Big454blockchevy

I am out of ideas. I have tried a new griffin rad,new high flow Weiand aluminum water pump, no termostat, Ignition timing adjustment,new electric fans,differetnt water pump, flushing the block,different hoses w/spring,different temp guage and now I have no more ideas. Does anyone have new ideas I can try? All this came about after I took my motor apart and installed new bearing all around, and different camshaft(specs242/242 at 050 .567/567 lift. I also worked on the Victor jr. intake(I port matched to felpro intake gaskets 1205. WHAT am I not looking at? Anyone have something that would even give me hope of figuring this out? overheating =frustration after five days of trying everything.

Mark A Shields

When are you overheating, traffic/highway?

Check your lower radiator hose, maybe try running a 160* stat, have an airdam?

Stroked-Z

How did you wire your fans????

I had that prob with my Perma Cool electric fan.....switched back to a regular manual fan (just to try it) and it dropped my temp by 40 degrees....

Give it a try

9.0L Firebird

Check the water pump, those weiand cast pumps are far from high flow (18 gpm at best). With a meziere wp (32 Gpm) a 31x19 griffin two row rad and a flex a lite twin fan setup I can run a 14:1 632 around town @ 200* in the summer. If it is a street car (not excessively lowered) I made an aluminum air spoiler that mounted under the rad support and directed air into the radiator, the bottom was made from rubber molding (4" wide) and was within 2" of the ground (rubber). that alone was worth 20* with a 454 motor on the highway (180* to 160*).

Big454blockchevy

I am overheating in both traffic and highway driving. My temp goes all the way to 225-235 at highway speeds and at idle the temp is 235-240. As far as my fans they are wired to where they are always on (I can manually turn them off) one is a pusher(in front of rad) and one is a puller. I am not runnning a termostat and as far as the dam , it is intact. I made sure to check the 2 different temp guages with a thermometer and they are acurate.

jcb999

I have two pullers side by side 2800cfm and it will just about blow dry your hair when both are running and your at a light. One fan keeps a 400 at 190 (sometimes a little higher in traffic) and the second will pull it down from anything higher than that.

Your actually loosing about 15percent of the airflow to the puller fan with something infront.

Mark A Shields

Maybe a long shot, but check to make sure the gauge is reading accurately.

rhuarc30

Well not running a thermostat is a mistake, part of the purpose of the thermostat is to restrict coolant flow enough to keep it in the engine long enough to pick up the heat. otherwise your not using all the potential of your coolant.

gruveb

rhuarc30 Well not running a thermostat is a mistake, part of the purpose of the thermostat is to restrict coolant flow enough to keep it in the engine long enough to pick up the heat. otherwise your not using all the potential of your coolant.

That's exactly right. No thermostat can actually make you overheat!

The fluid doesn't have any time to cool down inside of the radiator b/c it's always flowing through.

A 180* stat can actually make your car runner cooler than a 160* if you're driving for any amount of time. Of course over a short trip, the 160* will be cooler, but if you're driving for a while, the 180* will work better.

Why? Because the 180* will close more frequently allowing the fluid to cool down in the radiator instead of just running it through the block continuously and keeping it hot!

Other than that...the best water pump is Stewart. http://www.stewartcomponenets.com

Now that it is warmer, you can run a weaker solution of anti-freeze, or even go without the anti-freeze and just use water-wetter. It's sold at Pep Boys and works much better at keeping you cool than anti-freeze.

But if you don't have a collapsed hose, put a stat in there and see what happens. It's not going to cost you very much and is very simple. If it works, experiment with the 180 for a month and then the 165 for a month and see what happens.

ps. I've just purchased a couple of pusher fans and I'm NOT real satisfied. When I have them off, the engine runs much warmer than before! When they are on, it's obviously cooler, but I didn't want to have to run them all of the time!

Fast3rdGen

with a 10.5:1 motor you should be runnin some high octane gas......my last motor had 58cc heads on it with flat top pistons and it would just barely run with sunoco 94 octane in it and it would run hot....but when i mixed in a couple gallons of the 'Blue (Turbo Blue 115 octane) it did just fine.....too low octane can cause overheating problems in a high compression motor.

Big454blockchevy

As far as not having the termostat being the cause , that is not true. Do a research on that subject and you will get good info negating that myth.

rhuarc30

Whatever you say, but I'll just agree to disagree on that one, I'll never run my car without one.

Big454blockchevy

I am not saying it's the best think to do for your engine (runnning w/out a termostat) especially if you have still the computer but that would not contribute to overheating, but like you said we agree to disagree.

Mark A Shields

A 180* won't run cooler than a 160* either, my car runs hotter with a 180*, soon I'll switch back to a 160* for summer time purposes.

gruveb

Mark,

Well, every car is different. I know my Bronco runs cooler with a 180 than a 165. In fact, with a 180 it barely even gets up past 190*, ever, no matter what! But with a 160* after a long day of 4x4in' I can't get the heat out of it!

That's why I said try both of them. Anyhow, it is very true that NOT running one can make your car overheat!

BAD IDEA. In fact the only way one will make you overheat is if it doesn't work!

MikeH

iTrader: (10)

How is the performance? No power loss after you did the work? Are you loosing any coolant? Are you sure the timing isnt retarded? How is your AFR running lean maybe, after the buildup? I think you would do better with two puller type fans. But if your fans where a problem the car wouldnt be running so hot on the highway. IM using a stock radiator on my 406 with the stock dual fan setup, it runs pretty cool.

I know you said you swapped out the guages. But what about the sending unit it self?

V8Astro Captain

iTrader: (1)

Maybe try a clutch fan. I've personally tried a 16" (I think it was..BIG..anyhow) Black Magic fan and even that didn't do it. So I went back to the thermal fan clutch and it works great. On a HOT day it may see 195*F. Don't get me wrong...I liked the electric fans because it didn't drag the motor down if you romped on it but what good is that if you're running at 240*F?

BUT my engine compartment is just a bit different than yours...

Big454blockchevy

UPDATE! After all the agony I went through I finally got the temp down by removing the condenser. I took it out and I noticed alot of the fins were flattened, I could not even see through it! Why I never noticed , I guess I was being stubborn. AT this point with the power the motor is supposed to have A/C is out of the question for now . As soon as I removed the condenser my temp went to 170 while cruising at highway speeds , and 185 at idle. WOW! Now as far as the thermostat subject again, I will post some info regarding the "MYTH" on the thermostat causing the engine to overheat. LIke I said it might not be the best thing for your motor to run without a thermostat but it will not cause your engine to overheat. The argument that the coolant does not have enough time to get cooled in the rad that is why you would overheat is hogwash. Think about it ,if the coolant does not stay long in the rad it does not stay long in the block . Get it? Oh well it's good that I finally got the temp down cuz it was really hurting performance. Now I can make plans to go and run at the track this coming Friday

EvilCartman

iTrader: (1)

Damn, wish it was something else wrong lol My friend's 68 Firebird with a BBC 454 overheats like a mother. He's got a 4 core radiator, 160* stat, I think a stock replacement waterpump, dual electric fans. Doesn't matter if he's idleing or crusing, the thing gets hot He's tried all kinds of things to try and make it run cooler but no luck so far.