I have a 55 ford fairlane with an early 70 351 Windsor. It over heats quickly in stop and go traffic or if left running for any decent length of time. The fan has no shroud could this be the problem? It stays cool while moving( between 170-185). I was thinking of supplementing the fan with an electric fan on a switch, but was unsure if there was a bigger problem... Any suggestions????
Fan shroud will really help low speed air movement. You are good going down the road, so the whole system is working fine. You just need a little air flow at idle/slow speed. sometimes a smaller pulley can be used on the waterpump/fan which makes it go a little faster. Proper ignition timing is also needed for slow speed operation. Retarded timing heats up the engine.
do a basic inspection-radiator for a V8 not clogged or bent fins? how far is fan from radiator? what type of radiator cap? over flow tank? stock fan or multi-bladestyle? using fresh coolant? radiator hoses type with inner wire support in good condition? tried turning on heater when running hot? conition of motor? timing set correct? not running lean? shroud would certainly help. search here for more info.
what gas pumper said. the shroud acts like a funnel to get the air over the radiator where it can do the most good.
Thanks. Actually the engine sometimes bucks and knocks after I turn it off and a friend said that it could be a timing thing causing that... I'll have to look into that. I'll also look into the pulley thing... Maybe replace the fan itself with a larger one or scouer the earth for a shroud... Lol..
Join the 52-56 Ford Owners Social Group- 600 plus members strong and I am sure you will find help. Do a little intro too- we like that. Good luck.
Bought a thermostat today. Still looking for shroud. Checked the distance/level of fan to rad and it is 1/4 " at the bottom and 1 1/4 " at the top. But no fuel leak at the carb that I can find.. It's a six blade steel fan. I may need to enlist the help of a profesional the check timing(it's a mystery to me). Took the car for a long ride to tiverton ri today and no issues (1 1/2 each way). Still working on it...!
The "Buck N Knock" is called dieseling & it shows the timing is off a bit (or crappy gas, '70 did have decent C/R). Get a timing light. If you've been running w/o a thermostat, that will contribute also. Get a 180-190 with a solid brass cup @ the bottom, not the open type.
try walkerradiatorworks.com for Max Air Fan Shrouds, coolcraft.com and others for fan shrouds-boy, 1/4" clearance from radiator to fan blades does not sound good-may want to switch to a thin electric fan with thermostat type controller as to what temperature it turns on/off - after you get motor tuned up
just posted some pics of car and fan/radiator issue (thanks to skoh73 for the pic advice) iphones do not work very well for uploading pics!!! The motor seems to be mounted really high in the front? valve coveres are really close to firewall? I was looking to see if engine could be mounted higher in the rear but it looks like theres no room to move up, if anything maybe lower the front mounts. current ones look big? ill try to get pics
Just changed thermostat, in case the old one was sticking and while doing so I changed the antifreeze/water mixture from 50/50 to about 70/30... ran it for a little while but didn't want to piss off the nieghbors too much so I'll have to give it a good test in the afternoon tomorrow My buddy has fabricated sheet metal for a living is going to take some measurements and make a custom shroud for me for the donut! So I'm Pretty psyched... hopefully she runs nice and cool. thanks again to everyone for the advice. I'm really begining to like the H.A.M.B.
don't forget a good motor tune-up. engine may be sitting like it is because of clearance limits due to oil pan.
Check the port where you have the vacuum advance hooked up to. It should have full vacuum at idle. If you do not have full vacuum at idle the ignition is retarded and that makes the engine run hotter. It may not be the sole cause of your problem but it can and will contribute to it.
Walk around front with the engine warm and idling. I'll bet you feel a hot blast of air coming out from under the front bumper. A problem with lots of older cars, especially when we lower them, is that there's limited venting of the engine compartment, and the hot air is turned the wrong way by the front X-member. It goes out front and gets sucked back through the rad by the fan. Hot air can't cool the engine! Some louvers in the fender wells or on the hood can fix it. Yes, there's really a reason to louver your hood!
Here in Fla. the cops have to pop the hood on the Crown Vics if they're going to be idling in place for a while, you'd think Ford would offer ducts or louvers on the cop versions. But yeah, there's a funtional reason for a lot of what was done back then that's done just to "look cool" today.
I think you have this wrong, you need ported vacuum to the vacuum advance, no vacuum at idle. As engine speed increases, ported vacuum increases to pull in more advance to compensate for engine speed. Manifold vacuum would actually decrease with engine load, acceleration and reduce timing. The fan shroud is all that is needed. A full shroud is more effective. The depth of the fan in the shroud is important to getting max benefit. A cap or sheet metal between the grill and the radiator core support will keep air from going over the top of the radiator and direct it through it. A bottle of Water Wetter will improve the cooling capability of the liquid. It is not the cure you need, but will help.
Tested t-stat (160degrees) works while moving however after 10-15 minutes of idling it began getting hot. About 5 minutes after shutting it off it over heated... Just getting frustrated. A friend told me to take cap off rad and check for flow at temp. Because it could be a partially blocked radiator. I'm still working on the shroud... I'm begininning to think I should just replace the radiator!
I checked the vaccuum advance and there is full vac at idle however, I was a Bass Pro Shops (cruisnight) and was told that the vaccum line that goes into the distributor was connected to the wrong port on the carb (too low) should be ran to the rear of the carb (higher port). is this right? I dont want to change anything that is working currently...
I have a 55 with a 351-w and no shroud and it will idle all day with no problems,when putting it togather I noticed there was not much room for a good fan so I used a V8 radiator with 6 cylinder brackets to move the radiator forward so I could use a factory flex fan from a a/c car. If you are using a aftermarket flex fan remove it and put on a factory non flex and you will see a difference,many years ago I had one on a 72 AMX and when I sat in traffic it got hot but that went away with a stock fan. You gain about 5 inches with the 6 cylinder brackets giving plenty of room for a clutch fan or a shroud and will need to trim the splash pan if you go that route.
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