The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 52 1/2 ton cant keep her cool

I have searched with no results, maybe someone can help.Trying to resolve an overheating issue on a 1952 1/2 ton stock 350 w700r4,vintage a/c,desert cool radiator,shroud,4 blade fan with pusher in the front and the list goes on.Can not keep under 210 @ idle and keeps climbing,2nd engine I give up.As long as you don't stop it is fine.What is the trick to keep this girl cool or is this normal for the application.Help fellow stovebolters

Have you tried a different therm.? About 1 in 5 new therms. arn,t any good. Could your pusher fan be blocking the rad.? Is it comeing on at about 200 degrees? Do you have enough clearance for for a flex fan? I take it the radiator core is clean.

61suburban,

From the stuff you have listed cooling wise, it seems you should have no problems. I ran a 350/350 combo in my '51 with the stock radiator, turbocharger and five blade Flex-fan (no shroud) with 180&deg thermostat and never had a problem.

Was the pusher fan added to help solve a problem? Have you tried driving with the whole assembly out of the way.

If the radiator is properly sized for that engine, the system is clean, not blocked or plugged, and the engine doesn't have a mechanical problem that generates mass amounts of excess heat, you should have no overheating problems.

Have you verified your gauge temp with a actual probe in the radiator fill...is the gauge correct.

With a good fan positioned close to the radiator and a shroud, you shouldn't need the electric setup. My thought would be that maybe this is blocking the normal flow of air.

Are you running a 180&deg thermostat? Does the radiator share the cooling load for the transmission?

My guess is you have addressed all these points and still no soap. This engine/transmission combination works well in these old AD's and there are millions of them around, all working and cooling well.

Keep looking, it's probably something obvious.

Stuart

We have tried 2 differerent 160 and 2-180's.The radiator is new and has been reflow tested .The fan is coming on at the correct temp.and we currently have a 6 blade flex fan with out the pusher and dropped the radiator an additional 2".The upper and lower shrouds are both in place.We have also tried a HV water pump .Everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown at it.How is everyone else keeping one cooled? A local hot rod shop says he never sees one that runs under 200-205 degrees.

61suburban,

Mine ran near the thermostat temp...180&deg. I look at this from a very simple standpoint, if there is nothing mechanically wrong with the engine/tranny, then you should be able to spec a radiator that will cool the system, it's that simple.

The engine makes the heat and the radiator dumps the heat. If the system isn't controllable with thermostats, then the radiator isn't capable of dumping all the heat generated.

I know this doesn't answer your questions, but I think this is how the problem needs to be looked at.

That engine probably didn't overheat in its original application, why would this happen in a truck with a huge grill opening, and giant engine compartment?

Stuart

Did you verify the actual temperature with a digital thermometer? Maybe your guage is off. I have a 350 in my 48 1 1/2 ton. I plow snow with a 6 ton load of gravel on the back with a stock radiator with a mechanical fan and it never gets over 160 degrees (unless I drive down the road with the plow too high). If it's truely over heating, it's got a blockage somewhere,
Scott

The gauge has been changed due to not reading correctly and the underhood air temp reads 180 degrees when the engine is running 220 degrees.Several stats have been thrown at it as well,overflow bottle added,and air darn under the radiator.Something I did'nt mention is it has a nova clip so the motor may set a little lower then the original which I never saw.I came into this after the mess was started.

61 suburban,

I think something is funky with the radiator. I have no idea what that could be, but it's the big cheese in the equation. If this is the same radiator but the second engine, and the heating problem remains I sure would question radiator.

Stuart

New update:
Working on removing the condensor and see if it has caused a restriction.Should know something in the next couple of days.

What is the condenser?

Stuart

The Vintage Air a/c condensor in front of the radiator.

Sorry about the wait ,this is what we did
-removed the a/c condensor ,added dual pusher fans between the radiator and the condensor
-results are not as hot but still will climb to 205 after long idle periods.It doesn't boil over like before but it seems warm for the winter in the garage .What's it going to do come summer???
Any more ideas

61 Sub
This is just a thought after reading what you've done to try to cool this motor down. Maybe the motor is making to much heat.
I had a 66 Tempest 400ci once that drove me nuts trying figure out why it would overheat, but only did it in slow traffic or long idle periods.
Turned out to be a very small leak in a head gasket which did not affect performance,nothing showed up on the plugs.It ran just fine but got hot.
The problem was found by sticking this device on the radiator fill hole and it could detect the presence of exhaust gases in the cooling system.
Now I'm not saying this is your problem, but I would look at the idea of too much heat cause it sure seems you've done a lot to cool it down and its not hot out either.
Dan

just a thought but what about the water pump? I know you said two different motors but was the same pump re-used?

This is a different engine and we have tried a standard pump and currenty it has a HV water pump installed.No exhaust gases detected .