Do all A bodies have overheating problems?
I'm going to throw my 3 cents (due to inflation) in. I have seen too many radiators not getting air to flow through them due to crud(cottonwood trees, etc) blocking the fins. Also, too much paint on the fins. And it doesn't help if you stack coolers. My Old Timer test is: with the car running, hood closed, a dryer sheet should suck itself tight to the grille.
This is a brand new( as of December ) radiator that up until recently has not been used on the road. I have checked it with a shop light, and have lightly sprayed it with a garden hose...nothing appears to be clogged in regards to airflow . It has a light coat of flat black as delivered from U S Radiators.
I've tested both fans ( clutch and direct ) at idle using a long section of newspaper draped across the hood down to the top of the bumper. Both fans will pull the newspaper against the grill, with the fixed fan pulling slightly harder.
The fixed fan has a printed tag on the inside blade showing that side facing the engine. It is not trying to push the air forward.
I believe that neither one of my current fans are correct.
In regards to my earlier post about too much flow through the radiator, let me clarify my comments.
When I was in automotive school 40 years ago (yikes ) to be a line tech at Chrysler , we had a semester on cooling systems. We studied the role of a thermostat, how the temp rating was it's opening point, and the actual operating temperature of a particular vehicle was a product of the overall efficiency of the cooling system as a whole. And the thermostats big role is staying closed in cold weather to help an engine warm up. We also studied the effects of removing a thermostat completely from a system. And how it can create a condition where and engine might overheat because the coolant is not staying in the radiator long enough to actually cool down. There was a lot of discussion on t-stats being a certain size, to create a specific limit to how quickly the water flows through the radiator. Thats why I was questioning my use of a high flow t-stat.
When trying to jog my memory, I believe this was NOT a situation at idle, but more of a problem at speed.
Thanks for the ideas. I'll be looking at more fans. Larry