Big Block Dart Cooling

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Three year process. Amarillo TX car. Sold by the largest Scat Pac dealer in Texas at the time. I'm still researching the history on the car. Spoke with the family of the original owner and got a lot of history that way. Trying now to track down some of the previous owners. Here's the car in 78

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Yellow Dart circa 1980s.png
 
Watched your build, that's gorgeous!

I also have a small 9" custom built high stall convertor which adds lots of heat and no auxiliary trans cooler. Go with the FlowCooler and high flow t-stat and bet you will run cooler.
 
I should add that according to the Firecore timing curve chart the timing starts coming on at 1200 RPM and is totally in at 2800 RPM for a total of 25 degrees. This is with 2 silver springs. Adding initial I'm running at 39 total. This is without the vacuum advance hooked up. With the 3.91s I'm cruising around 3100 RPM at 60 mph. Maybe I should back the timing off 2 degrees on the initial and see what happens.[/QUOT
what control box do you have ?? mopar or msd?
 
It's a Firecore Plug N Play. No box, everything is in the dizzy.

I'll be putting the Mopar electronic back in. Just have to decide where to hide the orange box.
 
I've started the first step. Removed the T Stat. I have a replacement high flow sitting at O'reilly's. Here's some pics of the rad and fane placement in relation to the shroud

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Note, thats the stock fixed six blade fan and stock spacer
 
I've started the first step. Removed the T Stat. I have a replacement high flow sitting at O'reilly's. Here's some pics of the rad and fane placement in relation to the shroud

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Note, thats the stock fixed six blade fan and stock spacer

As a point of discussion this car went down the line on December 28, 1967. One can only imagine the mindset of those working the line. It appears that the line workers didn't pay much attention to detail with this car. The car has never been hit however, in the past the original owner liked to show off and spun the quarters into light poles and parked cars while doing burnouts The panels were never replaced until we restored the car. It was commonplace back then to slap a bunch of bondo on and squirt some paint. we didn't go buck nutty with the bodywork trying to keep the car as it was when it was sold.
 
Changed out the T stat and bumped the timing back about 4 degrees. It was at 14. Took the car out this morning for a drive around town. Car got up to 210 in traffic. Got it home and it puked some antifreeze. I need to get a puke tank. I'll take it out on the freeway later. Oh, it's about 95 outside
 
Changed out the T stat and bumped the timing back about 4 degrees. It was at 14. Took the car out this morning for a drive around town. Car got up to 210 in traffic. Got it home and it puked some antifreeze. I need to get a puke tank. I'll take it out on the freeway later. Oh, it's about 95 outside
I looked in a factory service book, all engines in 1968, had 180 T stats. why put a higher one in where its hotter out?? that lets engine get hotter sooner. also, you have way too much timing!!! usually put hotter T sats in when its colder out.
 
I believe a high flow t-stat at 185 covers it. Some may advertise their t-stat as high flow but I am not a believer. The Milodon unit is just such. Combined with a high flow pump and a checked good 3 row radiator like the 033 there should be no issue. 210 is just fine in my opinion if it only rises to that in extremes!
 
When I was unhappy with the temps with all new components, I shot the 033 radiator with the temp laser and there was a 50* drop top to bottom. It led me to belive it was nothing but a flow issue! You could grab the lower hose and it did not really hurt to bad to grab it!
 
The flow is the next thing I'll look at. When I bought the car the guy told me he had the radiator rodded out. Me thinks if he did they didn't do a very good job. Next step is to pull the rad and take it to a good rad shop. I may go ahead and pull that 440Source pump and replace it with a Flowcooler pump.
 
I had the same issue with my big block. With stop and go traffic my temp stayed around 195 with a 195 Tstat with one 1/8" hole, Be Cool 2row 1" tubes and twin electric fans I modded from an intrepid OEM fan assembly. At freeway speeds or when the car was making good power my temps with start to rise 210 ish over a long stretch. That's too hot for me honestly. I decided to go overkill and gain some engine bay clearance all at once so I found a griffin 2 row 1 1/2" tube and mounted it in front of the core support. I then modded a fan assembly out of an 2000 CL 500 Mercedes to fit behind the radiator core support where the original radiator was. I was just out last weekend and the car didn't get above 181. My issue was simply not having enough radiator perhaps that is your issue as well.

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I had the same issue with my big block. With stop and go traffic my temp stayed around 195 with a 195 Tstat with one 1/8" hole, Be Cool 2row 1" tubes and twin electric fans I modded from an intrepid OEM fan assembly. At freeway speeds or when the car was making good power my temps with start to rise 210 ish over a long stretch. That's too hot for me honestly. I decided to go overkill and gain some engine bay clearance all at once so I found a griffin 2 row 1 1/2" tube and mounted it in front of the core support. I then modded a fan assembly out of an 2000 CL 500 Mercedes to fit behind the radiator core support where the original radiator was. I was just out last weekend and the car didn't get above 181. My issue was simply not having enough radiator perhaps that is your issue as well.

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One of the things I need to stick with is keeping the car looking stock. That's why I'm taking things a step at a time. The more I read about flow the closer I am to being convinced that's my issue. Ive seen where people have posted about the 440Source WP housing and how it has restrictions. I have the original housing I can put back on. Thanks everyone for your comments. They are helpful and are appreciated.
 
Watching Kindigit on velocity right now and very intresting they put the system in vacuum then suck the coolant in leaving no air! Mine burped twice after changing to the Flowcooler and high flow t-stat. It has not done it again. Temps today were around 90 and no issues for a 30 mile cruise either direction.
 
By the way my pump housing is stock!
 
Watching Kindigit on velocity right now and very intresting they put the system in vacuum then suck the coolant in leaving no air! Mine burped twice after changing to the Flowcooler and high flow t-stat. It has not done it again. Temps today were around 90 and no issues for a 30 mile cruise either direction.
Which episode? What kind of vacuum? I didn't burp mine yesterday after changing the T stat. Probably need to do that.
 
Think it is a re-run but on eastern time right now.
 
I might add that I have no aux gauge but she never went but a needle past the first mark on the factory gauge
Which car were they working on?[/QUOTE

Several, one I think was a ford truck.
 
I might add that I have no aux gauge but she never went but a needle past the first mark on the factory gauge
Sounds like you have it covered. When I parked the car in the garage after driving it it burped a bit of antifreeze so there some air trapped in there. I'll probably loosen the temp gauge sending unit tomorrow and try to burp some of that air.
 
Time will tell yes!

Hope you get it! Every car is a bit different and seems the Dart has some more front airflow than the Barracuda due the different grille design!
 
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