You know I guess I just always assumed that for the tight space I was going to have to run an electric fan but I see what you are saying. There's no way that a regular fan would be as bulky as that electric fan was. I can't remember if any of the old hemi's I've bought had an original fan on it in good condition but I'm going to look through my parts today and see. It would look a lot better with a regular fan on it for sure.
So after looking through my stuff neither of the 331s had a fan on them when I bought them but I did have a six blade fan off of a Desoto 330 I got that had a busted block. It's got plenty of clearance but it's kind of offset more towards the bottom of the radiator. Should this still probably draw enough air to keep things cool?
There will be those that tell you it wont work down there but my flathead (notorious for running hot) has the fan in the lower radiator and runs cool all day even sitting in traffic. I say your fine but I would suggest adding a fan shroud to direct all the air through that core.
Awesome thanks @Bandit Billy. I was wondering if I might need a shroud. I was just going through your '34 roadster build to see about your fan and shroud setup, and man what a beautiful car. The attention to detail is amazing.
I would try it this spring without a shroud. It might be ok. I ran a low mechanical fan in my Model A SBC with no shroud, full hood, for about 100k miles. No problem.
A shroud would definitely improve the cooling efficiency if it turns out you need it. Run it without one and then fabricate a shroud to fit if it runs hotter than you want.
Thanks, I have issues. Likely caused by over exposure to mothers aluminum polish. I’m my truck thread I built a shroud out of a cheap aluminum kit from summit, added some corner trim and bucked a few rivets in it, had it powder coated semi flat black. Looks cool. Hope it runs cool
I was actually looking at those kits earlier but didn't know how I would fit it to my radiator because I don't have any experience or equipment for welding aluminum. I'll definitely keep this in mind in case I find out it does run hot enough to need a shroud.
The fan setup.In my Fargo looks the same as yours, keeps the mild 360 cool no matter what, Fan near the bottom and no shroud
I'm glad to hear that y'all have pretty good luck with a lower placed fan and no shroud. I'll try it like that first and see how it does. I didn't run it for long periods on the stand but it didn't seem to get really hot very quickly. It's got around 6+ gallons of coolant in the whole system so that probably helps.
Another thought on cooling. It also helps to ensure that all of the air coming in the grill gets directed through the radiator. On my 49 Ford F1 I had changed out the original radiator mounts and radiator. I'm actually using a MOPAR radiator from a mid 70's D200. In my case some of the air flow entering the grill area could go down under and/or over the radiator and not through the fins. In heavy stop and go traffic my big Caddy engine would get a little warm. I fabbed some shrouding so that now the air flow is directed through the radiator core... ...problem solved. I can't remember what the area between the grill and radiator on your style of truck looks like so this might not even apply, but I thought I'd mention it just in case Bobby
I ran into the same issue. For some reason the stock radiator didn't want to play nice with the stock core support . So I figured I'll get the biggest aluminum rad that might possibly fit. Then I still had to trim away some of the support. Then the water pump was about a finger tip away from the electric fan, so I made new engine mounts to set the engine back about 4" Plenty of clearance now HA. You're almost ready to roll man!
Thanks for the tip Bobby. I looked at that today and it looks like I'm good on the top and sides. There's a pretty good gap between the bottom of the radiator and the core support that might be a good place for a block off plate. Your advice on wiring has been very helpful too. I've been removing all the plastic insulators and been getting a lot better crimp on the wires. Also looks a lot cleaner with heat shrink on the ends. @60Pioneer my core support fought me too trying to get the radiator bolted in! I guess they have a good bit of natural spring inwards towards the top from being formed but trying to pry out on the core support and start a bolt in that heavy radiator had me cussing by the end of it! Got the fan painted and bolted in for good. I'm actually glad there wasn't room for the electric fan and @pwschuh suggested running a regular fan. Like I said I always just assumed the electric fan would take up less space but I really like the way the fan looks on the front of the water pump. I found out the radiator hose I'm using for the top would also work perfect for the bottom. It's a Gate 20603 that I trimmed to fit. The application seems to be for late 60's GM vehicles but doesn't specify if it's a upper or lower hose. There's no spring in it but supposedly the newer materials are resistant to collapsing. I've was looking at some past threads about people sometimes having trouble with lower hoses collapsing so I thought before I put it on and fill the radiator up that I would see if anybody advises against a lower hose with no spring.
Regarding lower hose and spring, if a ribbed universal hose, not needed. If a “normal” hose, use a spring. Just my experience.
It is just a normal hose and it's pretty pliable. The lower hose I was using on the run stand doesn't work with where the engine is in the truck plus the hose ends weren't exactly right to start with but it does have a spring in it that I pulled out the other day to look at. I think tomorrow I'll try and see if I can't get it to work inside the hose I'm trying to use now.
I recently saw one of these on an episode of "My Classic Car" I believe it was 2 Sundays ago & thought to myself....Damn, my bucket list is growing again! If & when I did get one, I would fight myself to customize a wagon tailgate to make it look so much better, but since they made very few of them I would probably keep it original except for things easily returned to stock! Just Beautiful! God bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
@Bill's Auto Works I agree with you and that's how I'm going to go about trying to get the wagon tailgate on there. I don't want to do anything to the bed that isn't easily put back to stock since it is a rare truck and I also like the way it looks with the flat tailgate too. I was able to get that spring to work inside the lower hose. I filled up the coolant system and finished up my wiring today. At first I thought I had some kind of wiring problem but it turned out to be bad grounding. I ran a ground strap from the battery to the core support and another under a starter bolt to the frame. It was all fresh cleaned metal with dielectric grease. I figured it would've been grounded good but while trying to get the bugs out I found out after cranking on the starter for a minute the choke cable was red hot. That had me stumped until I researched it and found out it's a symptom of bad grounds. I didn't have another cable to run to the block so I'll have to get one. That's why the clamped cable is on the battery in the video. It sure did feel good to have it running in the truck. I tested my PCV system with a vacuum gauge before I hooked it up to make sure I didn't have any leaks. It all tested good and you can see in the video it pulling the vapor into my catch can. I haven't tried running any oil up to the bypass filter yet. There were no leaks so far on any fittings. The only electrical problems I can see right off is the fuel gauge is continuously pegged, which I really didn't figure the new sending unit I put in was going to work because it tested weird, and the oil pressure gauge reads really high. Like over 100 psi high and I know when I was running it on the stand that pressures were more in the 70s with a mechanical gauge. I said before I wish I had run a tee fitting where the sending unit is with a mechanical gauge as well so I could be sure but I assume it must be the electric sending unit because nothing has changed since I was running it on the stand.
That's awesome!!! So glad you got it fired up! Sounds like you only have a few bugs to work out....cool 90% of electrical problems can be traced back to bad grounds. It shouldn't be too hard to track down the issues Good luck Bobby
Thanks @bobbytnm! I also ran it up in the air on the lift and went through all the gears. Everything was nice and quiet. I'm going to try to rig up some temporary boards to hold the bed on the frame so I can go for a test drive. Here's a picture of the pedals after painting the gas pedal black and the pad with bedliner. Also got another '51 Chrysler ornament in the mail today. It's in very good condition. It was the price of most heavily pitted ones and came on a very nice oak base.
This was not an unheard of problem on 70 - 81 Camaros with floor shifted automatic transmissions. The shift cable would get balky or sieze up if the ground cables or straps weren't properly installed. The same issues would also crop up with clutch cables on Chevettes with manual transmissions.
@ClayMart it really surprised me because I've never had something like that happen. I was looking for an exposed wire touching under the dash but from the firewall to the dash it was cool to the touch. From the carb to the firewall was super hot. Glad I didn't weld the cable to the sheath! Thanks @Jeff Norwell! I really did enjoy firing it up from the driver's seat. I'm hoping to get a test run in this weekend. I've really enjoyed following along on your '57 Ford build. I had never even heard of a four on the column set up but I've always really enjoyed a three on the tree so that's going to be a lot of fun.
I tied the bed down with some temporary boards and bolted the grill in so I could latch the hood and hit the road for a small ride today. It was a lot of fun. I also fixed my grounds and got that taken care of I believe. The brakes still have some air in the the line feels like and also I installed longer wheel studs in the front so I could run spacers because the tires were rubbing the inner fender a little bit. The 3/4" spacers I used are too much and it rubs the outside of the tire now. Few more things to get worked out but its definitely got some pull when you get down on the throttle!
Awesome!! There's always bugs to work out. From the sounds of it, nothing very major. I'm excited for you. It's so cool to take the first ride!
This is so cool! Congrats on getting it fired off! I have been following along and it just keeps getting better!
Thank @bobbytnm and @guthriesmith! And thanks to everybody for all the helpful advice and answering all my questions along the way. Y'all sure saved me a lot of headaches. I took the wheel spacers out and went riding around a little more. Here's a few pictures of it outside. I'll try and get a video of it later.
Here's a short video of some running around I did today. Even without the wheel spacers the right front wheel still rubs on hard turns for some reason. I don't know if it's because of the engine being heavier and making the nose come down more or what. That's the racket in the beginning of the video. Also looks like my Sure Grip isn't locking up correctly. Since it's a cone type it might have enough wear that it wont engage anymore. I didn't really stay in it long but I figured both wheels would have broke loose if everything was right. Had a lot of fun driving it around for a longer time though. Engine stayed good and cool with the regular fan.
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