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352 engine, I know these have always run hot, but it is 110 degrees here, and it is all I have to drive. Any tips? the heater core is disconnected, so I cannot run the heater**)
This car also does not have the extra coolant tank under the hood. I have a solid fan clutch and the original fan, no flex fan.
how hot does it run?
I got home and parked it after a 15 min drive on the highway , it got up to 210 at low speed and still seemed to be climbing. I have a brand new set of sun gauges on it.
earlier when I parked it to get fuel it overflowed coolant, as i expected it would.
Unfortunetly when ambient air temps get that hot , it is hard for a 200 deg motor to be cooled by 110 deg air. Shrouding the fan is one way to pull max air into the radiator.
When you shut the motor off it will push coolant into the expansion tank. That's why you have one. The coolant being under pressure needs a place to go due to the cap opening and releasing the pressure.
210 even 220 is not hot for the air temps you are driving in. Motors will get hot when there isn't enough air flow on the radiator.Sitting in traffic or just slow driving will cause temps to rise on a hot day. As long as the motor temps come down when you are out on the road at speed, it will be fine.
My memory is questioning if this car was equipped with the expansion tank and re-reading the original post he says he does NOT have the tank. In my Mustang we wouldn't fill to the top the radiator to allow for expansion. Also, if it burped any after shutdown, I didn't worry about it, it was normal when it was really hot out. If you'd like to. You could add an expansion tank and get the proper cap to allow it's use. It helps to keep the radiator full!
I'd question if your radiator core isn't slightly plugged up. But, 110 ambient is certainly not going to help cool that car! When was it last flushed out? (The radiator) maybe it has never been serviced and now it's just not as efficient!?!?! Also adding a shroud is certainly cheap insurance to ensure optimal airflow THROUGH the radiator.. hth..
If it didn't have an expansion/overflow tank then it would just puke it on the ground. Downside of not having one is when it pukes, the coolant you lose......you lose. If there is an overflow then the coolant will be returned to the radiator which in turn will keep the radiator full.
If you don't have an expansion tank, then adjusting the level in the radiator to keep the expansion within the radiator is what needs be done.
advance the timing a little and see if it makes a difference.
The guys discussed about the proper way to hook up your sungages before on here, so you get the proper temp reading.
Deppending on how or where you hook it up, you will get differant temp readings.
Also in my old cars I like to run the water regulators instead of water thermistates.
You can get them from alot of speed shops or order them from summit.
You'll get about 3 or 4 to a pack of differant sizes which are differant temps.
It just slows down the water to allow it to cool but never stops the water flow like thermistates do.
They have always worked very well in my old fords.
Kurt
I had to put a coolant recovery tank on my 65 country squire since I was always loosing coolant even though it was not running hot,I think all the new radiator caps are designed for a coolant recovery system and do not work properly with a system without one. I will have to do the same with my 65 custom 500 as its doing the same.