cooling system

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chad72duster

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OK I have a an AFCO 22" alum radiator high flow water pump and a stock 19" clutch fan no shroud. She is running to hot for my tatse I shut her down at 205 . Only gets hot at idle. The guy localy wants $250 to fab a shroud should i go for that or go for elec fan. Should I swap out the clutch fan for a solid steel fan?? I am open to suggestions.
 
Chad, my buddy who built a 383 stroker Chevelle used the electric fan set up and swears by it. I have no experiece with it myself, but overheating is no fun and he indicated this eliminated any problems he had. $250 for a shroud seems awfully extreme to me
 
I'd go with a big electric fan myself.
Might get ya a few more HP and I think it makes the front of the motor look cleaner and easier to work on without a knuckle buster hanging off the front of it, but that's just me. :dontknow: . :D
 
thats what I was thinking as well just an electric set up with a thermostat switch should do the trick. The fab guy here is crazy with his prices because he doesnt need the work so he can charge what he wants. I told him the same thing that I would go with an electrick set up first and he didnt care if he did the job or not.
 
Chad, here's my opinion. I have done the electric fan thing and switched back. An electric fan will not cool your motor any better than a flex fan. My car runs cooler with the 17" flex fan than it ever did with an electric. I tried 1 16" and then went to 2 10" set up. I got tired of monitoring the temp and hoping my thermal switch kicked on when it was supposed to so I didn't ruin a $10,000 motor. The switch I have didn't work half the time either. Plus you will have to off set the fan on the radiator because it will not clear the water pump pulley. Then you either spend big bucks for the be cool bracket's to correctly mount the fan or you can run 4 holes through your new radiator :roll: :roll: and mount it with the ties. I'll save you a lot of time and money right now!! Go spend $39 on a flex fan and be done with it!!. If you motor won't run under 200 degree's at idle with a flex fan you need to look for a problem with your cooling system.
 
OK Brett, I will trust your opinion , it is the cheap fix and I would agree that I am not that trusting in switches. Are you running a shroud??

I know that my engine will most likely cool down after it has about 1000 to 1500 miles on it and the rings set but this 210 crap is killing me. Same shiX I dont want to throw 6K down the drain over a cheap fix.
 
No I do not run a shroud. My motor run 165 all day long. The only time my motor has seen 200 degree's is when I had the electric fans on. It's a waste of money. The only benefit was at the track because I could idle in staging and maintain the temp I wanted for launch. They suck on the street IMO
 
Barracuda340S do you remember the brand of the fans you used? And what was the CFM of them? The CFM is the important part along with the style of fan blade (straight vs curved) not all the same size fans flow the same.
I've seen alot of hp street cars and street Rods that run electric fans and don't have any problems at all even with big blocks, so that sucks that it didn't work for ya, the added HP and fuel economy is always a plus.

Chad did you try a cooler thermostat? Are you running an underdrive pulley? Is that clutch fan new?
Since you said it only gets hot at idle, electric fans don't slow down at idle and lower engine speeds like regular fans do.
One thing I wonder about is that radiator. You know anyone running these on street cars? The site just talks about race cars.
Also check BECOOL and check out there straight blade fans they flow more air than the curved air fans.
It can't hurt to throw a flex fan on to see if it solves everything, then you can at least break in your bad *** motor! :D
Good luck
 
I bought a flex Fan today but i have some other stuff torn apart right now so i can fire it up. I went with a 19" flex, I found part of the problem yesterday, I didnt check the obvious the Clutch Fan was bad not holding at temp so this fixed one should do the trick. The radiator is the same size core as the stock one so i dont think its the radiator.
 
just forgot to measure for the spacer so wont do me any good untill monday, Its all good I have some wiring to finish up anyway. If I get this cooloing problem liked she will be bad *** runns hard.
 
well i forgot to measure for the spacer for the fan I stuck it on anyway just to see and she still ran hot, shoots right up to 200+ and i shut here down. Hope this spacer will do if not I am open to suggestions.
 
Chad, is the car in the garage when it's running? I wanted to ask you what plugs your running and what your compression is? The spacer will help but if it is still pegging 200 then we need to look somewhere else. I wouldn't panic until you get it on the street and get some miles on it. What kind of flex fan did you get?
 
ProStreetDuster asked
Anyone ever used this stuff called water wetter? If so what do ya think?
Click to expand...

I haven't, but I've heard second hand stories that it will corrode aluminum over time. I have had good luck using RMI-25 and distilled water. This has cleaner, conditioner and surfactant. And water is more efficient transfering heat than ethylene glycol, so no anti-freeze unless you know it's going to freeze outside.

Hey Chad, just a thought, but why not add an electric 'pusher' fan on the front side of the radiator to supplement the flex fan.
 
hey Brett, Its a Derale fan 19", and I am runing NGK plugs, I had it in the yard when she ran hot , the first time she was in the garage but as she strated to heat up we pushed her out. I was running a 160 thermo in it, I pulled it out right now she doesnt have one at all just to see if that would help. That new fan blows hard but I think its to far away from the radiator to do much good.

If thats spacer doesnt help I will either have to go with an Aux fan like pro street said or break down and pay $250 for a shroud. Right now 250 sounds cheap compared to what I have in the motor.
 
My fan is 1" away from the radiator. It's a pain to put it on but it works great. I would put the thermo back in, otherwise the coolant flows to fast through the radiator and it doesn't have time to cool. If everything is right you will not need another fan. Another thing, what water pump do you have? There is a 6 blade and an 8 blade. The 8 blade is for air cond cars. It will flow more at idle. The're like $25 bucks. I put a new one on every couple year's just because they get cruddy looking. I mask it and clear coat it.
 
brand new high flow water pump so I dont think its the water pump. thats my problem my fan is to far away from the radiator so i am hoping the spacer kit will fix it. I plan on putting the thermo back in once i have the cooling issue somewhat worked out.
 
chad72duster said:
I plan on putting the thermo back in once i have the cooling issue somewhat worked out.
Click to expand...
Put a new thermostat in now. Sometimes they flow so fast without them the engine doesn't cool off properly.
 
Chad here's what Scotty (from Scottysplace) uses for cooling his bad *** 10 second stroked 340 (416ci) Duster
Griffin Aluminum radiator - 27-1/2 x 19 <--a bit bigger than yours though
1 Perma-Cool HP series electric fan - 16"
180 thermostat
He says it's normally NEVER over 180-185 even when cruising around town, and he lives in Texas just like you.
Like the others posted, I say put a thermostat back in, get the fan spacer and go from there.
If you really want a fan shroud I'd check griffin and some of the other aftermarket radiator companys, it may be cheaper.
 
I started with the thermostat in just took it out to seee if it made a differance, I will get the spacer in the morning, I think that will help the problem, i am sure the radiator is fine its the same size as the stock one and it has larger tubes than stock so should be fine, I just have had some minor wirring issues to work through the last couple of days so that has taken up most of my time. I will get it straight and when i do its on.

I can be happy, No oil leaks at all. My tranny had some issues but thats because i found out after the fact the guy who rebuilt it was having issues with his old lady screwing around and his work had suffered and they had taht right. Leaked $7 a Qt mobile 1 gear oil all over the place cost me $21 bucks just to fix his leaks. If he wasnt having such a bad time I woukld have to take that out of his ***. My tranny has a little grind when it shifts if its still there after I adjust the clutch we will have some issues.
 
Not trying to jump into the middle of something, just trying to help. Being an old guy we learned how to figure out cooling problems on our hot rods in the 60's when we did not have all the pressure testers and stuff you have today.

It can only be one of two things. First air flow, second water flow. If your car is only running 200 degrees, that is not hot, just starting to make horse power at that temp. Take it our to a road where you can run a constant speed for about a mile or so, and be able to pull over.

First get it up to temp, drive at about 45MPH - depending on your rear end gear - you want to pick a speed that you can shift down a gear and maintain that speed - if it heats up while driving at a constant speed in high gear, shift down one gear and see if the temp goes up or down. If it goes up then you have a water flow problem, if it goes down, then you have an air flow problem.

I have used dual electric fans, and have not had good results until I built a schroud for them. I think either way a schroud takes all the guess work out of it.

Sorry for the long reply.

Earl
 
its not the 200 its getting to 210 and I shut it down, only at idel, if I run it at all the temp comes right down. What is to hot?? I am sure it is an air flow problemis ithurting that I dont have a hood right now and the fan can draw air from all around the radiator?? I have a 1 3/4 space on the flex fan now and I cant get the fan any closer. I am also supposed to run a 22LBS cap on the radiator but can only find a 20 could this have something to do with it?
 
I guess that what you mean by "if I run it at all, the temp comes right down" is that the car is moving down the road. If that is the case then you do have an air flow problem. The hood being off will make the problem worse. I would build a schroud if I was you, or mod one to fit. I have used old wide plastic schrouds from Imperials, cut them to size, and pop rivited aluminum mounting brackets on the sides, with rubber underneath anywhere it contacts the radiator, and they work great. After you paint them black, no one notices that it is homemade.

210 or 215 is not to hot, but it is starting to become borderline for a street car. I feel you need at least that much temp to make good horse power at the track, but on the street, if you get stuck in traffic, it can get out of hand fast. If you have aluminum heads, you need a bit more heat because they wick heat away so fast. 225 to 230 is gettin serious.

Earl

I would put the hood on and see what happens.
 
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