ANGRY BIRD, THE TRI 5 T-BIRD HOT ROD...

2 thoughts: 1st, an air lock somewhere. no.2, wrong water pump. reverse rotation instead of standard???? As an option, is there something plugged on the new radiator?

 

#1...no air lock... used the radiator fill funnel and let it run...

#2...correct water pump...

#3 radiator flows fine...

#4 thanks for the post and ideas...

 

so the plan is this,... gonna put a ball valve in the loop. I wanna keep the heater hose nipples so they are there when I do the heater core repair...

that way I can just close it off, and see if it runs cooler...,.. and open it and see if it over heats...

 

I think you're on to something.

If you hooked a hose from the intake to the pump that hot water never goes thru the radiator. Between that and the little 90 degrees hose next to the thermostat most of your coolant could be skipping the radiator.
I'd just put a rubber cap on the pump and a plug in the manifold.

 

I had one experience, sbc, aluminum heads, temp sender in head. On a cold start, the temp gauge would go way up, then suddenly drop, and repeat 3-4 times before it evened out. I changed the stat, figuring it was sticking. No change. Then I discovered it didn’t happen if the heater was on. I ran a bypass hose from the manifold (right below the stat) to the suction side of the pump. Solved, warmed up normally.

Lots of y block guys restrict the large by pass hose to improve cooling, including me. Works. So I think you’re on the right track with a valve. Might be just slightly open is the solution.

 

thanks for the post..
keeping the hose nipple so i can hook up a heater...it's only 105 right now

 

soon as it cools off out side a little gonna get this done, that and the new one wire alt...

 

well 110 out side... got every thing done... started it up..had the fill funnel in rad,...took about 10 mins. to open the stat and suck the coolent in...let it run another 10 min... gauge shows about 40 degrees cooler... but when i shut it off coolant over flowed... so I should have put the cap onwhile the coolant was pulled down in... so letting it cool and refilling it..needs a recovery system... and a shroud... the shroud should be here friday...the fan seems to be pulling air every where but through the rad...but as it is now... even with the china virus temp showing 210... there is no where on the motor past 180...but the exhaust manifolds..

 

Get a recovery tank and let it do a couple of heat/cool cycles. That should get any remaining air out of it, too

 

I did it with the rad filler funnel that you leave hooked to the rad....twice... just now let it sit and idle for 20 minutes with the cap on....shut it off and nothing came out on the ground through the over flow hose.....putting the ball valve in really helped...same deal... says 210 on the gauge and the hottesst spot on the motor is 185... so getting there slowly.... like said waiting on the shroud...

 

more head scratch...cleaned up and added more ground straps....gauges seem to me close to spot on...but heres the deal, let it sit and idle she does fine..drive it around the hood,.. does fine.. stays about 195... get on the freeway.. she just keeps getting hotter...that tells me that there's not enough radiator????? correct??? you can drive a car with no fan at all @ 60 mph and it shouldn't over heat... correct???

but here's another thought... most cars built before the middle 60's had the coolant run constant through the heater..for the heater to work you had to open the blend door to let the hot air in....I remember pulling baker grade in my mustang having the heater on to keep the motor cool....

So. when you delete the heater core, is it possible that there is not enough coolant volume, and with out the added cooling from the heater core... the rad. is too small??? and not enough coolant????

 

A heater core would provide some additional cooling but I don't think that's the issue here. Even if it were hooked up it won't cool anything without the fan blowing thru it.
Some cars just have airflow issues, even at speed. XK120s were notorious. Maybe your bird is acting the same way. Getting the shroud installed might be the cure.

 

Easy way to tell. Pop the hood open. Usually done for more airflow in a “parade” situation, but often will help at speed. A friend with a 57 added a latch to his to stop the hood from blowing too far open. He said at 70 the hood would lift far enough to block his vision. I’ve also seen guys run a strap from the hood latches to the bar on the firewall for that. If it cools, you’ve narrowed it down to under hood air flow.

The original heater valve was full off when closed. Without it the stock ducting will blow enough air thru to turn the heat “on” no matter the fan position. Not good in Vegas at 100+

 

found this on a ford web site....in the 60's they would send cars out depending on where they were going... Detroit got 195 stats... and arizona got 160.. Detroit had to have heaters that would melt ice off windshields... where as AZ.. needed to run cool on hot days.. so with that thinking I pulled my stat... put it in hot water on the stove.... it started opening at 190 and didn't open fully till 230... so with willing to try something new.... i got a 160....my thought is it will start cooling the motor sooner and not let it get to 250 .. I still think the rad. doesn't have enough volume...the ford site says it takes 15 quarts and run a 160 in the desert... and 190 in snow belt.... I've also learned this... no matter how wrong you are... if you look long enough...you will find some one that says you are right....lol... we'll see...

 

good post, but what i'm saying is if going down the freeway it starts getting hot.. and you turn the heater on and it cools back down, that would tell yiu that the rad. is too small.... right... I can't be the only one that has turned on the heater when a car starts running too hot..

 

How much of the air coming through the small T'bird grill passes through the radiator when on the highway? How much goes around the radiator? In other words, is the area above, below and on each side of radiator sealed

Is there anything between the radiator and grill? Horns, brackets? Pusher fan? These all block airflow.

 

Maybe that's something to check again. That old motor was so full of crap in the coolant passages, maybe some of that mud has clogged the radiator.

 

I’m not sure but from what I see the fan is on backwards . I maybe all twisted up but it looks so to me in the images .

 

I’ve had a short drop in temp turning the heater on, but then it creeps back up. There’s a variety of discussions about getting the air thru the radiator instead of around it, but none worked for me. Usually the overheating is a Yblock problem, a smaller pump pulley is a common solution. But that’s the stock radiator, fan, etc.

Is the inspection plate in the lower pan in front of the radiator there?

 

Good eye!
I agree. The fan needs to be flipped. This could be the problem.
With the fan installed backwards, the slope of the blades will be right but the cup of the blades will be wrong.
This can cause overheating problems at highway speeds.

 

Good catch! I missed that entirely!

Flipping that might make a big difference in airflow.

 

good post.... all the air that inters the grille has to go through the rad...and yes custom fabbed..

 

flushed it...new motor...

 

good eye... good post .. that was corrected that day.... I walked up and said... hey, thats fans on backwards...ahhh fuc... how'd I do that....

 

the whole core support is custom fabbed... no air leaks...

 

but here's the good news...putting a ball valve in the heater hose helped... putting a 160 stat... really helped... and putting a fan shroud really helped... so now running around the hood...35 mph zone... she runs 180...running 45 up a 5% grade she got to 190... up a 6% grade on the freeway...almost 200... the temp out side is about 120.... 110 in the shade.... but I bet the road temp is 150... I post some pics when my wife get out of the pool.. she won't take pics with her clothes off..

 

Sounds like you've made some good progress this week.

 

well thanks. it's good when it works... got the fan 1'' in the shroud... it pulls alot of air... need to check it with my air speed meter...I'm gonna guess more than 50 mph at 2000 rpm....

 

The fore and aft radiator shrouds look good.
The thin wall design of the SBF should be easier to cool than the Y block.
115 degrees ambient will be hard on most any ICE car or truck.