Fan choices?

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doogievlg

doogievlg

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Now that deer season is wrapping up I am shifting focus to my dart. Last summer the car would get up around 190 but never overheated. This year I am going to try to make some modifications to knock it down a little. My question is what is everyone running for a fan. Right now I currently have the factory fan with a clutch but I was thinking of switching to the clutchless "performance" fan or possibly an electric fan set up. A shroud is another option but I have not been able to track one down for my radiator which is 27".

All other cooling aspects are operating as they should and my timing is at 16 initial and 36 on a .30 over small block with aluminum heads on pump gas.
 
mopowers said:
Why fix what's not broken? 190 degrees is far from hot.
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That is what my gauge was reading. I want to get a temp gun from work and get a real number on it. The engine compartment is warmer than normal but like I said the car has never puked fluid.
 
I would see if the car is actually overheating before spending any money on fixing a problem that may not even exist. Grab the temp gun from work and see if your gauge is accurate.
 
If your running a 190' thermostat a larger or 'better' fan will not make it run any cooler.
Yote
 
190 F gives better efficiency and power, assuming the inlet air is still cool. It doesn't indicate a cooling issue, indeed if it holds steady the T-stat is not full-open, so you may have much more head-room. Many install a lower T-stat thinking that will avoid over-heating, but has no such effect and makes the engine run too cool and thus metal parts to wear faster. If you aren't boiling over, you have no problems.
 
As Bill says,i think 190 is about ideal to operate at unless you have detonation issues.
i tried 3 different fans on my own car this summer out of curiosity.A brand new Mopar performance fan and fan clutch ran 192 consistently and would hit 200 very quickly at the lights on hot days.An original mopar 7 blade fixed fan ran also 192 and would also hit 200 in heat at the lights,but took quite a while to get there.The last one is an 80's mopar flex fan.It runs 190 and has not hit 200 in traffic but comes close.
I think aluminum melts around 1200 or 1400 degrees but a lot of guys panic at 200 - 210.
 
Factory clutch fan and running 190. Sounds like the perfect combo to me.

We have a bunch of people on here that go messing with a perfectly functioning cooling system, only to end up creating a "why is my car running hot?" Thread.

Don't be one of those guys.
 
Don't you want the oil hot enough so that any moisture (the result of the combustion process) is boiled/vaporized and leaves the engine?

I am running a fixed fan, no shroud and 180* thermostat. I would have purchased a 190* thermostat if they had them in stock when I bought it.

I will be going with a larger radiator when I drop in the 400/470. But that is a couple years down the road. Suspension brakes and driveline first, engine last.
 
I would also recommend staying with the simple mechanical system that works... unless you really miss that 10 hp or so at the high end of your power curve.

I did not have room for any mechanical fan in front of my 451, even the new "shorty" Hayden fan clutch would have put the bolts less than 3/8" from the core of my 26" copper/brass rad. So I'm running a Contour fan, which is still a tight fit. Seems to be working fine so far, and the motor plate won't allow the pulley bolts to hit the plastic.

Dart%20Fan_zpsdb6fcexm.jpg
 
When I bought my car the previous owner installed an aluminum radiator and just a single 14" electric fan, no shroud and a 180* thermostat. It'd stay 190 to 200 if I was moving but as soon as I'd slow down for stop signs or traffic it'd get up as high as 220 or so. I put in a 160* thermostat and it help quite a bit but that was just a bandaid. Obviously not having a shroud was the biggest culprit to why I would get over 200* consistently. I say if you can stay in that 190* to 200* and the temp gun confirms that you should be good. At least with my limited knowledge.
 
212' is the boiling point of water at sea level. A working pressure cap and antifreeze will raise the boiling point. I am not sure how much, maybe someone else knows that.
Yote
 
8157270-watervspressureBoilingPoint.jpg
Yote said:
212' is the boiling point of water at sea level. A working pressure cap and antifreeze will raise the boiling point. I am not sure how much, maybe someone else knows that.
Yote
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The cap increases the boiling point much much more than the anti freeze.

50/50 anti freeze raises it 13 degrees. A 16 lb cap raises it 48 degrees
 
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