I'm a new member so take it easy on me. I have a mildly modified 500 cadillac in a 53 Stude bracket car. I can"t get the thing to cool. I'm running early heads on a late block so I have some compression. I have Griffin alum. radiator, dual flexalite electric fans, The block is filled to the bottom of the freeze plugs with Hard Blok. I also have Moroso electric waterpump drive. When I reach the starting line at 120 degrees, I cross the finish line at @200degrees, back to my pit at 220. I don't like this. If I let the fan and water pump run after I shut it off it cools down in about 5 minutes to 100 or less. This isn't a radical engine. Has any one tried the Chevy water pump adapters? Any ideas?

There is a vendor around here that sells a special highflow water pump for the 500 I think he sometimes sells them on ebay supposed to flow 45-80% better but these engines generaly run 200*+ easy also there are some additives from royal purple that claim to lower radiator temps by like 10-15 degrees

Thanks for the reply. Do you know the name of the waterpump? Has anyone ever heard of the flow capacity of a caddy pump? I've seen some aftermarket elect. pumps at 57gpm, but not for a cadillac.

summit racing has a complete water pump http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=BRA%2D1779&N=4294908226+4294840097+4294889081+4294924500+115&autoview=sku
its supposed to double the flow rate at low rpm and idle they also have these little disk that connect to the back of the impeller http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=BRA%2D4125%2D04&N=4294908226+4294840097+4294889081+4294924500+115&autoview=sku
one of those might solve your cooling problems but other than that I have no Idea what a stock cadillac water pump flows

I don't have the solution but can second the problem. I had a similar 12:1 setup 500 in a 1982 Trans-Am and found cooling to be a big problem. Running the heat was usually enough to keep the thing cool. Maybe a secondary heat exchanger hooked up to the heater hose connections would do the job for you.

Wasn't there a heavy duty cooling option on the 425s (the ones that came with clutch fans)? Those may be the ticket. For the water pump - I think its Flow Kooler (spelling?). I know that MTS sells those or something similar.

My 425 had a clutch fan, but I don't think it was part of any heavy duty cooling package.
One thing to remember, the BB Cad engines do run on the hot side! Those temps don't seem to extreme!

Thanks for the input. Maybe I shouldn't worry about the temps. I don't like the fact that I get some water in the puke tank on every pass. I don't want to spend a fortune on Waterwetter. I'm going to try to run the pump off the engine and see if the increased speed helps. Thanks.

Do you have the space to fit a 4-core radiator from a Caddy?

make sure you run a fan shroud if there is room.royal purple and redline oils both make an excellent water temp lowering product.the stuff really does work.also get as much hot air out,like a hood scoop.delete anything that might keep the hot air inside.an engine will run hotter after shutdown if you are running say a 195 degree thermostat.they will at times hit 220 easy after they have been run hard.with proper antifreeze the boiling point would be something around 260,all things considering.hope this helps