Hi all,
my name is Blake and I own an 84 Camaro with a 383 stroker motor bored out .60 over. I bought it from a buddy of mine who told me it needed a bigger radiator and I believed him. The car has a couple of problems and if you guys don't mind I'm going to go ahead and tell y'all so you guys can give me your opinions on what I should do. Of course the engine overheats and that is the main concern. The body originally had a v6 in it and the guy didn't even change the radiators out and as far as I know he didn't even upgrade the water pump. The engine has a Holley carb and edlebrok intake manifold. I was told the engine was brand new when he built it so I have no idea what else is aftermarket on the engine, but I do know it is a 383 Stroker and its bored .60 over. The engine runs just fine and idles smooth and has amazing amounts of power and will turn the tires like nothing. I know I may be an idiot for even driving it down the block knowing it has problems but I never overheated it. The Engine oil is milky gray and the radiator doesn't seem to loose any of its volume. Although I used to have some water come out of the exhaust but that stopped. I was told it might have a cracked block but there is no oil leaks and the engine runs and idles just fine? The engines throttle response is just fine. I'M doing 70% coolant and 30% water. Here are the things I have done to try and stop the overheating.. Oh and it will take about 30 minuets for the temp gauge to even get over the middle... once it gets there it slowly goes up. All test have been done with the Camaro sitting still not being driven due to not having and inspection or plates.

-Changed Milky Gray oil-----still milky gray with new oil put in.
-Flushed radiator to clear the gunk out.
-Tried many different ratios of coolant to water. (still no luck)
-Ran cooling engine with no stat just to see if that's the problem
-Put new stat in (still no luck)

The engine has an electric fan on the stock v6 radiator and it seems to work just fine. With that being said thanks for reading and this is exactly why i'm joining the Forums! I need some advice on what I should do!

Ive been told that the block could be cracked but how would the engine still run smoothly and the cooling system still creating pressure..

 

you are getting coolant in the oil. could be blown head gasket, cracked head, cracked block. being its boared 60 over i would suspect a cracked block.

 

Have you been noticing your coolant disappearing on you? Going .060 over is really pressing your luck, unless the cylinder walls were sonic checked for adequate thickness before they were bored out (which any reputable machine shop should have done). Your fresh oil turning gray instantly means you're going to need to start taking the engine apart to find the source of the internal coolant leak. Is your buddy the one who had the engine work done, to find out exactly what work was done to it?

 

+1 on above posts. If you do indeed have a 383 .060 over, you are pressing your luck. Once you committ to tearing it down, start by removing a plug at a time and seeing if you have water in a cylinder. I had a buddy who had a small leak in one cylinder and ignored it till he learned the hard way that water is not able to be compressed. He bent a rod....top end work is one thing, bottom end starts to get messier. It sounds like for sure you are getting coolant in the oil, that must be stopped or you are looking at a bottom end failure. If it is just a head gasket, consider yourself lucky. Even if the head gasket is the problem, it would be dangerous not to get the bearings checked or replaced. IF that is indeed the case and you get it fixed, double check the entire cooling system set-up and be certain it is adequate for your purpose. I tried using a stock radiator on my set-up...in arizona heat, it wasn't keeping it cool enough, and with Aluminum heads I bit the bullet and installed a Be Cool. There are cheaper options, and you may be just fine with a CLEAN stocker, but first get the source of your coolant leak fixed, or you will be yanking the motor out for good.

 

sounds like running that tiny rad really overheated it and something broke. I'm running a griffin radiator in my car. moving, its fine. but my fans dont pull enough air (1400 cfm combined), and really need to get a fan setup that pull 4000 cfm. change the oil again and see if its still milky. chance are though its not going to be good