Superbird (stock 440 w/manifolds) ~ Under hood temps

[PettyMower]

I purchased my 'Bird in 1986, installed a large thermostat-controlled fan, and drove it a lot until the early 90's.

I now plan on driving it more often, and have removed the fan. Are there any tricks to keeping the under-hood (and engine) temps to a reasonable level? It really seems to hold a lot of heat in the engine compartment.

Thanks,
Jay

[hemi68charger]

Good question... I'm waiting on this thread to come up with great ideas..... Down here in the South, my Daytona gets real warm under the hood as well... May be the nature of the beast...

[ACUDANUT]

"a large thermostat-controlled fan"  ?
Never heard of one. 

[PettyMower]

"a large thermostat-controlled fan"  ?
Never heard of one. 

I forgot the word "electric".

"a large thermostat-controlled ELECTRIC fan"

[thehemikid]

 For clarity,...I assume by the removing of the E-fan your going back to oem fan & shroud?

And looking for any & all tips from there?

[A383Wing]

I use the non-thermal fan clutch (without spring in front) and a 6 or 7 blade fan....plus I have a 2 row aluminum rad in the Daytona....no issues even with sitting in traffic.....I do have an electric fan in front of radiator in the nosecone, have not had to use it since changing of fan and clutch

the fan and clutch on the right is what I went to..draws more air through radiator at idle than the one with spring, and disengages at higher RPM when you are going down the road at speed because it's not needed

[A383Wing]

Didn't the Daytona's have large holes cut into the fenders for heat extraction? (or was is just for tire clearance??)

[PettyMower]

For clarity,...I assume by the removing of the E-fan your going back to oem fan & shroud?

And looking for any & all tips from there?

When purchased, it came with a pair of extra fans if I wanted to experiment. For many years, it's had a 7-blade like the one in A383Wing's pic.  The electric fan was in addition to the 7-blade fan and was mounted on the front of the radiator.

[nascarxx29]

  :Twocents:Another thing you may notice due to underhood temp is steering column gets hot to the touch inside

[Highbanked Hauler]

  :Twocents:Another thing you may notice due to underhood temp is steering column gets hot to the touch inside

     The 500 has melted the plastic on the side of the  steering column closest to the manifold so they all get hot.

[nascarxx29]

Seen some fixes for e bodie hot steering columns.Sure b bodies have same issues http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=77694.0

[SBBob]

Early on I had cooling problems also.  Did a flush to the motor (twice) then went and had a 5 core radiator made using the original top and bottom.  Now with the 7 blade fan, clutch and good shroud she runs a lot cooler, but still warm when you open the hood.  Running a 195 thermostat.

[PettyMower]

Well thanks for all the information. Glad to hear it's not just mine.

[Bob T]

  :Twocents:Another thing you may notice due to underhood temp is steering column gets hot to the touch inside

     The 500 has melted the plastic on the side of the  steering column closest to the manifold so they all get hot.

Same on my R/T with Headers by Doug

[moparstuart]

i tried everything bigger aluminum radiator ,  different water pumps ,  a single electric fan in the nose
 nothing helped untill i found the 97-01 caddy Catera  dual fan set up in my nose they were 20 bucks at the pick and pull (cheap and easy to find as the Catera had horrible motors that blew head gaskets so they are in all the junk yards )  .  ,  they fit perfect and
they have a great schroud with a foam cussion seal the pushed right up and seals to the radiator . And these babys push some air . They sound like a jet engine on start up . I just put them on a toggle switch in the console so i can turn them on when i need them , the two seperate fans fit together and go up in the nose perfectly , cover the front of the radiator and push tons of fresh air into the engine compartment .  

[boss429kiwi]

Yes, the engine bay gets very hot, but I have never had any overheating issues (Superbird 440/6), in fact, it gets no where near overheating (everything stock, engine, fan, radiator etc).
There is plenty of space in the Bird engine bay. Unlike my 428CJ Mustang. Big engine, very small engine bay = runs HOT! 

[ACUDANUT]

  It would seem logical that a cone nosed car would suffer from not enough air going into them (unless your racing, with a constant air flow) There just ain't a lot of room for air to cool a engine in the city traffic.

[Dave Kanofsky]

Depending how strict you are about originality, I understand that pulling the rear hood seal off lets the engine compartment breath a little better.

Also be sure you are running the chin spoiler as it should help pull air out of the engine compartment as you drive.

[ACUDANUT]

Key word here is, "as you drive", meaning moving and getting air.   

[moparstuart]

i dug up better pictures  , this is the first single pusher i put on , it did help but not enough

[moparstuart]

the seal if fantastic on these which forces tons of air into the radiator

[ws23rt]

I use the non-thermal fan clutch (without spring in front) and a 6 or 7 blade fan....plus I have a 2 row aluminum rad in the Daytona....no issues even with sitting in traffic.....I do have an electric fan in front of radiator in the nosecone, have not had to use it since changing of fan and clutch

the fan and clutch on the right is what I went to..draws more air through radiator at idle than the one with spring, and disengages at higher RPM when you are going down the road at speed because it's not needed

I agree with this and it works for me wherever I go.  However I only have experience with stock engines and don't live where the temps. get high very often.  Also no experience with the areo cars front end issues.

One thing I do know is that heat comes from the combustion of fuel.  The engines we play with tend to do that and would much rather be on the freeway --like me--than in stop and go traffic.

[PettyMower]

I was really hoping to get away from having an electric fan(s) (in addition to the stock fan).

Thirty-years ago, there was a lot of debate on whether to run a thermostat or not. Some claimed the increased flow without, helped keep things cool. Others claimed that removing the t-stat, the flow would be too fast, not allowing the coolant to remain in the radiator long enough to be cooled.

Back then I tried with & without but don't remember any differences in the warmest temp.  But that's been so many years ago, and I don't remember what temp. thermostat I experimented with.

[talkiemopar]

I run a 160 thermostat in my 4 speed bird, and do just fine.  Rick.   

[moparstuart]

I run a 160 thermostat in my 4 speed bird, and do just fine.  Rick.   

4 speed cars will always run cool , from my experience