1960 Hawk (289hp 3 speed) radiator cap pressure?

[McDermittMarvel]

Still have hopes of driving Hawk baby on International Drive your Studebaker day but today was asked about the pressure that the radiator cap needs to handle. The reprinted shop manual I have clearly shows 12-15 psi and gives a good description. Another Studebaker manual in the hot rod shop said, 14 psi "All Models" but special order 7 psi. I am just curious as to the differences and any chance the car my mother bought was "special order"?

The lead mechanic said he thought he would be able to fire off the rebuilt engine next week.

This is worse then waiting for Christmas!

[Tom Bredehoft]

I think its' more important to have a cap on it than what the pressure is. The purpose of the pressure cap is to raise the boiling point of the coolant, no more. A 7# cap will raise it to 226, unless you are really into hot weather heavy driving, (not in Oregon) you don't need even that much.

[tyaughton]

We generally run a 7# cap on the truck and hawk. Both have 289s. We are on the west coast. If we go inland (ie - tuther side of the mountains where it tends to get a tad warmer than here) we usually switch up to 13# - coming back from Arizona this year we needed all the help we could get and ended up running with a 16# until we got back to the coast.