Today I changed the thermostat and my car is still running around 210. Flushed radiator and tried water wetter. I have a factory 2 core radiator and very mild engine mods. How do I get this thing to run cooler? And what is a safe running temp for this car. I live in az and its hot out here, road temps can get up to 160. I saw some of you guys running "champion radiators" do they work? And how much should I expect to pay? I have also tried mavman's cooling tips and didnt have that much luck all though they did help. Any suggestions? 72 comet gt, 302, holley 4160, edelbrock intake, edelbrock 280 cam, factory 3 speed and 2.79 rear
No, I have an electric fan and no machanical fan, and it is hooked direct to the radiator inside the engine compartment pulling in air. (suggested by guy at auto parts store for best results). Fan pulls 1600 cfm
no. Its 17in. I was thinking about taking it out and pulling it back away from the radiator and making a shrowd out of sheet metal to mount it to.(kinda like the one mavman did in his tech tip) maybe that way it can use more of the radiator surface.?????????
My car has run hot since I got it. I got a champoion rad a few weeks ago. Now it's 185-195º. No shroud but i do have an electric fan that comes on at about 210º
Too much advance timing will make an engine run hot in a heart beat. Regular unleaded burns hotter than premium unleaded.
yes I considered the timing and I'm dead nuts for the cam mod specs. How much did that champion radiator cost?
You definitely need a shroud. 1600CFM is not much as far as cooling capacity is concerned.You want to pull 2K to 3k CFM through the rad to see an appreciable temp difference. Have you considered the taurus fan swap??? Put one on my Sprint with a 3 row copper/brass rad and run 190 to 195 deg regardless of ambient temp with a pretty nasty 351 stuffed in the bay. Put a shroud on the rad for sure...Good luck!!!
No I haven't tried the taurus fan swap yet. Didn't even know about it. I did use a stainless flex fan that I had sittin around here though. I'd like to find a good 3 core and put a higher cfm elec. fan with it. I do't think I can go any more on the engine hp until I can solve this heating up prob. If a 3 core is keeping a "nasty 351" cool it should definately keep mine cool even after more mods.(next, is a bottle, and 3.55 track lock, and then I'll go from there) I am interested in the "champion rad though. Seems like all you guys using them love em
I had my stock fan with one of those $20 summit metal shrouds and stock radiator with my stock 302 and I wasn't too far past 190 in california. I only put the fan shroud on since it would go up to 210's at stop lights. My temp on the radiator didn't change much with radiator upgrade (I got the big 3 core one). But without the shroud at stop lights I didn't overheat anymore. So I guess my point is chances are there is something else getting you up in the 210 range.
Agreed, 1600 cfm airflow is not nearly enough to cool your V8. I previously ran a 2900 cfm electric that worked good 95% of the time but long perriods of idling in traffic would cause the temp to creep up to 230*. Put in a Taurus fan over the winter. Now it runs at 185*, the fan turns on at 195* and promptly cools everything back down to 180* and turns off.
I agree, I don't think 1600 is enough flow esp. w/ stock rad. I run 2500cfm Flex-O-Lite, 180 stat, and Champion. I have not seen over 200 idling long periods no matter the temp. We've had quite-a-few 90+ days this year. I paid abt $200.00 shipped for my rad. I don't have a shroud just the fan. If u upgrade the fan u may be able to get the temp down.
agree. fan is not pulling enough cfm. also its only pulling through the circle that it covers. get the tauras or escort fan. they have squar shrouds that fit the whole core of the mav. radiator. they also pull alot more cfm than any aftermarket fan. cheaper sence you can find them in the salvage yards. get the warnetee, the one you get may be bad.
