Projects Cooling problems, here's what I'm going to do, any other ideas?

Quote:
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Your radiator capacity is inadequate.
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I say you have 3 3/4 inches then you have room for a 4 core aluminum so I agree with the above in any event. You just don't have enough capacity for coolant period and no doubt you also need a good fan.

 

I had overheating issues with my 393 powered f-1 when I built it.

I originally had newly re-cored 4 core radiator in it and ran 50/50 mix with water wetter and a large 2500 cfm 18" electric fan (perma cool # 19117)....the temp would just keep creeping up and up on hot days.

A new 2 core aluminum radiator cured the problem using the same electric fan. And for further piece of mind I am now using Evans racing coolant.

 

a 65 mustang rad.barely kept a 289 cool chunk it and get a circle track alum rad or a bigger capacity rad a alum 2 core off a circle track keeps my sons 65 ranchero with a 5.0 ho motor cool when a 67 289 mustang 3 core rad was doing the same thing yours is doing

 

CALL SPEEDWAY MOTORS ! over 3,000 radiators in stock. I have put several alum. radiators in cars lately, i just get the biggest size that will fit in your opening and tell em where you want the inlet and outlet. weld on some angle on the side to mount it , and walla ! better cooling.

 

OK, I'm not say'n I feel dumb, and I'm not say'n I got it fixed...BUT, I did find something out that can't have been helping.

After a trip to the Sec of State to licence the PT Cruiser for our son, I went out to the garage, having decided to put it back together, with the crossmember opened up in front of the radiator. The idea is, after I get the brake hoses and new shoes I'm waiting for, I'll drive it this way a little and see. Maybe leave the hood sides off as an experiment as well.

I put the radiator back in, and before I put the cheap fan back, I thought I'd see if it was set up properly, and make sure I had it wired with the correct polarity. I laid it on the floor face down, on some shims, and hooked to the battery charger. As in the car, it pulled air thru the back, but I could only feel it move around the perimeter.

Just for fun, I reversed the leads. The fan literally pushed itself up off the floor about an 1/8" and scooted around like a hovercraft untill it came to the end of the charger leads. Huh?

Watching the blades slow down when I unhooked it, it seemed that the fan was reversed on the motor. I flipped it (the fan blade) over and tried this little experiment again.

This time, it pulled a GALE of air thru the entire shroud, not just the perimeter as before. The difference, in the amount of air moving, and the sound of the fan, was immediate and marked. When the polarity was reversed, it no longer pushed enough air thru towards the floor to have any lift.

Is it possible that with the blades reversed, the fan was blocking enough air flow thru the core, as pusher fans are purported to do, THAT could have been causing the steady increse in temps on the road? It certainly seems to make sense that something in back of the core, obstructing air flow, like a fan spinning the wrong way, could impact temps. That combined with the obstruction of the crossmember, is certainly worth driving it before I order another new radiator and fan and spend five or six hundred bucks.

I'm just say'n...

 

Hell yeah!

 

LOL, that's what I thought you'd say!

 

I won't knock you. When I was setting up that GM fan in my last S10 I couldn't see what I was doing and wired it backward. I had to set it on the table and play hovercraft games to sort it out. It's kinda fun. I never have seen a cheapo fan hover, though. That GM fan was gonna flip over if I didn't hold it down.

Have fun.

 

They uhh arent all the friendly when they grab your t-shirt either.

 

+1

3 core radiator out of a mustang would barely keep an anemic small block cool. I would start at a 4 core, but go with a five if I could find one.

Grats on finding the issue with the fan though. Might help a lot, but I would still consider a bigger radiator.

 

I know, I know. The radiator probably IS inadequate, but I do think it's worth a try with the fan going the right direction and the airflow opened up. Can't hurt, and might be useable as is, at least for now. Pretty soon fall will be here anyway, and it stays nice and cool as long as the temps are below 70!

Actually, I'm kinda happy about it, as long as it's not driveable, I am inspired to relocate the top bracket, get the top fabric on, and redo the rear fender brackets, which still hit the body. Oh, and touch up the body where the brackets have gouged the paint off...

 

Hi,
Just started looking at your link, I had a 36 coupe with a big block Chev that had similar overheat problems. After many months & lots of changes, I found that it had air pockets in the back of the head, caused from the engine sitting flat in the chassis & when it started to overheat nothing would cool it, you just had to stop & wait.
I drilled holes in the rear of the inlet manifold to access the water jackets & fitted a crossover pipe to join the heads, then a pipe/hose from the crossover to the top radiator hose, this makes sure all the air can be bled out of the system, it never overheated again.
Even with the heating problem you have made one very cool car.