Overheating crisis

[kcederwall08]

Well, I traded in the puller fan, for a pusher of the same size, and installed it. I took it out for a drive today, and it was pretty hot(at least 95 outside), and the car did much better. I drove for about 20 minutes or so in downtown traffic, and the temp never went above about 195 or 200 degrees. I also took it on the freeway, and it stayed about the same, but about 3 minutes after I came off the freeway the temp got up to about 220. This isn't "too hot", but I was expecting a little better. Overall I think I have nearly resolved the issue, but maybe the carb still needs a bit of tuning.

Thanks for the offer on the fan shroud but for now I don't think I'll need it since its running better.

[b5blue]

Keep in mind "at speed" air is flowing through there nicely, my 440 will run all day at 60-70mph at 180*. Good luck sounds like your doing allot better 

[AmadeusCharger500]

Just addin my 2cents cuz I've also been dealing with this for about 2 years. Car ran fine until I did somethin or other and now it runs hot in traffic. Barring the serious things like hairline crack in the block I think there could be lots of factors contributing to an overheating engine. One thing I am always curious about is Hose restriction. On mine I found the lower rad hose was kinked up against the k-frame about 1/4 inch. Fixed that didn't help (although I thought for sure that would have been it). But it made me start to wonder about all the surface areas the water has to shoot through at high pressure and I assmume the more friction areas their are the more heat is built up. So my point is check your Hoses, (If you have an afermarket ribbed uppper hose you might want to think about replacing it). You've probably done this but I've found that being reminded about simple things can help sometimes.

[kcederwall08]

I completely agree with you, and there could be many factors contributing to this. I don't think I have a spring in the lower rad hose, but I am going to replace it shortly when I do my oil cooler setup. I checked the bottom hose for any bends when it was hot, and it didn't have any major ones, but the oil filter I have does hit the hose a bit. I also have just a replacement rubber hose on the top side, which I don't think is ribbed.

I am also going to see If i can get some headers that will block off the exhaust gas crossover ports. I also think that my heat riser valve is bad in my stock manifolds now, so that also may be a contributing issue, not to mention they are for a 2bbl 383, and they keep giving me exhaust leaks.

[2Gunz]

You should try to rig the fan to go off at highway speeds.
Once you get up to a decent speed the pusher fan I suspect will actually inhibit airflow.

I live in LA its HOT and traffic sucks.
My mostly stock 440 always ran warm and in traffic it would slowly creep up to the 250ish mark.
I went from a stock 4 core to a cheap aluminum radiator and it NEVER goes above 185ish.
No other mods needed.

[2Gunz]

As far as the fan shroud it should always be used in a stock setup.

But in an electric fan setup there isnt much point.
And it might actually hurt the fans performance.