The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 51 3100 w/350/350th radiator recommendations??

New to my 'bolt' and need recommendations for what I think is high coolant temp.

I have a '71 350, stock motor (approx 110lbs comp across all), 4bbl rochester with a harrison 55 stock rad, 7lb cap, and 190stat, and hayden 16" curved 10 blade ele fan on at all times. Is there a higher output fan without breaking the bank? Seems like this one may not be enough. rated at 1300cfm across typical rad.

First is 210deg too hot even at speed? I realize it's summertime but here in St Louis 95 deg days aren't at all uncommon.

Is the 55 rad enough? seen a lot of Champion rads but know nothing about them.

Let me learn from your experiances.
(dial up internet connection makes 'searches' an all day adventure).

I went through all of this with mine. It turned out that my biggest problem was a bad torque wrench on the head bolts.

A lot of people said 210 is not that hot for a 350, but it was for me. I could feel the loss of performance when it got towards 200 degrees. I got a champion 4-core, high volume water pump and a 140 thermostat. It still got too hot with the electric fan.

I finally moved the radiator forward and down to allow for a Mopar 7-blade fan on the motor and now I'm running 180 on the hottest of days and around 160 in cooler weather. It's probably that rare fan that did the trick.

In short, my advice is, if at all possible get a fan on the engine and dump the electric one.

210 is fine for the engine, however there is not much margin even with the 7# cap, the '87 camaro and firebirds ran at 230F (however with a higher pressure cap)

1300cfm is really low for air flow. you should be around 1800+ however at speed you will be getting much more air.

have your stock rad cleaned, that will most likely be the limiting issue, or have it re-cored

been thinking hard about the champion as i can see that there has been work done to my rad (solder glops at tank that look less than professional).
Glad to hear that the champion hasn't turned out to be some piece of junk i'd regret buying later. At that time moving the rad forward to make room for a mech fan seems like a good idea.
Maybe save the elect for inside the cab untill someone gives me enough for a/c... HA HA.
Think i'll save for one and start there.
If time and funds alow, my intentions are to pull this motor down come winter kinda suspect a intake vac leak and a timming set at bare min.

Stop and think about the specifications you just gave us- - - - - -"190 stat" in particular. The thermostat sets the MINUMUM temperature the cooling system runs, so no matter how efficient your radiator is, it's not going to run cooler than 190! Every time the engine tries to run cooler, the stat is going to restrict the coolant flow and bring the temperature back up. 210 isn't bad, as long as you run a 13-15 lb. radiator cap. I'm not sure your radiator will handle that much pressure, so I'd suggest dropping back to a 180 degree thermostat, and run a 7-lb. cap. The 7 lb. cap will raise the boiling point 21 degrees, to 233 at sea level, slightly lower at your altitude. That's a 50-degree spread between thermostat opening and boiling, something a good cooling system can handle with no problem. The other option is to install a higher-pressure radiator, or have yours rebuilt with a core that can run 15-20 PSI safely and use a 15-lb. cap. That will raise the boil-over temp to 257, and give you a wider safety margin. I would reccomend going to an engine-driven fan, if possible.
Jerry

thank you for the detailed explination.
Sounds like a new stat and gasket are this evenings project.
(After the temps outside finally get a bit below the almost 100 deg it is outside today- yuck! Come on Autumn.)
Thanks again.

motor sits too low to run a mech fan and rad too close to waterpump pully.

Would moving the auto trans cooler (with it's own small fan) out from in front of the rad (off to the side?)so a pusher could be installed on the bottom half of rad be a solution( the current puller is on the top half of rad)?
But then I'd have 3 fans running.. would there be an issue with that i may not have thought of?

As long as your electrical system can handle all the fans without overloading the alternator, you'd be OK with that setup. I'd suggest a progressive fan strategy, maybe running one fan at thermostat opening temp, and kicking the second one on 20 degrees above thermostat temp. (180 degrees for fan #1 and the trans cooler fan, and 200 degrees for fan #2 if necessary.) You can get thermal fan switches and relays that can be set to a wide range of "on" temperatures.
Jerry

got to thinking more about this last night and think i was just 'overthinking'.
Seems like the smartest move would be to order a 'champion 3-core' rad off e-bay. Then use a Tarus(?)2-speed elect fan (supposedly pretty high cfm).
any thoughts/recommendations?
Just can't afford to make too many mistakes right now but can't afford to overheat a good motor either(surgery might be in the wife's near future and as always pennies are short).