideal solution would be to spin the accessories slower so it wouldn't build up so much pressure, but a ground down nut is cheaper and easier for me to come by at midnight on sunday than an underdrive pulley.

I figured out I was doing roughly 105 mph racing that guy. That was 4900 rpm in 3rd gear. It was smelling slightly before that, but me pushing it and holding it probably just was more than it could take. Went to the auto parts store tonight and I could barely see from the steam on the windshield. I wasn't really even intending to race the guy. I was just cruising about 70 and was passing him slowly. He decided that his badass early 90s Prelude with the wrong color scaffolding must not be passed by grandmom's towncar. I figured I'd play a bit, and i ended up winding it out and holding it. Eventually he dropped back. A few miles later after I'd slowed down, he caught up and decided to show me how badass he was, and presumed to do the ricer fly-by. I was laughing. The whole time I was cranking along at high speed, I had one hand on the wheel, the Beach Boys playing, and I was comfortable. He had the two hand on the wheel racer crouch. Must be embarassing to know that your import can't walk a 20 year old battlecruiser.

[grandpaslincoln]

105 eh? I wanna go that fast sometime lol


Just don't go past ludicrous speed, that's when you go to plaid :D

[p71towny]

While that shits apart I'd throw in your message center.

[Archangel]

I also need to make a restrictor. Was probably going to just use a nut thats a little bigger than the inlet pipe and round it off, then stuff the heater hose on. The ideal solution would be to spin the accessories slower so it wouldn't build up so much pressure, but a ground down nut is cheaper and easier for me to come by at midnight on sunday than an underdrive pulley.
Stack some washers instead of the nut - a nut's walls aren't that thick, so you'll only slightly reduce the diameter of the piping. Washers on the other hand have quite the surface around their opening, so they'll quite well bring down the core pressure. If heat output is ever affected that will be in the positive direction, I have the stacked washers restrictor and my car will boil you in no time if A/C is set to 85*F.

[interceptor1985]

could that be why the heater core went out in Vicky? we on a daily bases drive over 115

[Archangel]

could that be why the heater core went out in Vicky? we on a daily bases drive over 115
It's not so much the speed than the engine RPMs, you'' get the same effect if you daily wind up 1st all the way up to 50mph or whatever it is at WOT.

[gadget73]

While that shits apart I'd throw in your message center.

No havum message center parts otherwise I would.



Stack some washers instead of the nut - a nut's walls aren't that thick, so you'll only slightly reduce the diameter of the piping. Washers on the other hand have quite the surface around their opening, so they'll quite well bring down the core pressure. If heat output is ever affected that will be in the positive direction, I have the stacked washers restrictor and my car will boil you in no time if A/C is set to 85*F.

Yeah, thats actually what I did. Heat output doesn't really seem affected too much but it still gets hot. I have a jammed air door somewhere, or the problem I've had for a long while with air coming from the dash vents in all positons has just gotten worse. It will direct some air out the floor and the defrost, but at all times, a fair amount of air blows through the dash vents. If its on dash, huge amounts of air come through. I'm thinking a door is jammed or the seal is really bad or something. I'll have to take the vacuum gauge outside and check the operation of all the parts according to the EVTM to see what the issue is.

[interceptor1985]

So the reducer is NOT? available over the parts counter?

[mrltd]

Been ther done that... Restrictor and/or pulley! I balloned one so bad that I had to replace the whole heater box!

[88Vic]

I used to drive my Vic at 85+, didn't know how fast after that because I didn't have the 140 speedo. And my heater core was already busted anyways. Sorry about spamin your thread, but I felt like sharin that with yall.

[turbo2256b]

Those heavy springs caused it

[mrltd]

I used to drive my Vic at 85+, didn't know how fast after that because I didn't have the 140 speedo. And my heater core was already busted anyways. Sorry about spamin your thread, but I felt like sharin that with yall.

Not something you need to worry about with a stock motor. It cannot turn enough RPM to do any damage. The accessories were not designed to go over 4500 rpm. Over 5500rpm the heater core will balloon, or hoses will explode-or both. I know all too well. 3 heater cores, countless bypass and heater hose replacements.

[Blaze86Vic]

I took mine up to 110 today takin out a Mustang V8 poser. He almost wrecked into two cars weaving through a couple cars to hurry up home so he could cry alone. Must suck gettin beat by grandpa cars LOL

Just a matter of time before mine blows out again.

The difference between running up first and top speed runs, is that at 100+ you stay at 5000rpm, at 50mph you touch 5000rpm.

[DuceAnAHalf]

heater core? Whats that? :D I still need to ditch the power steering and throw on my electric water pump. My car only sees 5000+rpms for about 10 seconds at a time, 2 times per month on average

[Mercmarquis]

I feel nervous now cause I have a hi rev govenor in my trans that lets me go past 5500. I usually gun it and wind it out for a fun 25-70 mph blast. I think I'm gonna make a restrictor now that you guys mention it. I just replaced the core, I dont really want to do that again at least for a long time.