I have a 32 Sedan with a 350 Chevy, Walker Radiator, with an unknown brand electric fan. It seems to pull pretty decent. The car runs hot when setting a short period of time in traffic. It wasn’t bad until I put hood sides on the car. It had a 180 thermostat but now a 160 and it didn’t change it much. I want to put A/C in it but have to get the cooling problem corrected first. The question I have, (I know it’s been debated on here a lot) would I be better off with a Zips an a manual fan ,or an electric fan such as Cooling Components, or a Flex-a-Lite black magic fan that is 3300 CFM? Also would changing to 25 Louvered hood sides have any cooling affect. The picture shows the hood sides on it now. Any help would be appreciated! Sorry for the long post! Thanks
I would go with a zip's raised pump with an engine fan and a 25 louvre hood. You need the right ratio pulleys too. This combo has worked for me always. Every body has their own opinion though. Good luck.
Do you have a proper fan shroud, so the fan pulls air through all of the radiator, instead of just in front of the fan?
Had the same problem with my 5 window but I had a Zips pump with a Walker shroud and a good 6 blade fan and it always got hot when going slow. I removed the Zips and added a Cooling Components fan with their shroud and solved the problem. I have no idea why the Zips didn't work as I have the same setup on my deuce pu and it works fine. Had me stumped.
I think sometimes the Zip's develop an air pocket that can cause an overheating issue. Sometimes they do and sometimes in other applications they don't. Perplexing.
Thanks , I see cooling components is 2500cfm, an the flexalite black magic is 3300 cfm, Just wondering that much more will make much difference,thanks
On both the 5 window and pu I had a bleeder valve in the top of the Zips riser which allowed me to bleed out the air. Didn't seem to make any difference on the 5 window?
Is the radiator a single pass radiator ? Also, I remember a "discussion" a long time ago on another site about the effects of "no thermostat" vs using a thermostat. The point that always stuck in my mind was that if an engine bypasses too much coolant and it returns to the radiator, it might not be passing as much as possible thru the engine itself. Coolant takes the path of least resistance. Its going to vary from engine to engine and brand to brand. My point is that if a lower temp thermostat opens all the way, it might be that the radiator and fan are doing their job but not enough coolant is actually being diverted thru the engine. I would get one of those temperature guns and see what it shows on the radiator and the hoses. Also, cavitation or air trapped in the system can cause a problem.
First thing I would do is check your distributor's vacuum advance. Make sure it is functioning. Second, is it connected to the ported or full vacuum outlet? I had this problem and moved the line from the ported outlet to the full vacuum one. It cured the running hot problem when idling and improved the driveability. Edit: Retarded ignition timing will contribute to high engine temperature, especially at idle.
I’ve never used a zips riser, they look super lame, always used a stock solid Chevy 235 fan with both a full hood and not. I’ve even had a 440 in a Model A and used a Chevy 235 fan and had no overheating. Timing is important and you want to make sure the air is passing through an efficient radiator and has a place to go after. Can’t suck air into a sealed box. Good luck!!
Have you checked the temp at the top and bottom of the radiator using a infrared thermometer? I found that my readings on my motor and radiator did not match up with my temp gauge. Is it puking water?
I have a pertronix no vacuum advance, going to do some checking on the timing to see if that helps,thanks
My 32 sedan has a 300 horse gm 350, big walker rad, Cooling components fan and a full hood it will run 197-200 all the time weather it’s 80 or 105 out side air temp. I did have it go to about 210 once when it was 110 outside air temp at altitude and crawling along because of slow cars in front of us looking at wild life.
Is there more than one size (thickness) of a Walker radiator and do you possibly have one designed for a smaller engine? Charlie Stephens
I have a zips riser on my old '32 sedan and use a high quality steel blade fan, I also installed air last year with no over heating problem, the hottest my car has ever gotten was about 220 in bumper to bumper traffic in Pigeon Forge,Tennessee, we sat in traffic for more than a hour before we got out of town. I have a walker radiator also and no fan shroud. HRP the fan is from summit. The zips riser movers the water pump up 5" higher to center the fan on the radiator, much more efficient. HRP
My '32 has 25 louver hood sides. Hot air needs a way to get out. Beyond that nothing fancy. Chev short water pump. Walker rad, Cooling Components fan with shroud. 180 degree thermostat with fan switch. Fan rarely turns on except when in slow moving traffic, but even then when fan switches on the temp immediately drops and fan turns off until things heat up again or traffic speeds up and fan is no longer needed. Phil
Nice looking Car- so you lets say you put your 180 stat back in- and you have a 15 lb cap. Your boiling point will be in the 250 plus range. You are at 220. If you have never boiled over- I would not worry about it. There is a reason modern cars have a green ‘normal operating’ range with a red zone way off the the right- with no numbers. My advise- stop staring at the gauge and worrying
160 is too cold, Gauges need to be verified via actually measure the temperatures. My wife’s car doesn’t kick the fan on till 226*F.
what asphalt angel said all of the newer cars normal operating temps about 210. the 200 range came into being in late 70s early 80s when epa cracked down on pollution if it was mine i would drive it. Tom
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