CoolingDiscuss all of the aspects of cooling that you can think of! Radiators, transmissions, electric fans, etc.
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Anyone have pics of their fab. air dam? My 91 rs runs pretty warm mostly going down the hwy. It is warm in tennessee and humidity is high, but I would like my engine temp to stay below 230, but is where it stays. In traffic it lowers some but not much lower than 210. I have a Griffin radiator and 3 fans. It should not be this warm with these aftermarket parts.
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I'd hate to burst your bubble, but most cars run right around 200 degrees. Depends, do you have the stock Iron heads? What kind of compression are you running?
I'd hate to burst your bubble, but most cars run right around 200 degrees. Depends, do you have the stock Iron heads? What kind of compression are you running?
230 degrees would only be excessive if he was running lower compression with aluminum heads, if he's running over 10:1 with Iron heads, 230 degrees should be expected.
Yes, right now I do have stock heads on a stock 350. Everything inside the motor is stock. I do have 3" pipes from the mainfolds back, msd ignition, msd distributor. I have a set of Vortec heads but still in need of an intake manifold to run the tbi. I just get a little nervous at 230 degrees. Not much room for more heat.
I agree 230 is a little warm for what he has. What gauge are you going by? If it is a aftermarket gauge, where is the sending unit located? Is the timing really retarted, this could cause it to run hot.
No, it is the factory gauge. The timing is not retarted. I do have and aftermarket gauge, but not using it.
I would about guarantee the factory gauge is not real accurate. Put in a decent gauge and see what it reads. How are the fans triggered to come on and at what temp?
Is your car missing the factory air dam under the car?
I do have an autometer water temp gauge located on the pillar. The fans come on with a switch under the dash. All three come on with the switch, which I pretty much leave on all the time.
i have a 350 with a stock radiator and fan.
i put a 160 thermostat in it and it runs at 165 or so on the highway.
around town it runs at 200
i have an adjustable fan switch and i have it set to turn on at 190.
where are your three fans?
are they puller or pusher fans?
are they running all the time?
on the highway your fans are a restriction on airflow.
that would explain why your temps are higher on the highway than around town.
get a meat thermometer and put it between some of the radiator fins and find out what it really runs at since the factory gauge is completely inaccurate.
first, get a 160 thermostat
second, get a stock air dam
third, set the fans to come on at 170 or so.
the way i would do this is let the car cool down overnight so the radiator is completely cool to the touch.
start the car and let it idle.
when the water reaches 160, the thermostat will open and you will feel the radiator heat up. your fans should now be triggered to come on.
autozone has a relay that will let you adjust the fan on temp to whatever you want.
if you do all this, and are still having problems, then something else is wrong.
Not sure if this helps, but my 89 IROC with a 350 has a 160 thermostat and ran right at 160 until it started getting warm out.. still was cool around town but the second I got on the highway it would shoot to 220 and If I wasn't easy it would get higher,, long story short my air dam under the radiator was like half way hanging off, ordered a new one on ebay for 30$ and now it runs nice and cool
