Thread: Chevy 496 running hot

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I have a 496 in my Camaro with a aluminum four row radiator, dual electric fans and a 160 deg thermostat. She runs at 192 with both fans on in town driving with about mid 90s outside temp. I believe the water pump is a high output pump but don't remember for sure. So thoughts about getting her to run cooler? Plus my upper radiator hose is a little bit smaller diameter due to wanting a stainless steal hose not sure if that matters so much.

Does it run cooler down the highway? If yes then it's an air flow issue, not moving enough air through the radiator core. Pusher fans (front mount) are restrictors, blocking flow through the core when moving down the road.

Assuming the fans are pullers, mounted to the engine side, are they properly shrouded, so that all of the air pushing through the front has no place to go but through/around the fans? If not a simple shroud is your first step.

A 160 stat is too low for the street, IMO. Controlled heat is your friend. It helps vaporize the fuel in your air/fuel charge, improves efficiency and performance. A 180F stat is the lowest I'd ever use, and a 195F is also a good choice. It needs to be a quality, low restriction barrel type stat, not one of the $2 specials from the box store.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it running 192F around town, and you'd be well off if it were running right about there running down the highway, too.

My $0.02

has anyone ever tried that water wetter stuff they advertise .. i`ts supposed to drop the temp 10 to 15 degrees just by adding it ...192 is no where near what is considered really hot .. as long as you dont puke water out when you turn the car off i`d say your in good shape with what you have ...

A friend ran that water wetter stuff in his flathead V8 car - it did lower the temp 5 maybe 6 degrees.

I run a 185 thermostat. When stopped at a light or stuck in traffic, it'll crawl up to 190.

Drops right back to 185 once under way. But I know my fans don't cover every square inch of the core. No sweat imo...

they are puller fans, good point about the thermostat i was thinking on changing it out with a barrel one anyway. thanks for the info

I tried the water wetter once, it did nothing.
An oil cooler with fan will pull it down 5*-10* easy.