Quote:
Originally Posted by Ccass
That is a good question. After restoring my 67 GTO, I installed a brand new Desert cooler 4 row radiator which was bigger than the original 4 row OEM that came with my car. I could not keep the car cool in traffic with the 462 stroker motor in it.
I upgraded to a dual 1" Rodney Red radiator and it ran better but I would still have to pull over if stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes.
Next upgrade was a dual 1 1/4" unit from a no name company in Michigan. $800 plus a very expensive pair of Spal fans and a custom fan shroud and Problem solved!
Last year just to be safe, we installed our SD/HO radiator kit just to see how it stacked up to my previous $1500 set up.
Same exact results. 190 all day long. I can sit in traffic for 2 hours and not get any hotter.
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first off, thanks for the informative replies & keeping this a contructive conversation as opposed to some threads that turn into bickering matches & arguments.
i'm curious what the specs of your 462 are? & why its so hard to cool? unless this is a ragged edge, ultra high compression, hard block filled, all out race engine, im confused why it runs so hot. i'm sure you have looked into the other common factors that could make it run that hot. i recall some details of your engine & it sounds like a popular combo of pretty basic parts, it should not be so difficult to keep cool.
for comparison, i have a .060 400 block stroker 467, 10.75:1 with e-heads & old faithfull cam. cliff built q-jet & ~3500 continental converter. it runs so cool its hard to get to temp in 60-70* weather, & runs right at the 180 t-stat rating in 85-90 degree temps, might creep to 190... at idle for prolonged times while tuning, city stop & go, highway, drag racing, etc.
& i use one of those "marketing gimmick" small
3 row champions! with a worn out stock clutch fan! this engine would probably cool just as well with a 4 row copper/brass radiator. im confused why many people with similar & even higher power engines dont have overheating issues, yet others with similar or less power engines do & need to buy these huge radiators with dual electric spahl fans. i realize all engines/cars are different, but its interesting why some have such a hard time with cooling pretty basic engines & some don't.
as for overheating with original copper radiators- back in the 90's, i had a 78 t/a with a mild 455, 9.5:1 6x-4 heads, comp 280 magnum cam & 3.90 gears. i was a broke teenager & had very little tuning knowledge, that car had a crappy old stock 4 row that had leaked 2 or 3 times & had solder repairs on many of the rows & all kinds of stop leak dumped into it... it was a daily driver & got raced & beat on daily & nightly... never had any overheating issues with stock clutch fan & a broken up shroud. & this was before i knew about water pump plate clearance & used a cheap no name water pump.
cooling theses cars should not be such a problem, seems most the cars i read about overheating are gto's & 1st gen firebrds or other big cars... i wonder if their radiators are not as good/big of a ddesign as 2nd gen firebirds? ive owned & built quite a few pontiac engines 2nd gen firebirds, but am just an amateur backyard mechanic & have never had the troubles i read about here. i am knocking on wood though!