'71 Dart 6.4L swap progress being made!

I'm having a hard time understanding this. I can't believe Chrysler designed an engine that uses heater hoses as a means to carry coolant to critical engine locations. Take a look at the water pump. The suction side of the pump goes to the center of the impeller, just like all water pumps. Water is then discharged directly into the block. The suction side of the heater hose is in a similar location (red circle on front).
Now to return side. The water comes out the head, returns to a small section of the block, then goes through the timing cover into the top portion of the water pump and thermostat housing. The heater hose connects to the block in this area. (blue circle)
The way I'm seeing it, you can plug both of the heater hose ports, which I'm sure some racers already do, and you won't have a coolant flow problem.

I also think someone commented about the pump blowing the lines off. Pressure in an automotive cooling system comes from the expansion of the coolant as the temperature increases, not from the water pump. If they are blowing lines, their hose clamp must have been loose, or they were using a radiator cap with too high of a pressure rating.

I could be completely wrong here, but someone needs to explain the science behind Chrysler using heater hoses for a main path of coolant.


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I was looking at how the OEM setup gets coolant into the system since the expansion tank isn't tied directly into the radiator or radiator hoses. Come to find out, there are 2 lines that each tee into a heater line. Could this somehow be related? Maybe the system is design in some way to draw from the expansion tank and thus blocking off one of the heater lines causes a circulation issue?

Not saying it does, sure seems like you could block both hoses like Joe said and it would work fine. Just tossing it out there.