Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines water heated intake for chevy 261

I'm working on a 261 engine. Does anyone have any tips or pictures about tying the (2) water lines from a water heated intake manifold back into the thermostat housing/return line from heater?

I ran mine from the heater core, behind the engine and into the intake.

You can kinda see it here:



So far it's working well. I have plenty of heat through my heater core and plenty through the intake.

...and I think it looks nice and neat too.

I tried plastic T's but they're junk. Never could get them to seal up right and one even cracked on me. I spent the money on the brass fittings from Lowes and have had excellent luck with them. They weren't cheap but they're holding well and look pretty good too.

it's a 250 but you get the idea.

Ran mine the same was a Gbauer and I've had no issues. Clifford intake. TJ

Tom Langdon recommended running the lines off the other end but I just couldn't see how to neaten that up and the firewall just had so much more room to play.

Notice I went one step further: Ran the hoses through my fender. That really opened up the passenger's side plus it allowed me to orient my T fittings like you see in the picture. Made for a nice, clean set up.

...just make sure your motor mounts are good or you'll rip the hoses right out...

Gbuer, is that a replacement radiator? If so do you know where it came from? It's a little hard to see but those are brass T fittings right? Can you tell a difference the way the car drives with heat? Thanks in advance for answering my questions. Jay 6155

lots of ways to do it. For a 235/261 if you can get your hands on a 302 GMC lower therm housing, it has a water outlet on both sides. This is what I use. Run the hose from the driverside outlet to the bottom of the intake and then from the intake to the water pump if no heater or if you have a heater and you want to maintain the ability to not have to run the heater all of the time, you can get a hose line T from the corvette resto guys, I think mine is from a 67 vette or something and T the hose into the heater system. If you cant get a GMC lower Therm housing, Tom Langdon at Stovebolt sells a spacer (which you will need any way if you are going to run an aftermarket aluminum valve cover. It makes it soooo much easier to remove the valve cover) that fits between the lower them housing and the head that has an outlet for the drivers side so you can run the hose.

Original radiator but it'll only be there for about 3 more days. It's too small for my engine now that I've done some work to it.

Replacement radiators are easy enough to find. All you need are the measurements and horse power. Length, height, inlet and outlet locations and diameters. Really not a big deal.

Brass T fittings are plumbing parts at Lowes. Female thread T fittings with barbed nipples screwed in to fit the hoses. Both are the same size and the larger hose is cranked down a bit, the smaller was squeezed on.