I have a '32 Roadster. It has a 59A Flathead. I use the factory Radiator. I run a 1932 "V8" Buick Radiator Cap. It uses the factory fan. The car stays cool enough....I guess. If in street traffic, it warms up & gets to the hotter side of the gauge. Are there any recommendations of things to do for it to run as cool as possible? I suspect Radiator Cap I am using provides little to no pressure on the system. I'm not planning to put in a modern radiator or electric fans; though I guess one can be hidden in front of the radiator in the grill shell. My goal is to keep it as traditional as possible; but any helpful hints are welcomed. Thanks!
Pretty hard go give advise with the only description is the"hotter side of the gauge". A 1/4 ohm resistor in series with the gauge might fix that. Give us some real temperatures.
A few things if your gauge is correct and you have verified temperatures approaching over 210 degrees. First: Make sure your timing is correct. Improper timing causes additional heat. Second: Get your water pumps rebuilt by Skip Haney or use the Drake ones with the improved impellers. Run 180 thermostats & run water only. I use No-Rosion products. Their product protects the aluminum heads when running water only. They also make a block cleaner/etcher that you can run if you are currently running antifreeze. This will also strip off any rust scale and protect the cast surface when running stuff water. The No-Rosion recommends using reserve osmosis (purified) water instead of distilled. https://www.norosion.com/ Third and possibly the most important but may be difficult or not possible since the motor is together. You have to spend time manually cleaning out the block. No currently cleaning process will get out all of the crud, casting sand, etc. found in almost all blocks. I've used or done all of the above and run a 292 c.i. motor with no fan and actually have trouble keeping it warm on most days. Only in high heat & humidity in stop & go traffic will I have an issue. I also run a Walker ran with a 7lb. cap so it's not quite apples to apples, but it has worked great.
If it sets hot in traffic it isn't pulling enough air through the radiator. A fan shroud would help, biggest fan that will fit up. Recovery system would help. Check timing. Electric pusher fan? Ick.
Are you running thermostats? Also make sure you have enough coolant. Sounds lame, but they have lots of capacity.
As others say, fan shroud. The fan does little good if the air going through it isn't forced to actually go through the radiator too.
Get an infrared heat gun so you have some actual temperature numbers. Using the heat gun, get the temp. going into the top of the radiator and at the bottom of the radiator. Make a temporary shroud ( maybe cardboard) and see if the temp. difference top to bottom is more with the shroud. If it's not, it may mean the radiator needs cleaning. BTW good looking hot rod.
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