Aluminum coolant tank with headers or not?

[jon8christine]

So after completely building my engine with all the performance goodies I was setting the initial timing and didn't notice that the engine fan didn't come on. The engine got hot and boiled the coolant in the original bottle and it cracked and leaked coolant out by the time i got it shut down. The exhaust manifold has been replaced with headers.

My question is, do I need an aluminum coolant tank due to the extra heat that is supposed to come off headers, or will a new plastic replacement be just fine?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KbXW0v ... p=drivesdk

[Nut124]

No. I think what likely you will need is to replace the head gasket and fix the fan temp switch so it will keep the engine from over heating.

I have been running the plastic tank w headers for 25 years. Boiling the engine like that will wreck the head gasket. BTDT.

Unless, possibly, you have an MLS gasket in there. They might survive over heating. Traditional gaskets do not.

Your engine bay does look awesome!

[Anbele]

Engine bay…WOW!

[geospider]

before you pull it all apart.
what's the oil look like?
Did you burp the cooling system?
If lower rad hose didn't get hot, T-stat didn't open: lots of hot water going into over flow bottle.

as Nut said: plastic bottle is fine; the other just look cool, to some.. I like to see my coolant level.

Initial timing: you can get damn close without fiddling with your light until you know everything else is good
I just did my first start after rebuild this past weekend. ran at 2500-3000 (can't really set idle timing anyway; will be way of marks since I don;t have the fancy ones that show where the advance is by degrees) made sure the Rad hoses all were flowing (an of course no leaks anywhere) then when ready to get to idle, check your timing. went great

start again is my advice

gep

[Nut124]

Overheating the engine usually wrecks the head gasket. Sometimes it will take a while to become apparent and sometimes you get lucky.

Need to figure out the reason for overheating.

Is the thermostat installed in the correct orientation? Does the fan switch, fan work? I would check these before proceeding.

[TX82FIAT]

Plastic overflow tank gets brittle with age. A new plastic tank should be fine with the various headers I have seen on spiders. I did put an aluminum overflow tank in a few years ago for looks and greater access but not for heat.