When I did a 351W swap into my Club sedan I used to have I also ended up using a 160 thermostat as that was the only way to get the OEM gauge to read 'right'. The 'normal' 190 showed hot, even though it wasn't...
Glad you are feeling better! Remind me what temp thermostat you are running? I had to run a higher temp one on the Merc (185/190) to keep the coolant in the radiator longer to give it more time to cool off. I didn't think of that at the time we were looking at yours. Could be with the condenser and the electric fan that it just needs more time to get more air across it to cool it off.
It has a 180 thermostat in the t housing and a 190 sensor for the electric fan. I'm thinking that I'm going to go back to a mechanical fan and try the route @jimmy six used. Are you going up to Lamar in Oct.?
No, I'm headed to Woolaroc in two weeks and then my show season is over (all 4 shows worth LOL) and it's get this lake house in the dry season. LOL
This what mine looks like now. I could not find where I purchased the shroud for a 55-56 Ford car but it was in Texas about 8 years ago. It’s 2 piece and I had to cut about 6” out of the center bottom to clear the trans lines. You can see it I placed it about 3/4” low. Don’t remember why. They were made for V8’s only. There were no factory shrouds on cars. I believe the fan was about 3/4” from the radiator. Tough to put on with the radiator in place but doable. You can also see my overflow recovery bottle on the left side and the factory hood seal above the radiator and it’s cross support. this forces most of the grille air thru the radiator. There are louvers under the battery on the radiator support for that side but nothing on the other. I currently do not have on the lower front frame to engine shields. I haven’t put them back on since I had the pan off for a piston/ring problem. But will install them on the next oil change. We ran the AC this weekend on a short trip. Temp needle almost made center at intersections. 2 widths under when on the hyway same as when it’s off. I change oil once a year at about 1000 miles. I’ve had the pan off 3 times and the heads once.. never ever found any evidence of sludge starting to build up. I’ve always used a high flow 160* thermostat even when fighting the cooling problems that were caused from little to no flow of coolant at idle. Greenbird from Tucson put me on the pulley.
jimmy six... Thanks for posting the pictures, pictures always help. I like the looks of that shroud and the fact that it's two piece.
I copied some of what @jimmy six did to cure his overheating problem with his '56 and had pretty good results. I got rid of the electric fan and installed a 6 blade 17" diameter mechanical fan along with a smaller diameter waterpump pulley off a early model Mustang V8. Took the car out yesterday to a local cruise-in in Russellville, 60 mile round trip. I ran the two lane heading out (55 mph) and she stayed right at 180 degrees and came back on the interstate (75 mph) and the temp creeped up to 190. Look's like I'm heading in the right direction! I guess the next thing to do is to see if I can find a radiator shroud and see what that does... Thanks again to @jimmy six for the information.
Glad it helped; I do use a 160 thermostat and with my AC on the radiator tank temp can reach 175-180* and without it on right at 160* on the the hyway and slightly higher in traffic. You may need only a circle around the fan about 3/8” to 1/2” off the edge and about middle on the blade. If you use metal install a rubber seal (split vacuum hose) on the part that touch’s the radiator core. Pop rivet 4 angle brackets out to the bolts holding the radiator to its mount. You can split the ring to make it easier to build and put on. We done this on circle track engines and I’ve also seen it on a few hot rods.
I think it would be well worth your time to try the shroud. On a TBird, it is a must, and as jimmy six says it is essential to pay attention to the seal next to the radiator AND the distance that the fan is within the shroud. The type of fan you are using makes a difference too. I don't believe it is entirely the number of blades but their flexibility. FYI, I run a 7-blade flex fan with a stock shroud. Also, this TBird has air which adds to the load considerably. Mine has a trans cooler and an air conditioner mounted in front of the radiator with a separate cooling pusher fan for the air conditioner condenser again - mounted in front of the rad. All of these are a load on cooling to an already notoriously hot running car. I have a 180 tstat. This one doesn't run too hot but it can in hot slow traffic, so I am always paying attention to the temp. It also has ceramic-coated FTP headers which also cool the engine down much quicker than the stock manifolds. They are major heat holding as stock, I believe. Good luck, sounds like you are getting there! Do you guys still meet up for a car get-together over there? I am looking for a short hop to stretch out my TBird's legs, It's been a while since I've had it on a little road trip.
I guess that the next thing is gonna be some new motor mounts, the left side mount is collapsing and throwing the fan left of center on the radiator. Got to get them replaced before I head up to Lamar, Mo., next Friday, for the "old geezers" show.
Very cool car. Extra cool with a y-block. Mine only ever got hot when stuck in stop start traffic. T-birds did have a problem with flow behind the water pump. I think, if my memory serve me correct, the shape in the timing cover. It was different to other y-blocks. I've had a few y-blocks. Never had cooling issues. Even hot Australian summers. But general rule of thumb is if it's hot on the hiway, you check for air flow through the radiator. Air will always take the path of least resistance. That can be round the radiator. Make sure when air hits the radiator it has no where to go but through the radiator. If that's good you check flow. It could be to fast or to slow. It It gets hot at idle check the fans ability to pull air through the radiator. Not from around the radiator.
WOW! More that a year since my last post, I'm doin' one hell of a job ain't I? Finally got my overheating issues squared away. I installed a new water pump, 160 degree thermostat, smaller diameter water pump pulley, went back to a electric puller fan, electric pusher fan and modified the radiator support which allowed me to move the a/c condenser closer to the radiator. She runs 160 degrees around town and 180 at interstate speeds even with a/c on. Friday we went up to Lamar, Mo. for the "Old Geezers" show and the transmission started acting up about half way there. Trans didn't want to shift into high without a lot of effort. Speed up/slow down, let off throttle, shift into neutral and back into gear, once it shifts it's fine. No slipping, just hanging up in second! Thankfully, we made it back to the house Sunday afternoon. Yesterday, I bought a bottle of Seafoam Transmission additive, poured that in and drove around the neighborhood a few times and it started shifting a little better. Going to run around town a bit more and then going to drain the fluid. Last year I bought a torque converter for it, the one that is in it now still leaks even after resealing it, so I'm going to reseal it and put that one in. Hopefully the Seafoam will clean up the valve body and it will last me a few more years!
Glad to hear you have the cooling issue sorted and it's happy as can be now. Also glad you made it there and back safely! Sorry you were running solo without me there to draw the "wonky car problems" fire. Haha!
This past Monday I got the car up on my Nephew Mike's (tambasher) lift and took the transmission out along with the converter and found that the converter wasn't leaking, it was the front pump seal. Last year I had the front and rear seals replaced along with having the converter resealed but it still leaked. At that time they told me the converter was badly pitted where the seals went and that they weren't sure that it wouldn't start leaking again. When I had taken it back they said that the rear seal in the converter was leaking and that there was nothing they could do but replace the converter. Fast forward to this past summer and I was finally able to get a used converter and since Mike had gotten his shop built and we had installed a lift, I decided to just swap it out myself. Between the shop being built and pulling out the transmission, I went ahead and replaced the front seal in the converter. That's when I found out that there wasn't a rear seal! Ford, for whatever reason, only put a rear seal in the converters for 6's because they had a replacable hub where the 8's had a welded in hub. So where's the trans fluid coming from you ask? The front pump was leaking from the seal I had them replace and the seal where the pump bolts up to the transmission case. Turns out that the converter I had them reseal had a bad hub, deep wear groove from where the seal rode plus it was badly pitted from the rust. So, that leaves me sitting here at my computer waiting on parts! Nobody around here carries parts for a 67 year old automatic transmission! Once my parts get here I'll install the new seals in the front pump and install a speedy-sleeve on the converter hub and put the trans back in. I'm also going to drop the pan and install a new filter and adjust the front and rear bands. The saga continues...
Hurry up and wait...the car guy's life. LOL Glad you discovered and will be able to fix the problem though!
Finally got back on the transmission, week before last and got it all back together and reinstalled. Took it out for a test drive and the trans was shifting great, everthing worked as it should so I took it back home and parked it back in the shop. Went out the shop this past weekend and thats when everything went to shit! There under the transmission was a puddle of transmission fluid, not near as big as before but a puddle none the less. Took it back over to Michaels and put it back on the lift yesterday. Found that the filler tube was leaking and fluid was coming out of the inspection hole in the bell housing. The filler tube leak was an easy fix, just a little more torque on the nut where it goes into the pan. The other leak won't be as easy! I replaced both the front and rear seals in the front pump while the transmission was out but that is the only place that it could be leaking. That fix will require pulling the transmission back out and I am just not interested in doing that anytime soon! It'll have to leak for awhile...
Well that sure stinks!! Nothing encouraging about doing a big job like that and facing having to do it again. Hopefully the filler tube fix will stem most of the leak and the other won't be as bad and be tolerable for a while.
Dave, do you know of a good transmission man in your neck of the woods? Someone that would have knowledge of the old automatics.
Not sure if I missed it anywhere in the thread, but is the car painted or is that buff primer? It's so similar to mine and you don't see it all that often. I'm still debating whether or not to respray it tan or change the color(one day, sigh...).
Delta here in town did the overdrive I put in the chevy, but I don't know if they know anything about older ones or not. Sorry I'm not more help.
I would remove the inspection cover, and clean all the fluid off of it. Then re assemble and drive it. See if it is still leaking. I say this because I had a newly rebuilt 400 that looked like the front seal was leaking. I had fluid coming out of the inspection cover drain hole. I removed the inspection cover and cleaned off the all the fluid and put a new aluminum pan and gasket on the transmission. It fixed the leak that looked like a front seal leak. The air moving under the car, plus the rake on the car made the fluid go forward and into the inspection cover. Save me a lot of unnecessary work.
1stGrumpy, I feel your pain. When I had a FordOmatic, it leaked a lot. I was always chasing it. It did best when I drove it every day, longer distances, short hops it would belch fluid. It was seemingly always the front pump and front seal. Even after repairs and replacement it never completely cured it. Especially, when the car would sit for a week or so at a time and I would take it out for a drive and return. Then it would puke. It seems the seal goes flat from the shaft sitting in one place on it. Possibly the seals are not made as well as they used to be. Mine was the 55, air cooled model. But I think it applies to the 56 as well. I used to have a guy here that would help me with it but he is no longer able to. Ford barn may be a good place to check. It's of no help but I finally changed to an AOD, for other reasons than leaking though. Good luck. One thing I had some success with was Lucas transmission additive, It's not a cure but it helped some.
Fordomatics aren’t designed to leak? I’m actually considering converting mine to a 3-speed manual. Although, I do have two air-cooled 56 Fordomatics as well as a 57 that is supposed to be good that would require me to install a cooler. So, good chance I take the easy way out and put the 57 Fordomatic in…
@BJR... Thanks for the suggestion. I cleaned up everything when I had it apart so I'm pretty sure that it is a new leak. Thank you @y'sguy. I'm planning on running it till it quit's and then swap it out for an AOD. I just hate the thought of buying that $1200 coversion kit! @guthriesmith. I have thought about switching it over to a standard but after 50 years of driving semi's, I just can't get warmed up to another vehicle with a clutch! lol. Yes, I've gotten lazy in my old age...
Update... I followed @y'sguy suggestion and added some Lucas Transmission Additive. Although it didn't completely cure the leak, it did slow it down! Thanks @y'sguy. After doing some more research on the Fordomatics leaking, I have come to the conclusion that it's just something that I'll have to live with. Just the nature of the beast!
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