Water Temp Problems

[donsrods]

Good, looks like you are getting some results. One thing I would suggest is to buy one of those Mr Gasket radiator caps with the thermometer in the top. My dash gauge reads 20 degrees hotter than my Mr. G cap and also my infared gun. I installed the Mr G cap to find out what the actual temp is, and I find it more accurate than the dash gauge.

Also, Chevy engines seem to be fussy about where your sender is installed. When I had my 23 with a 350 I first installed the sender at the back of the intake, and it read a max temp of 120. I moved it to the thermostat area and it jumped up to 150. Then I went to a 192 degree thermostat and it went up to 170, which is still too cold for good efficiency. I started getting carbon on the valves because the gas wouldn't burn off all the way, and I had to pull the heads and clean the valves.

If you can get an infared gun try it and see what temps you get on various areas on the block. The hottest area seems to always be the water passage right at the front of the intake. Or, you could go to Advance Auto and buy a Mr Gasket cap for about $20 and see how that reads for you. You might be thinking you are running hot and really not be.

I used to like my cars to stay at 180, but am learning that 210 is not all that bad. My daily driver runs at 206-212 and I took it back to the dealer, thinking it was running hot, and they told me that is where it is designed to run. Live and learn.

Don

 

[old28]

Rattler -- Old dudes got lots of knowledge to share. That's what we do.

rainman -- You got that right and when you start at 95-100 deg it don't take but a few min to get to 180.

donrods -- Don, I think I will try to pickup one of those caps tomorrow. I have a mechanical water temp and it is in the front top of the intake left side by the top hose. Tomorrow I will remove electric fan and test it again with the thermostat still out, like to make one change at a time. Then I will put a 165 or 180 back in and try it again to see if the restriction in flow helps, I like to make one change at a time. Comes from years of setting injectors on my altered drag car.

Also Don any idea what I could use to replace the small hole peace that is in the grill at this time? Because of the layout I can't even cut out a group of say 3" holes in the existing peace.

I'll let you guys know the results. Thanks for all the help.

 

[King Herald]

Lives in Cali, says he doesn't really need one. If I didn't need it I wouldn't run it either!! Just one more thing to go wrong!

But I agree, if I ran one it would probably be a 180, and not a 160, the engine will perform better at that temp!!

On cooler evenings and cloudy days your motor will never get up to operating temp, or will take forever to do it. Where I live in the Philippines it gets every bit as hot as Cali, and my Nova rarely got much above 160 when I tried running it without a 'stat.

A motor is more efficient the hotter it is, and in reality 220 degrees is not actually over heating.

 

[rainman]

On cooler evenings and cloudy days your motor will never get up to operating temp, or will take forever to do it. Where I live in the Philippines it gets every bit as hot as Cali, and my Nova rarely got much above 160 when I tried running it without a 'stat.

A motor is more efficient the hotter it is, and in reality 220 degrees is not actually over heating.

Depends on the system!!!

 

[old28]

Well guys I just got back from a 45 min test drive and things went real well.[cl

First off this morning I removed the electric fan from the front of the radiator and cut out the screen I had welded into the old Dodge radiator cover. I remounted the cover and installed my 165 thermostat after testing it in hot water to make sure it opened at the 165 setting.

I went for a 35 min test ride same as yesterday with both stop/go and open road. Remember my gauge reads about 14deg higher than the accusal temp.
the highest reading was 210deg (actual 195) and it stayed there for the last 15 min of the test. Outside temp today is 97deg.

Don (donrods) -- I was not able to get to the parts house yet, but I am going to pickup one of those caps.

 

[old28]

Well guys I think we have solved my overheating problem. As a final setup I put back the 165deg thermostat and will run it that that way for the rest of the summer as the motor gets up to 175-185 in 5 min of driving. May change it this winter to 180, we will see.

The big problem was the screen on the front, with it removed and the electric fan taken off the motor is running in the temp range I want.[cl

Thanks again to all for the help!!!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again this is one great place to get information and help.[cl

Tom

 

[donsrods]

COOL!!!!! (Literally [cl) Glad to see you got it under control.

As for the mesh in front, as long as it has lots of bigger holes in it, you should be able to put some sort of decorative screen up there. Maybe yours was just too restrictive with too small of holes. Try hitting up a hardware store and see what kind of decorative stuff they have for screen doors and stuff like that..........expanded metal I think it is called.

Don

 

[King Herald]

COOL!!!!! (Literally [cl) Glad to see you got it under control.

As for the mesh in front, as long as it has lots of bigger holes in it, you should be able to put some sort of decorative screen up there. Maybe yours was just too restrictive with too small of holes. Try hitting up a hardware store and see what kind of decorative stuff they have for screen doors and stuff like that..........expanded metal I think it is called.

Don

That's the odd thing with most modern cars; they don't appear to have any sort of aperture at the front to let air in. [S

I assume the most of it gets sucked in from underneath the front of the car.

 

[old28]

donsrods -- Don, thanks for all the help. Now that I have the cover back on it looks fine without the screen. I touched up the paint and the radiator core and tanks are gloss black. I think I will run it like this for a while.

King Herald -- I totally agree.

 

[donsrods]

Happy motoring !! [cl

Don

 

[dmw56]

For perforated metal and screens check this site.
http://www.mcnichols.com/viewer.htm

 

[old28]

dmw56 -- I checked out the site and I was able to find the perforated metal that I was using when this all started.

It was what they call round hole perforated (1/2" holes with a stagger pattern. This has an open area of only 48% and that means I only had that much of the core open to direct air flow. No wonder you guys don't like that type of material restricting the air flow.

They do have a hexagonal pattern with 1/2" holes that has an 80% open area.
I am going to see if I can find some locally to save on shipping. I am really not sure I want to put anything back in for the time being, but we will see.

Thanks guys, you really call it right.