Radiator Q's/Runnin' Hot

[MercuryMarc]

After a near meltdown at Hot August Nights, I installed a 2 row aluminum radiator, tranny cooler, and 14 inch pusher fan on my 63 Comet with a '69 200 ci/C4 tranny. Around town (San Francisco Bay Area) without the fan on I can get the temp to 60% of the guage, and idling for 15 minutes (fan off) I can get the temp to 80%. Starting from 80% with the car still idling in my driveway I can get the temp back down to 60% of the guage. Other info.... 7 lb rad cap and 180 degree thermostat.

I have not tried driving around town or idling with the fan on since I am trying to see if I can get my car cooled down once it gets hot.

I would have thought I could cool the car down to below 50% of the guage when I switched the fan on after 10 minutes. I wonder if I have unrealistic expectations, and if I should see what the temp is idling with the fan ON to prevent overheating. Or maybe I should be satisfied?

Sorry for the long post - any input appreciated!

Marc

 

[rbohm]

8) first unless the rad manufacturer recomended it, the rad cap pressure should be more like 13psi. next check the fin count and make sure you have 16 cooling fins per inch. third check the airflow rating on the fan you installed. for a six it should be around 2200 cfm. if it is lower than that that will be part of the problem. as will have less than 16 cooling fins per inch.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe 60% on your gauge is 180d. Theoretically once the engine has reached the temp that the thermostat is set at it should not fall below it because the thermostat will close and the temp will go up. If the cooloing system is working right I don't think you should expect the temp to fall below the thermostat setting.

Hope I'm right.

 

[x21]

Another issue you can think about is your cooolant/water mix. I realized almost too late that almost 100% antifreeze is worse for keeping the engine cooler.

 

[MercuryMarc]

Yikes. The fan I have is rated at 1350 CFM as a puller and have it set as a pusher which may cut the flow 20% I am told. It is 14 inches - can't install a larger diameter - but maybe a more powerful fan would help. Changing to a rad cap with a higher PSI rating would be the easiest modification so I'll try that. Because of the moderate climate in San Francisco the NAPA people say it's only necessecary to add on gallon of antifreeze (for the rust inhibitor properties) and the rest water - that's what I did.

 

[CobraSix]

Get a mechanical gauge and check temperature that way. The gauge reading will depend on the sending unit and you dash voltage regulator. Same engine, different TSU's gave me a wide range of readings on the gauge, but the same on the mechanical unit.

Slade

 

[MercuryMarc]

Slade - Thanks. Do you mean I should get a under dash unit with an actual temp measurement? I have one for my alternator (an underdash volmeter in a nice chrome bezel) so I could mount the two together. Or do you mean some other sort of testing device.

Dick- Thanks. I could then see if I am dropping below my themostat rating.

Thanks-
Marc in SF

 

[CobraSix]

Marc,

Yeah...once of those that has no electrical inputs other then for lights. I never mounted mine since I'm keeping a stock appearance. I just ran it through to the interior temporarily. But definitely check one of those. It will give you a more reliable answer then guessing what the gauge is trying to tell you. Heck, my gauge doesn't even work now since I hooked it up accidently to my coil.

Slade

 

[Anonymous]

What a lot of people don't relise is pure antifreeze is a poor coolent, the higher boiling temp does little compared to the few BTUs it can carry away compaired to water.
So, use a water temp guage that reads in degrees.
Don't run any more antifreeze than you need to.
Iffn your stuck at a long light shifting to park will lessen the work load
and that should make it cooler too.
Try some Red Line water wetter if your still running hot
Im far enough north I have to run 50/50 in the winter time as we get down to 20 below.

 

[Anonymous]

I looked at the pic's on your web site and it appears you could change the tranny cooler to behind the rad freeing up room on the front for a bigger fan or duals..I see that you had an engine fan. Was it adding the 3 core that caused you to lose space? I cannot fit a fan behind mine due to the double pulley setup. My current plan is to get Griffin to build a rad, they quoted $350, that is 15" high and 25" wide so that I can place it between the frame elements and fit dual electric behind. I have to have a/c in South Georgia, so I'll be fitting a condensor and tranny cooler too. I now have a pusher on it and find that it blocks about as much air as it pushes.