Glass Pack Muffler Exhaust system

I just got done installing a glass pack muffler. I removed the CAT and basicly made it a straight pipe with the glass pack.

I went and took it for a test drive. Sounds Awesome. One problem though. When I got back, I popped the hood while it was running and I saw steam coming from the radiator area. I never saw my fan running either.

Now, my question is, now that i've done this huge modification, do I need to reroute the cooling system to kick on at cooler temp.? I'm at a stand still with this, as I thought the only problem I would have would be the O2 sensor.

Thanks for all the help in advance.

Might just be coincidence. Do a pressure test on the system, see if you're losing pressure. Might've just been some water vaporizing, did you smack any puddles? I'll assume you didn't notice it before, did you sometimes pop the hood after a run around and have a looksee? Fan shouldn't kick on unless you have AC request or temp hits 215/225. Normal operating on these is between 200 and 220 anyhow.

Yeah I can't think of any reason for that either. My guess is you were tearing around, flogging it to hear what it sounds like now and got it warmer than it usually runs. Probably something you never noticed before, or you sprung a new leak.

Hey, that reminds me of something.

I had an older customer with a '76 big-block Trans Am. This car was a museum piece. All original, fire red with black interior, 22,000 miles, still had the RWL polyglass performance tires on it, etc. Made me hard. :)

She brought it up and left it for a tune and brakes and to check a coolant loss.

The kid who was working the counter was one of the new breed, all fulla shit about Civic Si's and stuff, making fun of that old dinosaur.

So after I got her all tweaked perfect, and the carb de-gunked (secondary barrels were gummed shut, never been opened), I told him to come with me for a test ride.

I drove it calm around the 'hood, he was just going on and on about what a slug it was and how heavy it felt, and how it couldn't get outta it's own way, blah, blah, and as we left a light, at about 25 mph, just after the 1-2 shift I floored it, the big barrels popped open, she downshifted back to first and exploded into a fury of sound and gut-wrenching, sideways-scampering positraction torque and power. He was in mid-sentence, and his head smacked the back of the seat, he clammed up and grabbed the armrest and turned white as a ghost. I stayed on it through third gear, and then slowly let her wind down.

As I did, the heater core ruptured. Steam filled the interior so fast, I had to pull over, couldn't see the road. After letting her settle down, I drove slowly back to the shop, and called the customer, not wanting to give her the news. I hadn't been able to find the coolant leak, but I shure found it now.

The first thing she asked was, "Would that make the windows fog up when I start the car in the morning?"

Ahh. There is a God. She needed that heater core anyway!

I drove it calm around the 'hood, he was just going on and on about what a slug it was and how heavy it felt, and how it couldn't get outta it's own way, blah, blah, and as we left a light, at about 25 mph, just after the 1-2 shift I floored it, the big barrels popped open, she downshifted back to first and exploded into a fury of sound and gut-wrenching, sideways-scampering positraction torque and power. He was in mid-sentence, and his head smacked the back of the seat, he clammed up and grabbed the armrest and turned white as a ghost. I stayed on it through third gear, and then slowly let her wind down.



hehehehe I know what you mean. I've had a '70 Formula 350 with the Muncie 4 spd and a '74 T/A that were just beastly. Both cars were "on the road restoration projects" and I was badly in need of financing at the time of ownership of each car, so you can imagine they weren't really show queens when I had 'em.
Both of 'em had bodies that had seen better days, but ran just ungodly great. That's why I ended up buying each one when I did.
The '70 was when I was still livin' at home, my mom was into her '80 280ZX that had an automatic. I won't call it a slug, but it DID leave a trail of slime behind itself until it got up to about 40. <chuckle> She had her Z in the shop and I was giving her a ride in my 'Bird. She said something off hand about how she thought her car was faster than mine, and for some reason (guess it was 'cause I'd just turned 18 so I knew she wouldn't say TOO much) I thought I'd show her what the American Iron would do. Had just changed the carb and manifold from the 2 barrel to a rochester quadra-toilet, and was feeling pretty impressed with the extra ooomph from her. As I recall we were sitting at a stop sign, I was getting ready to turn left, so I wound it up to about 3500 on the tach and just let the clutch rip on out. She caught Posi (as I had hoped it would) and just as neat as you please walked perfectly sideways to the left, to drop perfectly in the lane where I wanted to go. I figured "what the hell" and just kept on it. I was able to keep the rears smoking thru 2nd and got just a wee little sideways bite outta 3rd and noticed that the speedo was headed towards sticking "Straight up" (80 on the old 160 speedo's)
I looked over and saw that my mom had managed to rip the passenger side dash handle off! hehehehehe It's been 20+ years now and she STILL rags me about that! guess I was wrong about her "not saying TOO much" ha ha

yeah, the new smaller engines do produce more power per cubic inch now, but there's still no REAL substitute for some of the fun we had with the older iron!

yeah, the new smaller engines do produce more power per cubic inch now, but there's still no REAL substitute for some of the fun we had with the older iron!

No doubt...LOL!

My second car in high school was a 1972 Caddy Coupe DeVille. I liked the land yachts, always have. Used to catch a lot of crap, people teased me about being a pimp and such.

That Caddy had 472 c.i. under the hood, I recurved the distributor and got rid of the slow to open vacuum secondary Rochester for an AFB with mechanical secondaries, for that snap that Caddies aren't known for. Coupled with the TH-400 with an RV shift kit I installed, it was no slouch.

The trick was to let it get rolling with the primaries, to about 35 mph, then knock the pedal through the floorboard. It'd hit so hard, and the big pots would dump, and that old leadsled would take off like it got shot out of a cannon. Suprised more than a few folks. :lol2: I really had fun with that car. I sure miss the sensation of secondary barrels coming on. It was a rush you don't feel anymore... :grinno:

my 73 Cheyenne has a 454 when i open up the secondaries the thing just flys, it scares the crap out of me lol. much more oomph than my lumina. Cheyenne has glasspacks both of which are blown and it makes a real sweet sound because of that.

the 73 has a 45 and TH-400 3 speed automatic. 12 botl posi, 4:6:3 gears. the car just rips so much, but nothing for top speed lol. when i have been driving that lately i get these little ricers that come up and want to race, so i give her a rev and let her bark at that little fiberglass pos. light goes green all i hear is rubber burning and i look in the mirror and that ricer is way gone lol.

nothing can do it like old cars. I want to get a 68 Chevelle SS, or the 68 Chevelle with the rare 427 i would love that

No doubt...LOL!

My second car in high school was a 1972 Caddy Coupe DeVille. I liked the land yachts, always have. Used to catch a lot of crap, people teased me about being a pimp and such.

That Caddy had 472 c.i. under the hood, I recurved the distributor and got rid of the slow to open vacuum secondary Rochester for an AFB with mechanical secondaries, for that snap that Caddies aren't known for. Coupled with the TH-400 with an RV shift kit I installed, it was no slouch.

The trick was to let it get rolling with the primaries, to about 35 mph, then knock the pedal through the floorboard. It'd hit so hard, and the big pots would dump, and that old leadsled would take off like it got shot out of a cannon. Suprised more than a few folks. :lol2: I really had fun with that car. I sure miss the sensation of secondary barrels coming on. It was a rush you don't feel anymore... :grinno:

Awwww, no doubt! 'bout a year or 2 before I got the Formula, a friend of mine used to cruise in his mom's 72 Fleetwood. If I recall, I think the sticker on the fan shroud said 504. Like your pre-worked caddy, it was kinda slow off the line, but after about 40 it seemed to just roll into forever.
As far as secondaries opening, yeah I hear ya, nothing replaces that feeling and sound. hehe it's funny, the Rochester Quadratoilet I put on the Formula had mechanical 2ndaries, but the linkage was fouled for a bit till I fixed it. Funny as heck. I'd race the dern thing before I figured it out with the 2ndaries intermittently kicking in and out as I was racing. They always kicked back in when I really needed them, but on a few occasions they let the other guy get alot closer to me than I would have liked!.

Hey you remember the old '73 GP's with the 455 H.O.'s and S.D's? I had my Mom's black '73 that had a 455 SD in it. Too much car for too young a person. I wrapped it around a danged tree within 2 months of buying it from her. THAT was my first car, the car that preceded the Formula. Gads, flip the breather cover on that beast and when the vacuum 2ndaries came on line it sounded like a flipping Allison engine whining up under the hood. Funny thing. flipping the breather cover (as all young gearheads will do) changed the vacuum curve. If I left it alone and left it in drive, the TH400 would hit 3rd at 65 every time on the nose. Flip the breather, leave it in drive and floor it and she'd hold 2nd till 85. THAT was fun 'cause kicking into 3rd at that speed was kinda like walking into hyperdrive!

I miss the old heavy iron, but not TOO much when I pass the gas stations these days. Hell even if I had one, I couldn't afford to drive it these days.

my 73 Cheyenne has a 454 when i open up the secondaries the thing just flys, it scares the crap out of me lol. much more oomph than my lumina. Cheyenne has glasspacks both of which are blown and it makes a real sweet sound because of that.

the 73 has a 45 and TH-400 3 speed automatic. 12 botl posi, 4:6:3 gears. the car just rips so much, but nothing for top speed lol. when i have been driving that lately i get these little ricers that come up and want to race, so i give her a rev and let her bark at that little fiberglass pos. light goes green all i hear is rubber burning and i look in the mirror and that ricer is way gone lol.

nothing can do it like old cars. I want to get a 68 Chevelle SS, or the 68 Chevelle with the rare 427 i would love that

Dang I bet that IS fun. I remember my first car a '73 GP with one of the rarer 455 SD's in it. Pop special ordered it for a present for Mom, and in 1980 I got to have it for a short while. (till I crashed it :( ) Man that thing was fast. Would pass everything, except a gas pump! I can't remember how many times I buried that old horseshoe speedo WAY past 120. The tripmeter reset pin was the speedo peg and it was a good 3/4 of an inch past 120. It'd hit that, keep winding till the needle would start bouncing. At full out the needle would just bounce 'tween 80 and the peg. I'm guessing she was doing 130 or 135, but not much more. Bad part was, again the 455. Speedo needle goes one way, and the gas gauge needle heads just as fast in the opposite direction, ALWAYS TOWARD EMPTY. LOL

The only GP I ever drove from that era was a 400 c.i., and a very nice car. I had a friend in school with a '73 Monte Carlo with a 454 and dual quads on a tunnel ram.

I remember one time we drifted into a gas station on fumes, emptied our pockets and put 2 gallons in it (I think it cost us $1.40)

We just pulled out to the light, and a Mach 1 Mustang pulled up alongside and started revving on us. John gave it hell, diusted the Ford, and we ran outta gas before the next light, about 3 miles down the road. :rofl:

Your friend's Caddy would have been the 501, that was the same engine family as the 472 I had. I miss huge motors.

I know a guy here now that has a '81 Buick LeSabre 4 door. It came with a 401 Olds motor (oddball, didn't see many of those), but he had a 455 Buick built with the Stage II cam and heads (the hemi killer), TCI trans, Matt Johnson 4.13 posi, switch-pitch torque convertor, Mallory ignition, just plain GD awesome. Quarters in the 12's on a hot track. Glad somebody is keeping the faith!

I know a guy here now that has a '81 Buick LeSabre 4 door. It came with a 401 Olds motor (oddball, didn't see many of those), but he had a 455 Buick built with the Stage II cam and heads (the hemi killer), TCI trans, Matt Johnson 4.13 posi, switch-pitch torque convertor, Mallory ignition, just plain GD awesome. Quarters in the 12's on a hot track. Glad somebody is keeping the faith![/QUOTE]


Good God, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that he ain't paying JUST 3 bux a gallon to feed that nice beast. Guarantee if nothing else, he has to run some sort of additive (yuck) to the pump gas available. huh, who'd have thunk it? An '80's model sedan that was worth putting that in. But come to think of it, those, and those doggone things (I forget the exact model) that they were putting the 350 diesel as I recall WERE nice rides. Didn't know any of 'em came with anything in the 400+ C.I.D range though. Don't remember the model but I DO recall those engines. what an idea there. If memory serves those gasoline/diesel converted engines were a disaster?

The Buick runs well on pump 89 octane, it was built low-comp for that reason. He could have gone higher, but wanted it to be semi-practical and durable (which it has been), with about 40,000 miles since the build with no problems, despite being a daily driver+weekend warrior at the track. He does fill with 93 and advance the timing a couple of degrees on track days.

I remember when he came back from the Buick Nationals with time slips in the 12's for the first time, and a trophy for his class (nobody else had a full-size super-stock 80's model, it was a lock :)) he was so happy. He said there was a '79 2 door there set up almost identical to his in specs that ran low 12's and pulled the left front wheel an inch or two off the ground on launches. He brought back lots of pics of it. We had always summized that his would if not for the long wheelbase, 'cuz it shure tried. That pretty much proved it.

Those diesels made a hell of a block to build on, so I've heard, with four bolt mains and stronger webbing in the casting. I've never seen one built up for gas though. Just heard stories.

There were lots of those Olds Regency and Buick Park Ave with diesels that people had a gas engine dropped in when the diesel started having problems. It was a cheap fix, but all got hung when the emissions laws changed, and you couldn't get them through testing anymore. They required that they had to comply with all equipment required for a gas motor in that model year, and the diesels didn't come with fuel tank vapor recovery, catalytic convertors, fuel filler neck restrictors, etc, and getting them to comply was just too costly and tedious.

The good news was, if you lived in an area without testing (like my friend), you could buy one for almost nothing from someone who had been jammed up on emissions testing with theirs. He bought a sweet '83 Park Ave with all the foo-foo on it for $400 back in about 1989. It had the Olds Rocket 350 that had been lifted from an early 70's Cutlass, so it ran nicely.

The Buick runs well on pump 89 octane, it was built low-comp for that reason. He does fill with 93 and advance the timing a couple of degrees on track days.

--------That's the nice part about the large block engines. You still have enough power being produced even with lower compressions simply due to displacement. I'm sure that's why GM stuck with 'em as long as they did/have. Do they even still make the big blocks?

Those diesels made a hell of a block to build on, so I've heard, with four bolt mains and stronger webbing in the casting. I've never seen one built up for gas though. Just heard stories.

-----------Oh, hmm maybe I'm mis-remembering them, then. I always thought those series of engines, small production though they were, were originally gasoline engines that they reworked the heads and intake and left the bottom alone. However, I didn't know they were using 4 bolt main blocks. Guess it stands to reason though, with the higher compression of diesels, you need the extra reinforcement.

The good news was, if you lived in an area without testing (like my friend), you could buy one for almost nothing from someone who had been jammed up on emissions testing with theirs. He bought a sweet '83 Park Ave with all the foo-foo on it for $400 back in about 1989. It had the Olds Rocket 350 that had been lifted from an early 70's Cutlass, so it ran nicely.

yeah, and back then you could still FIND an original TH400 AND get it from a boneyard for under $150 bux. hehehe good luck doing that now!

All I know about GM and big blocks is you can purchase a 502 from them, a great street rod motor, and also offered on the Boss Hoss motorcycle (I rode one about a month ago...yikes!), last I heard they don't make the 454 themselves anymore, they sold the production rights to Towanda, a marine equipment company, and they produce them for GM when used. I think that's correct. Richtazz will know.

It could be me who was misinformed about the GM diesels from the 80's. I know that in physical appearance, they were very close to the Olds 350, except for intake design (obviously).

About the boneyard...I had another Caddy, '74 DeVille, that I managed to wreck the sprag, and I was calling around pricing a used one. They were giving me figures of $400 and $450, and I thought what the hell...?

Then I realized I was telling them it was for a DeVille. I called back and just asked about a TH-400, $150, $200......

.

nothing can do it like old cars. I want to get a 68 Chevelle SS, or the 68 Chevelle with the rare 427 i would love that

How 'bout a '70 with the 396? :iceslolan


http://www.fastlanecars.com/vehicle_detail.asp?inventory_id=601

might throw in my 0.2 cents.. 70 Olds toronado, front wheel drive, 2 dr. 455 cu in 4 bbl.
with 235x75x15's on it, with ALL that engine sitting on them, you could light them up as long as you wanted too. BUT.........
Most fun i had was with my older brother in a 65 Impala 2dr. Not a SS, but has a wroked over 327 and a powerglide ( for youngsters, thats a 2 speed automatic) :) just topped a slight hill about 40 and kicked it to 1st, front rared up, tires broke loose, instantly on the other side of the road, been 20 years and i think he has ridden with me once since then LOL

might throw in my 0.2 cents.. 70 Olds toronado, front wheel drive, 2 dr. 455 cu in 4 bbl.
with 235x75x15's on it, with ALL that engine sitting on them, you could light them up as long as you wanted too. BUT.........
Most fun i had was with my older brother in a 65 Impala 2dr. Not a SS, but has a wroked over 327 and a powerglide ( for youngsters, thats a 2 speed automatic) :) just topped a slight hill about 40 and kicked it to 1st, front rared up, tires broke loose, instantly on the other side of the road, been 20 years and i think he has ridden with me once since then LOL

I loved the powerglide :grinyes: Had one in a '67 Chevelle w/283. No ball of fire but could make a good show. Yes, hitting the downshift back to 1st was brutal, produced a nice bark from the rear if you were over 35 mph or so...

Used to run some really squirrely back roads with that car, and discovered I could enter a curve a little too fast, pull the shifter back to low and trounce it, busting the back end loose and pointing the front right where I wanted to go. Then just stay in it and let eat, front end steered into the drift, rear tires spinning and smoking. God what a blast!

Discovered that outta desperation once when I got suprised by a 90 degree curve where I didn't remember it :eek7: Once I discovered "throttle steer" there was no turning back :grinno:

Oh yeah, you're right. One friend had a '77 Eldorado (425 I think it had) You could burn a new set of tires down to the belts if you were so inclined.

How 'bout a '70 with the 396? :iceslolan


http://www.fastlanecars.com/vehicle_detail.asp?inventory_id=601


Althought that is nice jeffco. i still like the 68 for reasons :P

if you really want to see sometihng nice check this bad boy out


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-TRANS-AM-455-HO-NOT-A-CLONE-RUST-FREE-CA-CAR-LQQK_W0QQitemZ4579231986QQcategoryZ6427QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

Except mine would have a 4 speed muncie with a Hurst short throw shifter. :)

Also i wouldnt mind having an 78. i love the backing on the 78 how that glass just rounds on it mmmmmmm. i also like the nice big bird on the hood of it too :D