[zraffz]

I recently rebuilt a motor and decided to do head shims (instead of gaskets) and used that copper coating spray paint stuff. I am starting to worry that it plugged up some of the coolant ports in the block but anyway I'll continue...

I currently am running a vortec 350 behind an old water pump I had laying around with a new thermostat and a new 4.3 V6 radiator from an S10 with a new radiator cap (motor is in my S10). The only fan I have currently covers about half the radiator and is an electric push fan... it's not very good at all. Anyway, both hoses start to get hot, the radiator gets very hot all the way across, the top hose feels very pressurized. I don't think it's a intake gasket- I'm generating about 12-13 PSI of vacuum at 850 RPM.

Within the first 15 minutes of running the temperature just keeps climbing slowly, it never plateaus or never goes down. Right around 220 degrees I shut it down. I give it a little time to cool down, my coolant in the radiator is warm along with both hoses.


Forgot to mention i am not running a heater core.My thermostat has a little hole drilled in it b/c I don't have that tiny coolant port in the 1997 block and am not running a vortec style water pump with the bypass hose.
My system is just radiator, lower hose, block, thermostat, upper hose and back to the radiator.


Could my radiator just need to see more air flow from another fan or a flex fan? I find it strange that everything is getting hot but the gauge indicates it's not cycling.