Cooling questions...

[Pete 153624]

(Sorry for the length of my first post...)
I have a 200 with a T-5 (excellent upgrade, so far)... I'm having some problems with idling when the car gets hot (likes to stall and/or flutter at acceleration from a stop). I think I might be boiling the fuel, given the location of the carb.

I have an A/C (which gets used all the time here in Dallas), and during my morning drive have no problems. Its 20 miles to work at 90 degrees mostly highway with some stop and go.

The problems occur towards the end of the return trip (when the road temp is about 105 and traffic is a little heavier). The temp gauge climbs to about 3/4 to 7/8 of its range (never gets above 3/8 the range on the trip to work). By the time I pull off my exit near home, it usually tries to stall when I hit the clutch.

The radiator is a 3 row, and I have a shroud. However, I only have the 4 blade fan. My question is, does the six blade fan make much of a difference- or should I look into getting an electric fan?

I will have some extra money coming in next month, and am considering going to the aluminum intake from Classic Inlines (although I'm not sure how to figure out my compression ratio). I don't want to do anything before I figure out how to keep things cool under the hood, though!

Thanks,
Pete

 

[bubba22349]

My question is, does the six blade fan make much of a difference- or should I look into getting an electric fan?

The 6 blade would for sure help some in slow speed traffic. Generally if you have a major cooling problem to start with an electric fan probably won’t fix it. Yours sounds like it’s only a slight problem so possibly. They can also give you a little more power and maybe a bit better MPG. How is the flow of your radiator? Is cooling system clean i.e. rad, block & head? What’s the condition of water pump, hoses and the thermostat?

 

[Pete 153624]

Thanks- the radiator, water pump, thermostat, and hoses are relatively new. I took the cap off to see if the coolant flows once the thermostat opens, and it looked good. I'm going to try either the 6 blade or a flex fan (have heard a lot of negative and positive things about those).

The engine was rebuilt .040 over- I've been told that can create greater cooling demand. Of course, bumper to bumper in 100 degree weather with the A/C on is probably more of a culprit though! On the Vintage Mustang Forum, someone mentioned that a spacer install may eliminate my fuel boiling problem (which would at least ease the stalling when hot issue). Mainly, I just want to keep the engine cool, however...

 

[MPGmustang]

the fan can very well be the problem but check other things too. a bad Vacuum canister can cause higher heat, take the hose from the carb and blow gently to see if it can hold air (don't suck in the fumes) if not then replace it. there are two 6 blad fans, the v8 fan and the smaller i6 fan, the i6 fan will work with your shroud the v8 fan won't. I didn't have good luck with the i6 fan so went with the bigger v8 fan till i replace it wth electric. on the flex fan I don't like them but they do cool really well, main thing I don't like is the fact that one fell apart on me and caused serious dmg to my car. but I think that's the luck of the draw. the electric fan is nice but if ur getting warm only in stop-n-go then electric may be what you need. reason cause you'll pulling 100% fan cfm at idle keeping the engine cool. and you dont' need it 30mph + as it can cool itself at that speed.

good luck
Richard

 

[bmbm40]

Is it possible the aluminum head could keep the carb cooler? Looking at a picture of one the carb appears to be further away form the head, Still above the exhaust though. Maybe some aluminum head owners would have experienced this. Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread.

 

[bubba22349]

On the fixed blade fans the best would have a clutch unit. Is your fan spaced so it is half way into the shroud?

On the Vintage Mustang Forum, someone mentioned that a spacer install may eliminate my fuel boiling problem (which would at least ease the stalling when hot issue).

True there are a number of ways to do it. One way is to get a thick carb base gasket (used on the mid 1970's up engines) even better is to make or find a spacer (plastic, alum. etc). You can also add a heat shield plate (tin, alum) on top of the intake to keep heat from rising to carb, the fuel line could be insulated some too if they run close to the head or top of engine.

 

[Pete 153624]

Thanks for the advice... I went ahead and purchased the Falcon Six Cylinder Performance Handbook, which suggested bypassing the coolant flow through on the carb. So far, that seems to be working somewhat (went for a drive in the heat, and even once the engine got hot it definitely had less propensity to stall).

Also, I tried turning off the A/C and the engine cooled right back down. So, when its really hot I guess its better for me to overheat than the engine!

I guess the A/C radiator throws a bunch of heat back to the radiator (although I'm unsure whether the engine fan is pushing air into the radiator or pulling it through... if the fan is rotating clockwise when viewed from the front, it would be pushing air into the radiator from the back- have to check which way it rotates).

Yes, the fan is positioned so it splits the shroud (although the stock shroud isn't much on the 6).

 

[bubba22349]

The fan pulls the air through the rad. towards the eng.