I have a '51 Chevy with a modified '61 235, see avatar pic. Radiator is a Superior 4 row. Electric fan is a TWELVE INCH pusher, thermostatically controlled. I have not done ANY of the above work myself, the car belonged to my buddy, until his passing. I am now the caretaker, need some fan info. Water temp. increases, as you would expect, BUT the fan does not seem to be able to hold the water temp. at a steady level / temp. .......... temp continues to rise, if driving at lower speeds, or when at idle. Is the twelve inch fan too small for this radiator ? Is the thermostatically controlled fan a good idea, or should I have a constantly running fan? IF there was a standard radiator mounted, I could have room for the stock fan, but that is not the case now, with the 4 row Superior radiator. Engine does have the Patricks short water pump. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
How hot does it get? Does it boil over ? It is normal and ok for the temp to rise at low speed. The OEM's use thermostatically controlled fans in new cars. Make sure the thermostat and rad cap are good. It is okay for it to run hotter at low speed or idle but the fan should kick on to keep the temp from running away. and boiling over.
Hi. I run a 1957 modified 235 in my 46 coupe & have a short shaft water pump with the 4 blade steel fan & all is well with temp on it from idle to cruising down the Hwy at 70 MPH. My engine is 0.60 overbore with a 268 grind cam & solid lifters, 2 two barrel Webbers & tube headers + goodies. In the past I have had a couple of vehicles that ran hot & took the recommendation to install electric fans & it was the worst decision I ever made. They were nothing but problems for me. I really believe that the "technicians" that recommended them to be a solution for me just did not know how to fix anything & all they could do was change parts. Too much of that these days. Mechanics are a dying breed. Just my 2 bits worth on electric fans. Jimmie
post more pics of engine, radiator, fan, etc. - if you have clearance for multi blade steel fan with a shroud you will be better off. 12" fan too small, a pusher fan in front of radiator only provides air to a limited area - and blocks some air flow when driving above slow cruising , 4 row radiator some times causes air flow problems
With the radiator that is in the car now, a "Superior" brand 4 row, there is only 3/4" between the radiator and the bolt heads, holding the water pump pulley on the water pump. That is three quarters of one inch, not 3 to 4 inches. The stock temp gauge is operational. According to factory owners manual, needle should run in center line of gauge. Temp. will continue to rise and rise, not in a rapid fashion, but still continues to climb. Fan is 12", new and operational, but not cooling enough, if at all. Fan is running, but water temp continues to climb faster than fan can cool or control. Radiator is new, radiator cap is a new screw on cap from Superior, there is also an aluminum overflow unit, a cylindrically shaped unit, about 12" tall and 1 1/2" in diameter. Everything is new, not to say new can't be bad, but all is new. Car has 200 miles on it, since car was assembled. Perhaps it's running hotter, since the engine is a fresh rebuild, as well? Should I consider a larger pusher fan, if so, what size and what brand? Is it time to rethink the idea of keeping the big Superior radiator ..... either move it forward to gain room for stock fan blades OR get a stock radiator, which would allow room for stock fan blades ? Any input is appreciated, my main concern is the fact that the pusher fan may be too small for the job.
The radiator in my 51 Fleetline was moved the the front of the radiator support and the wire harness tube was moved to the front. If you can pull off that swap in your car that'll give you a few inches without changing the radiator.
Pat59, good answer. I've moved the radiator AND the core support in some cases, but the radiator can also be moved to the front. A friend had a '53 Pontiac that he replaced the straight 8 with an Olds V8...(same chassis as the Olds! Same holes for stock motor mounts. The fan ended up some 4.5" behind the radiator...rather than build a custom shroud, he moved the radiator back, some clever brackets.
What thermostat are you running? Sometimes without one, the water doesn't stay in the radiator long enough to cool. Does it cool at road speed? Pushers don't cool as well as pullers, so I am told.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but this is all based off of a factory temp gauge reading? Have you hooked up a mechanical gauge to actually get a proper temp reading yet?
If you do end up moving the radiator ahead of the support, Watch the mounting height as the hood gets lower towards the front.
I know this is simple and you probably checked this first, but is the fan rotation correct? I had that problem once when I first started a new build, I noticed it when I walked in front of the car and felt the breeze blowing the wrong way.
Puller fans are more efficient but you don't have the room for one. A 12" is too small if you don't use a conventional fan on the motor. You need a fan or fans that will provide around 2800 cfm of airflow. Adding a second 12" should do the job. You need to run them right off the battery through a relay also.
No, I have not connected a mechanical, am using the factory gauge, as a reference. After watching the gauge creep up, you can hear and feel the water pulsing, through the hoses, churning, not boiling, but next step to it, I would think. Mechanical gauge will go on my list. Thanks.
Get a real Spal fan, one designed to be used as a pusher. Pusher fans have different blades/blade spacing than pullers. Many fans can be reversed, but it does not make them pullers, just air blockers at-speed. Run the biggest one you can fit in there. even if you attach it to the sheet metal past the radiator, and the blades go a little past the edge of the core. Here's one I like: http://www.summitracing.com/search/...KeywordMatch&SortOrder=Ascending&keyword=spal Yeah, spendy, but hot-rodding costs money, and it is cheaper than a new engine. Plenty of OEM's use pusher fans. If they didn't work, they wouldn't.
We mounted the radiator to the front of the core support and included an additional 1" spacer on a '54 Chev to allow room for a puller fan. Both the lower pan and the internal hood bracing needed some trimming to clear.
Your problem is easily diagnosed as insufficient airflow, assuming water pump and radiator are flowing and not plugged. That single 12-inch pusher is not enough. Your car should run near thermostat temp when driving down the road, any speed over about 25 mph a radiator fan is not really needed. If you still run hot and climb temp when cruising down the road, you have to figure out what is wrong. Yes a new engine does run a bit hotter while it is tight and getting broke in. So that is not helping you, but it should cool OK when driving. Heating up at idle or slow speed is caused by not enough airflow through the radiator. The radiator is a heat transfer device, it needs to transfer heat from the coolant to the air. It needs enough air through it to remove the heat.
Are you sure the vacuum advance is working correctly? Is the timing set correctly? Bad timing or no advance can make it run hot.
Don't know anything about the Taurus, we don't have them here, but a fan out of a production car is better than most of the aftermarket fans out there (imagine the resources car manufacturers spend on making reliable, quiet fans with good capacity). I'd spend a day at the local junkyard trying to find a suitable fan (or two) before I bought a new Spal fan or whatever.
A great fan assembly to use is a 2004-2006 Toyota Camry. I have one on my 63 BelAir with no overheating problems. Also way cheaper then a Spal. Gary
The factory guage in the dash is a mechanical guage. But I would put a set of Stuart Warners under the dash to keep a more accurate reading with actual numbers.
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