I have my new 355 in my camaro and the temp keeps getting way up there. I have had it up to 220 degress and I shut the car down and let it cool down for a while. Do brand new motors usally run hot because of all the new parts or is something in the cooling system not up to snuff??

i would say something isn't up to snuff, they might have put a defective water pump on but that doesn't usually happen. Or u might just have a clogged radiator.

Well i have tranfered the water pump off of the 305 I had in the car. And I also reused the radiator. Everything worked fine before.

What kind of fan do you have?

Stock clutch fan. And now that i think of it not that it really matters. I even put in a high flow 160 degree thermostat and a bottle of water wetter. And no change.

Thermostats and water wetter don't cool the car, airflow through the radiator does.

Do you know if your clutch is good?

The fan spins and thats about all I know. How can you tell if the clutch works ??

It may be running too lean.

Block the airflow through the rad with a piece of cardboard. When the air inside the shroud heats up, you should hear a noticeable change in the noise from the fan as the clutch locks up. If not, replace the clutch.

I didnt think running lean would make it want to overheat that bad.
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ok sounds good I will try that tonight .

my moneys on the clutch fan not going into full lockup as the car heats up.

Mine, too.

They parts store has 2 different types of fan clutches. One for thermal and one for nonthermal. Is there a way to tell the difference or can I use either one ??

They all have a thermal one from the factory. Much better way to go...
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Rayvan

Yes, you want thermal.

Under what conditions does it overheat?

How long does it take?

Is the water pump spinning in the proper direction?

Turn the heater on and add water while it is runing to make sure it is full.

305 rad is smaller then the 350 rad jus so you know...get a griffin 31x19 from summit...fits right in....and change your fan.

The same rad was used for 305s and 350s. Accessories like A/C have more of an impact on radiator size.

Changed the clutch it helped a little.I check my plugs last night and to me it looks like the car is running pretty lean. I going to try to bump up the primary and secondary jet sizes up one and see what happens. Im running a mighty demon 650 with 71 primary and 79 secondary jets. And my car use to have ac and heat but all thats is long gone now but the radiator holds a little more the a non ac car.

my 87 350 tpi rad is thicker then the 305 rad i had from my 91 rs both stock gm rads....in any case....you should get the griffin rad its 190 bux...driect drop in....works well.

ok guys I put in a new fan clutch and still pretty much the same thing. The temp dosent creep up as fast but it still gets up to 220 and if I dont shut it down it will go past. And I also checked the plugs and its not running lean its actually on the rich side. So any more suggestions?? And I dont know if this matters or not so i will throw it out the but the car dosent have the hood on either.

Are you actually driving the car? Or is it heating up while idling?

BTW, reading the plugs won't tell you the whole story. They only tell you the last 30 seconds of operation. You could be fat at idle and still be lean at the mid range and high-loads. To test the mid and high ranges, you need what's called a "plug-chop." Run it for about a mile in the range you're checking and kill the motor at speed, *then* check the plugs.

Im driving the car as much as it will let me with out overheating it. New motor and trans only have about 15-25miles on it. I dont trust the temp so i only go around town a couple of times then head home when the temp get up to 210. By time I get home its about 220-230.

Try some plug chops running about 40-45 mph for a mile or two: Put the trans in neutral and kill the motor. Make sure you have enough room on the side of the road to work when you park. It'll be hard to steer and brake too so take all that into account when you plan.

It's likely lean.

Well finally found out what was going on. Carb isnt running lean but the timing was off like motherf#$ker. The last shop the car was at was the tranny shop to get a lockup switch put in the tranny they said they coundt get the vacum they needed so the had to play with my setup. I had to redo all my carb settings and I checked my timing for the hell of it. It was originally set at 38 degrees and now i checked it and it was set for 24 degrees bunch of dumb @sses. Now that I put evrything back the way i had it car runs a 180 all day long. Never bring my car to another shop again !! have to do everything myself.