Guys I have a blown 400 sbc in my anglia and am having a temp problem. I bought a kit that has the probe that pushes into the radiator and its not working. I followed the directions on wiring it and still nothing. Well I pulled the front end off the car and removed the radiator and the probe broke. I have 2 pusher fans that I wired to run with key on. What kind or brand of sensor could I screw into the left cylinder head if any? Also where could I find a wiring diagram on how to hook it up. As always thank you all for the help.
SPAL Cooling Fan Relay Kit and Harness, Part # 910-64028-Specify. You need to specify 185 on/165 off or 195 on/175 off. This from Speedway Motors. SPAL is the best out there, we use them for everything, comes with complete instructions, TR
I have one that goes in the upper rad hose. Works great. When you say over heating, how hot? Like boiling over?
The 400 is notorious for over heating issues. Is the spring in the lower hose? are the intake gaskets right? sO many causes, but the 400 was known for runnin hot.
Sometime too big a bore walls get thin & overheat Thats why 283s always run cooler thicker walls on a 283! Theres a additive out thats cools down water 10-15 degrees new stuff thet sale comes in a bright green bottle & works with any water or antifreeze you just add lil bottle in! It did work on my Willys I got 10 degrees cooler! Good Luck! Bill
Those probe relay controls suck! You can get just about any range thermal switch you want out of napa's big book. Pusher fans suck too
I have the spring in the lower hose. As far as pusher fans go that's kinda what im limited to because of clearance. The temp will get to about 200 to 210 and I just shut it down for fears of getting to hot. An old shot of what im against as far as room for fans.. if i loaded it correctly
200 - 210 and you shut it down!! Over heating my ass. That's nothing. I'm running a 400 sbc and it's been over 240 a few times. Over 220 many many times over the years. I just did over 3,000 miles to SOCAL and back, still no issues. Heat is not the issue so much as heat transfer is.
I agree, 200-210 is nothing to fear. I hit 240 on congress for the roundup and was sweating beads. turned out everything was fine. shoot, a stock chevy truck off the show room floor runs at 210 all day
Well I guess its me then ? It took a long time to get this engine and maybe im freaking out and don't want to kill it.. The fan issues is what really bugged me by not turning on at 195. I will check into the spal setup.. Thanks to all for the info..
If you were to remove the front fans and move the oil cooler, could you move the radiator forward to fit a fan in behind the radiator? Does your temp continue to climb at constant speed and while stuck in traffic? My dad's car has a huge motor, a small grille opening and a relatively small radiator..We've fought heating issues for years, our latest changes appear to have fixed the issue. We've recently changed to the following: 1) A Ron Davis Racing Dual pass radiator 2) Lincoln Mark 8 fan 3) electronic fan controller The car has had a high volume water pump from the beginning. We recently drove the car 260 miles to Reno, over Donner pass and then when in Reno we repeatedly caught caught in stop and go traffic at 100+ degrees. The car never went over 185 degrees. With our previous setup the temp would continue to slowly climb, this fan appears to be strong enough overcome the small grille opening and the lack of proper paths for the air to escape once it exits the fan and radiator. The Lincoln fan is supposedly one of the highest flow fans and they are available cheap out of the wrecking yard.. Previous to this final setup we've tried several different Spal fans , a large brass copper radiator, a Griffin aluminum radiator, and even a Dodge Viper Hydraulic cooling fan. Nothing has come close to this current setup. From memory, the Lincoln fan draws almost 50 amps when it's going full tilt ..the fan controller slowly ramps up the fan speed based on temp. Another plus is that these Lincoln fans are very quiet. IMO the SPAL fans convert electricity to noise. There is several different sites that detail the installation of these fans. If you could make one fit, I would try it... DAVE
I agree, I have a small block, bored out with a mild cam and headers and it constantly runs 220 with the electric and mechanical fans cranking. Even on a 105 degree day, it stays around 220-230. I wish I had your problem!!
I run a pusher fan also for the same reason you do. As long as your cooling system can `maintain` the temp-don`t worry about it. a 180 thermostat does not mean a controlled steady 180 degree engine temp. Only that the thermostat (flow control valve) is fully open at 180. If it`s not boiling over-don`t worry about it.
Dirtfan,you didn't say if or how much the motor was bored. 400's dont take to boring like a 350. 200-210 is perfectly acceptable in especially a 400. You should be fine as long as the temperature is controlled and doesn't climb and spike way higher. I'm sure it has the correct head gaskets and if the heads have been changed, has the steam holes drilled and gaskets matched. It's just a totally different beast than other sbc motors. It's a thin cyliner wall sbc with a 396 bore. I trust that temp is at slow or stop and go traffic or is it a race car ? I had a 408 in a 64 Chevelle with air and it ran in the 210-220 range. You mentioned about placing the temp sensor in the head,that's correct actually will be about ten degrees higher than in the intake and will give you a true reading there. There's other tricks you can do,but they get more elaborate
Absolutely do not worry about running 200-210. Does your ignition system reference boost and retard as needed? How about your fuel delivery system, does it also reference boost? Another possible issue is if you are running a higher volume water pump, you might have to use a restrictor in place of the thermostat. Again, don't be afraid of the temps you have been listed as running, a non issue on a correctly built and clearanced engine.
I didn't see here that this Engine runs @ 210 , what I see is the owner shuts it down @ 210 . The temp will get to about 200 to 210 and I just shut it down for fears of getting to hot If thing runs down the road and holds 210 I wouldn't worry either, or if it climbed to 230 in traffic I wouldn't worry. Does it do that ?. ^^^^
When I still had my T-Bucket,I didn't use a thermal switch for the electric fan. I used a good toggle switch with the right size wire running thru a relay. I could turn the fan on when it was dead cold,& watch the temp gauge go up & stabilize,,or I could leave the fan off til it got kinda hot & then turn the fan on & watch the temp drop. I also used to experiment when going down the road & shut the fan off while monitoring the temp gauge. I know the newer fan sensor/temp swtches are probably fine,& alot of newer dailys use them & are very reliable.Hell,Ive got a 90 Ford Escort gas sipper that still has the original thermal fan switch & it works great. With the T Bucket it was kinda like turning switches on when getting ready to take off in a small plane,,,,kinda fun to play with and I would know when the fan was on.
Well im a dumb ass ! I bought 2 pusher fans for this car and low and behold they are pullers. I worked on moving the radiator around and moved the fans to the inside. Im having a clearance issue but it will work out after a few mods. You guys are great thanks for the help as always !
Nice car and your welcome. Things will be much more efficient/effective with " pullers " anyway, it all worked out for the better, TR
Good for you. Glad it worked out for ya. A cooling issue can be a real pain the ass to figure out sometime !!!
That's worse than having no fan at all. You and your engine should be much happier once those gets turned around. Nice to know its a problem like that instead of something major
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