The Lefty Report
by Larry Jett

A few months ago I promised to test two products for our Brutes.....a Gano Auto Coolant Filter and a Coolcarb heat insulator for the carburetor.

The radiator in my 63 300 Touring 8 was 50 % clogged with junk and rust on the trip to Alamogordo NM after 15,000 miles since a new radiator was installed. We were late getting to the 300 Meet having the radiator rodded and reverse flushed after finding the water temp at 243 degrees climbing the Grapevine near LA. Since the replacement-replacement radiator purchased when back from NM was state of the art and expensive, I wanted to forestall doing this again. I cut the upper radiator hose in half and installed the brass filter. Now, after 1000 miles, I found a few big pieces of scale and flakes of rust, not much to worry about so far but the $50 for the filter is much cheaper than using the radiator as a filter. Over 100,000 of these have been sold and be sure to measure the size of your radiator hose as Chrysler 300 hoses aren't the biggest size made and I had to send my back for a replacement to the medium size. Size matters.

The 413 single Edelbrock 4 bll just doesn't like 10% ethanol fuel. At least when the engine is hot and you turn it off to buy a Slurpee, I think the fuel boils in the carb and/or manifold and it takes considerable cranking to catch ignition again. At Chrysler's at Carlisle, I bought a Coolcarb Technologies insulator to install under the carb. Since then, even on 90 degree days, have noticed a significant reduction in the amount of cranking needed to restart. Not completely better but enough to justify the cost.
Two items to consider; the studs on your manifold may not to tall enough to attach bolts, and you should consider if the extra 3/8's of an inch height might prevent the air cleaner from allowing the hood to close. It didn't on the 63 model 300.

How do I know the water temp was 243 degrees? Dakota Digital makes a wonderful and compact digital readout that you can locate in your ashtray if even a little bit clever. Ash tray closed? nothing shows. Makes you a heat engineer seeing how ambient air, altitude, speed, a/c on or off, rate of climb, combine to affect your engine temperature.

End of report and start of nap-time.