49 chev w/sbc-tb 350 Over heating problem in hot weather stop & go traffic. It's got the original 2 row radiator from the 6 cyl auto. Don't mind replacing the rad is there some thing else I'm missing?
yes there's a little fan in a big shroud. The car starts right up and runs OK, doesn't sound like timing. Thanks for the help Pat will check it out again tomorrow. Hoping it's nothing like head gaskets, didn't look in the rad.
A rad swap to one with bigger capacity is a good investment. Post a few pictures of your current fan/shroud/rad setup so we can help diagnose. Is your tstat working as it should?
Is the "little" fan electric?? Is it operated by a thermo-switch?? What temp range on the thermostat?? A 195/170 thermo switch might help if the thermostat is not faulty. Run it thru a relay a toggle won't handle the load I don't think.
Heck, is the fan even working at all? If it's a clutch fan, sometimes they break in a way you can't really see while it's going - it still spins, just not enough. That stock '49 radiator is only good for about 6 lbs of pressure, too. Much more and you'll split a tank or worse.
Hi, I have a '50 chevy coupe with a '64 283 with stock water pump and 4 blade fan, no shroud, fan to close to rad. Car runs cool all of the time with stock '50 rad. How big is your fan ????
I don't have the car, looked at it last night to buy. It's got an aluminum flex fan. Looks 2 inches short of the shroud dia.
Sounds Fixable. Plus your on the HAMB. We got you. Buy it broken for a great deal. SBC should NOT start RIGHT up, It should crank a little when properly timed. The HAMB could figure out anything.
this & it's probably too small to be sufficient. I've got one hanging on the wall because it caused the same problem, changed it & it was fine since.
Your making a big mistake not checking timing 1st. Why spend time and $ when a simple turn of the dist might cure the problem?
I'm going to go ahead and get it, after checking for oil in the rad. and burnt trany fluid. You're right it'll only take a minute to check the timing. And it does have one of those old black caps with the ears, must be low pressure cooling, I plan on a bigger rad and fan. Thanks guys
Timing is every thing! Got a light on it --8 degrees past top dead center. I can't imagine how it even ran. I got it at 4 * right now, don't know the spec. It fires right up like a ford, so it may not be right yet. Hope that knocks some temp out of it, but I thought retarded would make it run cold.
Retarded timing generally makes an engine run hotter Check out post #7 here http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/timing-overheating-160577.html
Thanks for the link--makes sense. If thats the problem I'll be racking those glass packs tomorrow! At least until the trany gives out.
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