Technical Overheating 350 SB

Looking at the picture,your missing the tin on the sides of the radiator,so air is getting around the radiator not going through it.
Is the tin on the bottom of the car?
Another place for air to escape.
I have a Chevy 400 and use a small radiator( car had a 6 when it was built new)
All I have is a clutch fan that came with the 400 Chevy.
You have to shroud it.
Happy to see you have the top panel
Let us know how it turns out

 

Also if you want a tranny, remember you have an X frame under the car, you really have to cut it open to fit the 700 in it, it was a lot of chopping just to fit the 200

 

Tear it down and replace the cracked heads with good ones and the overheating will go away.

 

Thank you for the heads up on the frame. I decided to change the ring and pinion to a more highway friendly ratio. I just have to figure out what ratio to use with a 350 sb and a 400 turbo trans. I'm happy to keep the 400 turbo cause it shifts perfectly. Now if I can just bring those RPM's down Looking for someone with experience for help. Thanks neil

 

I've looked at all the vids on chevy heads lots of pro people and the heads that are on my 350sb are cast iron and they aren't the best flowing but great durable street heads, there were no cracks found when I had the engine rebuilt a couple months ago. When I redid the engine I did go for a little wilder Cam. Nothing big but bigger then the old one. The cam specs were right for my stall speed converter etc. Man I hope the heads aren't cracked. I still don't know what the timing is set at. I have a Holley/like 4bbl that has a slight stumble when taking off. Checked the power valve and no problem so to go along with the new Edelbrock Performer polished intake I will be getting a Edelbrock carb to match, then maybe take it to a good tuner and have it all set up.

 

There is a chemical you can get you put in the cooling system. It will change color if there are cracked heads bad gaskets ect. Ive ran into a lot of 350 heads with cracks.

 

Here is a calculator for determining your desired gear ratio. https://www.ringpinion.com/calculators/Calc_RPM.aspx

 

My guess is that it’s bc it’s a sbc in a ford. My suggestion is to get that sbc off to the nearest recycler and find a flatty


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I may be wrong on this but I'm thinking Walker used to build a 4 core copper radiator that they called the Desert Heater or Beater. They sell radiators with condensers installed, and plastic made to fit fan shrouds. You cut your opening for the area where the fan blade would clear. Been 15 years since I built my last street rod so I'm not sure what is out there any more.

 

I made some changes to my system. I took the nose apart and reinstalled the front pusher fan and added Wetter Water and it's the best it's ever been. Manually I can run the less CFM front fan and driving around it is 180 or less. When sitting I put both fans on and it will stay 180 ish which is awesome. I know it's winter but it still is warm in Phx. So at this time I can control the temps. So all I have done is move the tranny cooler away from out front to a frame rail and the wetter water, so far so good.

 

That's a good start. On the trans cooler thing. I have had frends who mounted a cooler similar to the one you started with back under the car with a fan to blow though it. setting it up so it was somewhat protected.

 

`I still think you are getting compression into the cooling system. As many times as you have got the engine hot you are likely to have a crack or bad head gasket. You have beat the radiator fan approach to death. Time to do something different. check for collapsing hoses. clogged water jackets ect. We once had a Moline power unit. It would overheat because of a cracked head. Eventually it burst the radiator. I plumbed it to a 55 gallon barrel that had a open top. and we could sawmill for about for hours till we boiled the 55 gallons.

 

had some heads that magged good but failed the pressure test.just a thought