67 Dart Overheats!

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1966 dart wagon

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Im working on a 67 dart GT for a family friend. It has a stock 340, never been gone though since installed, It also has a 22in radiator that was cleaned before being installed, running a stock 4blade fan.

Car does fine if your cruising but if you have to putt around or idle for a while it starts to get hot. I started off by pressure testing the system, found nothing, Replaced radiator cap, all the hoses, a new 180 thermostate and heater core(started leaking randomly) Last night I even put a I think 7 blade fan on it, without any luck. It DOESNT have a fan shroud, should this fix the problem, or should I upgrade it to a bigger radiator from year one, we are going for stock look so no aluminum. The problem is if we get a shroud and it doesnt fix it, it will not fit the bigger radiator from year one, so then its just laying around. Im going to add some purple ice additive tonight and see how that goes.

Thoughts???

Thanks,
Jack
 
A 3 row 22 inch radiater for a 340 will be nearly impossible to find. Then it will be 40 years old. A 26 inch radiater can be bought at a part store. The OEM shroud for that radiater is fairly easy to find too. You'll need to alter the opening in the front sheet metal but atleast you retain a somewhat stock look, plus there is a OEM recovery bottle that goes with the 26 inch radiater and shroud. This is what I would do if I didn't want an aluminum radiater. Besides I surely dont want an aftermarket shroud.
 
Overheating at a standstill usually points to a radiator flow problem. Have the radiator flow tested. Any good radiator shop can do it. They can also recore it with a 3 row core if the need be. You shouldn't need to upgrade to a 26" radiator because the 22" is what came in that car and it was fine until something happened to it. Plenty of B/RB engines are kept cool with 22" of core in an A body, so the problem is not that the radiator is too small, the problem is that it's not doing its job. Yes, the addition of the fan shroud will not hurt a thing. I would certainly not have a car without one. The cooling system isn't complete without it.
 
two important things. fan shroud and the rubber strip that seals the hood to the coor support so the air goes through the radiator instead of over top.
 
cudaman51 said:
two important things. fan shroud and the rubber strip that seals the hood to the coor support so the air goes through the radiator instead of over top.
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Cudaman has it right. You MUST use a fan shroud. Period.
Good Luck.

George
 
I think that Cudaman hit it on the head. I've had significant problems with my engine overheating while in traffic. I've got every cooling device known to mankind. Aluminum 26" radiator, Shroud, Brass Works high flow water pump, Engine oil cooler, Transmission cooler (the transmission fluid is mot even going through the rad), 5 blade steel fan and a electric pusher fan in front of the rad. Still the engine would overheat in traffic. It would run 160 to 170 when moving. After trying all of this I found (by accident) the only thing that made a difference and that was the rubber strip that seals the hood to the rad core support. mine was missing because I'm running a fiberglass hood. I just used a piece of pipe insulation held to the rad core support with cable ties as a test seal. It will only cost you a couple of dollars to try. It was a big improvement on my car.

Good Luck!
 
1wild&crazyguy said:
get a real fan.

4 blades is weak and does not pull enough air at lower rpms.

a shroud improves the efficiency of the fan as well...
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You got that right. The Mopar viscous fan package is the one I run and recommend. viscous.....that sounds kinda nasty.
 
I would change to a 160 degree thermostat and check your idle mixture and timing. How much room do you have between the fan and the radiator?
 
Park the car let it idle and start getting hot and put a electric fan in front of the car to see if it cools it down. If it does then you need lectric fan at idle. If it doesn't then you have another problem.
 
67gtx said:
Park the car let it idle and start getting hot and put a electric fan in front of the car to see if it cools it down. If it does then you need lectric fan at idle. If it doesn't then you have another problem.
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good point! I'll try that.

Alright guys I swapped on a viscous fan i believe it was an 8 blade mopar one we had laying around, god i love having extra parts:-D, didnt help enough. I got a PM and someone suggested to pull the cap off let it warm up and check the fluid temp with a household cooking temp gauge in the radiator, I'll try that to verify the gauge is correct.

The radiator was cleaned and checked before the install, and said to be fine for the car.

If get a shroud for it and it doesnt help....then i have to do something else and when we upgrade radiators this shoud is useless cause its too small, which I'd hate for the guy to spend money and it not work.
 
three things you must have hood seal shroud and good fan. unless you want to start cutting up your car a 22 inch radiator is all that fits and the same shroud should fit them all. now its up to you to make decisions.
 
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