I just put a 383 stroker in a 88 gta. I have a 4-core "be-cool" aluminum radiator. 160 thermstat. A dual set of electric flex-olite fans with 2250CFM air flow. It will still run around 215 220. The timing is set at 36 deg. total timing. The only other option i can think of is high performance water pump. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks And yes the air dam is in good shape.

 

What's controlling your fans?

 

if the fan is on factory set up,
it will no doubt run warm as they turn on around 235 or something.

flexacool or somerthing like that sells a fan adjuster where u can set ur fan to come on at desired temp. i heard they work good and install is a peace of cake.

 

these are both hooked directly to a electric switch.....which i have run all of the time

 

Would i water pump with more volume be better, the water pump i have on it now is 4 just a regular 350. Any suggestions?

 

I put an mezziere electric water pump w/serpintine pulley, I think they pump 55gpm and haven't had a coooling problem since I did it. They are a little pricey but it was worth it, and my fans run all the time too (not a daily driver). It's nice to be able to turn on my fans and my water pump at the track and cool down my car in 10-15 minutes.

 

do you have the plastic air dam under the car?
no reason your car should be getting that hot, unless its running extremely lean or way rich......

 

YES I DO HAVE THE AIR DAM. MAYBE A LIL BIT MORE FINE TUNING WOULD I KNO ITS NOT RICH....IF ANYTHING IT MIGHT BE ON THE LEAN SIDE.

 

do you have the fans pulling air in or pushing it out. that may be your problem

 

pulling air in....i dont think ive ever heard of pushing air out....not only that but the condenser is front of the radiator.

 

I also have a 383 stroker in my 1989 Firebird and 4 core radiator from griffen and I installed the elec water pump (55gpm), my air damn is all there and I agree with you TransAmGTA88 about the motor running hot, my does too, espically in stop and go traffic with A/C on the temp gets up there. This weekend I am going to buy a pusher fan and install in front of the condersor to help my puller fans. I have dual spal fans and I built me a shorud, not the best but works. During the fall, spring, and winter the car runs great, but summer time the motor gets a bit warm for me. If the pusher fan doesnt work then I am going to install a motor oil heat exchanger with a elec fan to help cool the motor oil. This is the 2nd summer of my R & D, I am getting close to fixing this problem. I know its not my timming, (had it dyno tuned) and I have the Accel Gen VII. I'll keep you posted and let me know if you find a solution. drop me a pm with your email.

 

Bluegoose, I would be very interested knowing what you have in your 383. My email adress is firchy_16_2003@hotmail.com. I think im going to upgrade my water pump. I have a just a new stock water pump, but im going to try one with a little bit more water volume.....jegs has a pump advertised with 40% more flow than stock. Any suggestions? By the way....i have a set of dual flex-o-lite fan that flow 2250 CFM with a shorud.

 

My 383 runs cool with victor water pump, 160 degree t-stat(drilled 3 small holes in it), becool radiator and a 16in Spal fan. I ran a stock single fan for a long time and it worked well too but the Spal fan works a little better. For a short while I had a 16in permacool fan and the car ran a little hot so I upgraded to the Spal fan.
My only other suggestion is mix your antifreeze lightly...water actually cools better than anti-freeze. If you live somewhere cold just don't forget and let it freeze this winter.

 

I use straight water in my car with a job gibbs additive. Still had issues keeping it cool this summer.

 

Any updates?

 

Woah 7 years ago you posted this problem.. Did you get it fixed yet?? lol

 

just for kicks .... you say you never heard of a fan pushing air well the fan will spin in two different directions depending on how you hooked them up to your toggle switch you can reverse the polarity simply bu shitiching the +/- or -/+ the fan will spin two different directions . put a piece of paper over the intake to be sure (2min test)

 

Not exactly, fall and spring runs fine no problems, but once it gets about 75 to 80 degress outside its hard to keep it under 210 in normal driving conditions. Hit the throttle hard a couple of times and it will stay at 220.

I did put a procharger on last winter with a intercooler, so the intercooler does block some of the air flow.

One other thing I did find out it is that there is a 40 degree difference from the sending unit in the side of the head compared to the sending unit on the intake manifold.

Thinking about a oil cooler next....any other suggestions???

 

I guess the fans polarity are ok as far as an oil cooler I got a heavy duty trans cooler from a truck at the bone yard .

 

I run a stock radiator and dual fans with an EMP stewart alum. std. volume water pump and a 180* t-stat on my 383. It's stayed cool on 100* track days.

 

What intake are you running? When i switched to a HSR on my 357, my temp sits at 220 normally with a 3 core rad and both stock fans on all the time. Thats with a 180* stat and no fog lights for more air flow. I think the ceramic lt's are heatsoaking my sender. You could Try pulling a few degrees of timing to see if temps drop.

Ive seen my temps hit maybe 230 if i get on it in the summer, but they drop back to 220 quickly. Motor seems happy so i dont worry too much.

 

Interesting to mention the headers though.. Ceramic coated and/or wrapped headers will lower underhood temps quite a bit. What type of headers do u have?

 

It almost sounds like you may have a headgasket issue or a crack. Is there any bubbles in the coolant when its running and the cap is off??
My 400 stroker runs @ 160degs all the time with stock fans an rad.. Only the secondary fan is running for the cooler temps.
I've never seen the primary fan on since i put in the colder switch in for the secondary fan 20yrs ago. (my primary fan is set to come on at factory temp).
I would Try the factory fans and make sure the motors are good.

 

I do have a 3-core BeCool radiator and dual flex-o-lite fans that I have hard wired to a switch in the car.

 

Good! Just sayin stock radiator and fans should be able to keep up.

It does kinda sound like a head gasket problem, but you'd think after 6 years, some other symptoms would have surfaced, a little white smoke on startup at least?

Might wanna upgrade to an aluminum water pump if your compression numbers are still fine.

 

I have a victor jr. intake on it with 180 thermostat. Where does everybody have there sending unit located in the head or intake?

 

I rebuilt the motor las winter when I put the procharger on, I did have a blown head gasket...never using cheap fel-pros again, went with a cometic gasket this time around little more expensive but worth it. I put a aluminum victor water pump from eldbrock on when I rebuilt the motor last winter. Timing is as 32*

 

Same Vic jr intake, gauge sender is in the intake crossover, ECU temp sensor is in the head. They're never more than a few degrees different.

 

No I dont have any bubbles in the coolant, I have dual flex-o-fans that probabaly pull double the CFM of the stock fans. I think the condenser for the A/C blocks alot of the air flow...not mention the intercooler doesnt help matters either.

Ill post some pics...in the next couple of days.

 

My 40 degree difference was with the auto meter sending unit in the intake cross over and the stock gauge is reading from the head.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I believe a lot of the fan CFM claims. Do they have a shroud with them or anything??

 

Yes, I do have a shroud around them.

 

10-4. It seems some guys have this problem and others don't. It sure is goofy sometimes.

Do you have a pt number of the kit you used? Maybe we can find a pic on the net to look at it. Is the shroud solid or does it have openings for air to flow out while going down the road?

 

I have ecu sensor in the crossover and gauge sender in the head. I havnt data logged to see what the ecm sees for temps. Try running no shroud and see if you can get more airflow. I know theyre supposed to help, but you have alot going on with condensor and intercooler. You may just need more surface area for more free airflow.

 

Check the current draw at the fans. If you just wired them to a toggle switch you need to make sure the wire is the proper gauge and you have a good power source. Those fans pull a lot of amps and if they don't get enough power they don't flow anywhere near their rated CFM's.

 

http://www.jegs.com/i/Flex-a-lite/400/432/10002/-1

This is what my shroud looks like, its probably been 5 yrs ago that I put it in so I'm not sure if this is the exact kit, but the shroud looks identical to what I currently have. Thanks.

 

91 1LE is on to something else to check. If your fans are using the factory wiring, it may not be up to snuff. That shroud looks like it could be blocking some airflow going down the road.. The factory shuts the fans off over a certain mph.

 

I think your right...the wheels are starting to turn a little faster now. I am using the factory wiring...I guess one way to test this would be to hook the fans up directly to the battery and see if a person can notice a difference with them running how I have them wired now compared to wiring them directly to the battery?

I have been told in the past that I should have the fans running while driving in town, but to turn them off once I'm on the highway (driving the speed limit of course). Which I have tried that theory, but my water temp starts to climb on the highway if I dont have the fans running.

Heres the deal with my set up tho, my fans are built into the shroud, so its not like a guy can just pull the shroud off and leave the fans in place.

 

Yeah, thats kinda what I was thinking when I said to try the factory twin fans if the motors were ok. That would let the air flow thru the rad easy while on highway. Also, what amp is your alternator ??

 

To be honest I dont know what the amp rating is...I just know the alternator that I run is stock replacement from auto zone. I bought the car in Minnesota (9 yrs ago) and drove it home and had the alternator go out 20 miles from my house so at the time I just threw in alternator quick to keep me going.