How hot does your small block run?

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T67POWER

T67POWER

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Just wondering how hot your small block run's?

My 360 stays around 180 to 190.

My 318 on the other hand seems like it's getting a little hot.
By the looks of the stock temp gauge, it's running warm if it get's in the 80's outside.
I will check it with a temp. lazer the next time it get's hot outside.
I know i need a shroud on my radiator and it would most likely solve any over heating problems.
What is your car running at, on a hot day? THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY'Sangry9:
 
well it just depends if it's a race or and everyday motor.A daily motor should run 195-200* for it to run efficient.A race motor it depends on the racer where they what it to be.My race motor I stage at 170* to keep it consistant and my daily driver runs 195-200.
 
You nailed it, a shroud will help. Before I got a shroud, I was overheating on hot 95+ degree summer days. Now, I am between 195-200.
 
The 318 in my dart ususally runs about 180-185 while cruising around town and down the highway. The only time it starts getting hot is when I have to go over the mountain in the thin air. Elevation gets up around 7,500' and the temp gets up around 210. I am running a 3.89 gear set so I am turning about 3,000 rpm at 65 mph. I am running a stock radiator with a 2,600 cfm proform electric fan. That thing moves some air, but the gear is killing me on the highway.
 
I went to my friend's today,to look at his car and he had a shroud for my cuda in the shed.
Here's to running cooler.:drinkers::drinkers:
 
My 360 runs no more than 190 on a 90 degree day putting around in traffic. Just a stock radiator with a shroud and a viscous fan. When I got the car it had 4:10's in it and didn't even run hot then. Definetly check your temp with a laser thermometer. When I first fired my car up I thought it was running hot but I found the gauge was way off even with a new sender. I played with resistors in line with the sender and got it calibrated so I know where 180 is on the temp gauge.
 
all I have is the rallye dash guage

when there is air flow like crusing on the freeway it sits at around half

idling at the light or in slow traffic it creeps up to about 3/4

I am not running a shroud

is this too hot???

it is a 340 car with a 4 speed
 
justcuz said:
all I have is the rallye dash guage

when there is air flow like crusing on the freeway it sits at around half

idling at the light or in slow traffic it creeps up to about 3/4

I am not running a shroud

is this too hot???

it is a 340 car with a 4 speed
Click to expand...

You can't go by the gauges in these cars they are notoriously inaccurate. Put a meat or candy themometer (make sure you wash it real well before sneaking it back into the house) in the top tank and get a reading and compare it to the gauge when it's up to temperature. That will give you a reference point.

My 360 runs right in the middle of the rally gauge movement whether it's 20 degrees or 100 degrees, might creep up 1/2 a needle width idling in traffic on a 100 degree day. I have a stock 22" Heavy Duty radiator, viscous fan and shroud with a 185 t-stat.
 
My Cuda runs ~180°F for the first 15 minutes or so, then it starts to creep up over 200-210°F if I have to sit in traffic too long. This is with a 22" Be Cool radiator and electric fan (un-shrouded). I picked up a HHR fan this winter that I need to install…I think it will help quite a bit.
 
What is it about this HHR fan that is so good? I have never seen one. Anyone have a pic?

Has anyone tried the dodge viper fan?
Good stuff!
 
I'm running between 190-200, sometimes it can go a bit higher...I also need a thicker radiator though...
 
The temperature gauge on my dart moves to more than half on any day over 80 degrees while in traffic.

The gauge has the letters TEMP on it.

I was worried at first, but when I put a laser temp gun on it, I found that even when the needle was between the "M" and "P", it was only running at 205 degrees.

I doesn't go much beyond that even on the hottest day. Still no fan shroud yet, but I'm working on it.
 
I checked my 318 with the temp lazer and it was 175 to 195 on average.
Some spots are hooter then others on the motor but i did not really see anything hotter then 200.
My dash gauge reads a little high i guess.
My shroud helped a little.
I am running 36 total timing at the moment,but i might drop it to 34 to cool her off when it gets really hot out.
 
T67POWER said:
I checked my 318 with the temp lazer and it was 175 to 195 on average.
Some spots are hooter then others on the motor but i did not really see anything hotter then 200.
My dash gauge reads a little high i guess.
My shroud helped a little.
I am running 36 total timing at the moment,but i might drop it to 34 to cool her off when it gets really hot out.
Click to expand...

Sounds fine to me. I've seen a lot of dash gauges off like that.
 
What's your fan set-up (how many blades, what's the diameter, how far from the radiator is it)? When I first got my 64 Dart, it was overheating. It had a five blade, 13" radiator fan that was a good 2 inches from the radiator. I switched to a six blade 17" fan, and got a spacer that put me less than a 1/2" from the radiator. That made a huge difference. It still starts to creep up in traffic on warm days, so I just got a shroud to install. I might add water wetter just to be safe, but most people say you don't need it if the rest of your cooling system is working as it should. I guess we won't really know until August! Good luck.
 
I installed the shroud and it helped a little.
The real test was the last few days in the 90's and being on the highway.
I checked it after getting off the highway and my temp lazer gun said 195 and then it moved up to 205 sitting in park running.
At one point by the looks of the gauge it hit about 210.
This was right after running it a little harder on a good stretch of road.
The stock gauge is 195 at the next to last line on my dash ,and about 205 at the last line.
Oh well,it's a little warm for me but did not over heat.
I always liked my cars to run no higher then 190 to 195.
 
In my 360 I get 180 operating temp, 190 on very hott, hott days while sitting at long red lights, but I have a backup pusher fan that I click on during those times and it seems to bring it down a bit.
I installed a catch can to avoid embarrasing moments while pulling into shows on very hot days.

I tried purple ice, no improvement.
I tried water wetter, no improvement.

My fan shroud made an improvement and keeps me at 180 at operating temp, but before I had the shroud I was climbing to 190 most of the time and darn near boiling over at long idle situations on very hot days.

I am using a slant six fan shroud and a cheapo auto parts store fan blade.

I wonder if I would get any improvement with a chrysler fan and viscous clutch.
 
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