I got a 57 chevy wagon a week ago and was told it runs warm when i got it. It has a freshly rebuilt 350 (.030 over) out of an 89 chevy truck (centerbolt version). It hits 225-230 on the sunpro guage while doing 65-70 mph on the freeway but hasnt puked yet. here's a list of what i've tried. -pulled radiator and sent out-it's fine -put a larged mechnical clutch fan -replaced thermostat w "performance 180" -added a cap with built in thermometer in case the other guage wasn't accurate. they are about 10 or 15 degrees off, but still hot. cap said 220 when other one said 230 -was told by a guy that i had the wrong waterpump. the one for that particular motor is supposed to run counterclockwise with the serpentine belt setup. mine is turning clockwise because it has a v belt setup. he told me to just put an earlier syle waterpump on it designed to turn that direction and it would be good. i bought one but it is the same style pump as whats already on it. i checked the impeller to make sure they werent different internally. -timing is ok -not air lock What the f*#k!? Any ideas anyone?
Retarded. (The timing, not you.) Hook up the vacuum advance to Manifold Vacuum. What distributor? out of what year car? If it's an '89 distributor it might be supposed to run retarded for smog crap and therefore run the engine at that temp. Also, If it's layin frame there's no room for the air to get out and if the radiator core support isn't fully there sealing off the sides of the radiator and the top of it sealed to the hood the air is just going arond in circles getting hotter and hotter.
Is it running lean? If the timing REALLY is ok, your REALLY not running lean, the thermostat is opening, the pump is REALLY pushing good and there's REALLY no air stuck in the system, then you aren't getting enough air through the radiator (fan/shroud) or the radiator isn't dropping enough temp (design/size)
What pressure is the thermo cap. Stock 57 rad will pop at 13 pound pressure. Stock is like 7. Have the rad shop check the coolant for a compression leak. They use litmus (sp ?) paper. Could be a leak at the left rear intake manifold corner..
I have a 64 Fury that I had done a boatload of work on. It initially ran hot, didnt puke. After a lot of fooling around I figured it out ..The fan blade needs to be as close to the radiator as possible, inside two inches is great. A fan shroud is a must. This allows the fan to pull the air through the radiator. I run a 165 degree thermostat and the engine never goes over 180.
My '56 used to run hot with a warmed-over 327. I checked all the things you mention and I ended up putting a shroud on it and spacing the fan so that the blades are right at the rear edge of the shroud, thus pulling the max amount of air through the rad. If you are running a fan shroud, you do not want the fan to be as close to the rad as possible. Tri-fives also have a baffle built attached to the underside of the hood to help direct air flow through the rad instead of over the core support. Make sure nobody has trimmed that from the hood. Paul '56 Nomad
got a fan shroud??? rebored engine??? still got a 57 radiator?? designed for a 283?? how about a big alum one for cooling a modern engine
Just a thought, are you sure you have the right rotation fan blade? Fan blades and clutches are directional(cw or ccw if you will) It does make a difference. Cut a 2"x2" square of cardboard and stick it to the rad in front. With engine running, it should stick to every square inch of radiator surface. If it does not, probably not enough airflow/ poor design of shroud. And it certainly shouldn't blow off(air moving wrong direction, wrong fan pitch). Just my 2 cents, good hunting.
the fan i put in it pulls through. it is about an inch from the radiator. no shroud which i know will help but it gets hot going down the highway in clean air. to my experience it would be just getting hot in traffic and when im not moving. dont know if its lean or not, has a quadrajet that i was planning on switching out with an edelbrock 600 that i have laying around. i"ll try anything at this point.
To start with, the '89 truck motors where intended to run at 220*. They also used a reverse rotation pump with the serpentine drive. I would check to see if you have one in use with v-belts, or a standard pump in use with serpentine setup. That would run hot. Beyond that, you are not hot if you have the same pressure cap as used on the 89 truck. Airflow sometimes suffers at highway speed in boxy cars. Consider a small air dam under the chin. It doesn't need to bee out front or noticeable, just a few inches can change the pressure at the front of the car and make a big difference. It may settle handling at highway speeds, too.
I have an '89 truck and it never runs much over 180' even with a three-blade fan and a cracked shroud (that's not the right one even, the used radiator in it is the smaller of the two that fit it). By 1989 they all had a throttle body injection on them. I assume yours no longer does. That means someone had to change the intake and distributor out at the least. Might be worth checking they didn't mess up the install somehow. Might change the water pump anyways, have heard stories of them having an impeller loose enough on the shaft when rebuilt that they don't flow the water under pressure. Is the pulley on it the right size?
Water pump pulley diameter can make a shitload of difference. If it doesn't spin the pump fast enough it will keep the coolant at a higher temp.
Is the radiator in the 6 cylinder position? You may have some baffles missing around the radiator if a conversion was made. The baffles are located under the radiator, on the hood directly above the radiator support cross member, and of course either side of the radiator. A shroud will help, but you are correct in your thinking. At speed it doesn't matter. If you do get a shroud, the fan blade tips should only be about half way in and the air blowing out should come out at 45* to the engine centerline. In other words the air flow should be directed around the engine. An air dam under the car will create low pressure in the engine bay and allow air to flow through the radiator. This would not be easy on a '57 due to the design of the splash pan in front of the radiator. It kind of acts as a air dam already IMO. If you know anyone with an infrared thermometer, you could check the flow through the radiator. A higher pressure cap will only help with boilover, not cooling. In fact a higher pressure cap might blow out your stock radiator or heater core.
well, i replaced the waterpump with the same model i took off and that seems to have been the ticket! didnt seem to be anything wrong with the old one but if its running cool now who cares, huh. runs 190-195 on the dash guage and 180 on the cap guage now. thanks to all for the input.
on my 57 wagon, i run a clutch fan and a fan shroud with the orginal radiator. i have no problems even when I run the vintage air set up
I'm glad there is a solution. I was gonna say happy ending, but that might not be a good choice of words. Now you need to find the cause. Look at the impeller on the failed pump, does it spin on the shaft? Also look at the core passages for the water in the pump, are they obstructed? Frank
On my 56 with a warmed over 350, the radiator is in the 6 cylinder position, Derale engine driven fan with shroud and it never reaches 190. Don't waste your time or money replacing the water pump. Install a shroud with a decent fan.
if i wanted to bench check a sbc water pump hows fast should i spin it and how many gallons per minute should it pump? thanks
Well the 'Cool' thing to do would be to put a Flathead in it and be done with that dam 'hot' running engine once and for all, For God's Sake Man, Wake up, The Possibilities are endless, -This could be you.............. .
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