Thread: Nothin' fell off ..........yet

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Well I have put 119 miles on my truck over the last 3 days and nothing has fallen off, yet. I have a little pinion seal leak but thats all the leaks. But it gets hot!!!!!!!! This has been one of my concerns, with this cut down radiator. I added a automatic trans cooler to act as a heater core but it still isn't enough.
At 60 mph it runs at 160 degrees, but on side streets it will just keep going up, it went to 230. I wanted to see if at some point it would become efficient but no soap it kept going. So this tells me I just don't have enough air flow at the lower speeds.I am thinking of adding an electric fan in front of my mechanical fan and run it off of a thermostat to kick on at 180. On the freeway when I have enough air flow the mechanical fan will just pull threw as the electric fan will be free wheeling. I just don't want to give up the look of the mechanical fan.
Has any one tried this?

Yup, I had an electric on one of my Mustangs a couple years back along with the mechanical.... I used it in town cruizin' on a hot day, or for a little extra air flow after a hard pass. Had it on a thermostat with a manual override switch, worked great....

How about changing the pulley size and speeding up the mechanical fan?

BTW, finally got my Street Rodder, nice article.

I know you are in love with that mechanical fan, and lots of people won't go to electric, but I bet if you put a good fan, like a Spal on there with an aluminum shroud, your problem will disappear.

I realize there are two camps on this subject, and I have moved over to the electric side for two reasons: Better cooling, and safer. While I am pretty much a traditionalist, I also want to be able to drive my rods with no worries. Same reason I run an alternator rather than a generator. But, that is just my opinion.

Don

Ken, I think Bob is on to something with "increasing the fan speed". But, I'd bet that it has more to do with the coolant exchange speed than anything else. Increasing the ratio of the water pump will increase the fan speed and also increase the coolant speed as long as you have an efficient water pump. You could also increase the number of blades on the fan to increase air flow say from a four to a five, six, or seven blade fan. Looks to me like you already have a nice shroud.

On my High Boy, I have very little air flow with a solid hood and hood sides without any louvers. I had a cooling problem when I first got it on the road and traced it to an inferior quality "Imported" aluminum waterpump that had the impeller mounted about 1/2" from the pump body and it drove me crazy trying to diagnose the heating problem. Now I never run the electric fan unless I get stuck in standing traffic.

I am running stock fan plus a electric pusher in front of the radiator on a thermostat set at 180. No problems, but I am still a little nervous when I get in town traffic on a hot and humid day, but it has not overheated, yet.
Nice article in Street Rodder.

Jack