I been looking around to see what could possibly be causing my car to over heat. Could the radiator be to small? The car is a rs that had a v6 in it now it has a 383. Could it also possibly be that it overheats because the heater core is not hooked up? It goes right from the water pump to the intake manifold. It also had no thermostat. Could all of these lead my car to over heat at a stop light? I do need to get an air dam also, going to make one. Thanks in advance folks!

 

You have an electric fan issue. I highly recommend just getting an aftermarket fan controller and be done. I run a Flex-a-lite, best $100 I ever spent - fully adjustable, many nice features - well worth the money!

Overheating in traffic or stop lights = fans issue.
Overheating on highway = air dam issue.

You need to get both corrected ASAP.

 

I dont know how the guy wired the car but its on when its running. When its running its on all the time.

 

Step 1...Put in a thermostat. The coolant water is flowing too fast & gets out of the engine, through the radiator & back into the engine, before it ever cools off enough.

The V6 radiator might be smaller, but putting in a thermostat is the first step.

 

I agree - but I'm not sure ... the V6 radiator might be smaller. Look up part numbers for V6 vs V8 radiators at autozone.com or something to see if there's different radiators.

I know my 350 with mild cam, headers, 10:1 compression, etc. runs plenty cool with the stock V8 TBI fan and radiator, but a V6 radiator might be different.

 

Since its running hot I don't like the idea of running the stock thermostat at 195*.I have the 180* and that's were it stays.The 180* is also nice because I can use it summer and winter. This temp. seem to very popular on this site.

 

Everyone above me is pretty much right, chances are its a fan issue, or it could be the radiator is too small.
Also the guy who said it not having a tstat was right, with no tstat the coolant has trouble doing its job of soaking up the heat in the engine.
I suggest dual fans for a v8 car, especially if it is decently modified, also wiring them to run when the car is on is also ideal, granted it will be loud, but if you want performance and max cooling its better.

As for ideal tstat temperature, 160, or 165 is too low, you will freeze your nads off in the winter and its too cold a temperature for the engine to run well.
180 is a bit too warm to be ideal for performance, but it will still heat up decently quick in the winter, 170 is the ideal performance temp imo, also if your fans are set to come on at stock temp putting in a lower temp tstat doesn't do much of anything, but since yours are already wired to be on full time it will.

 

I put a 180 in it, I think the po stripped the threads on the intake, edlebrock aluminum intake. Could I just tap the intake?

 

It's tough to tap the intakes because they are aluminum. But it can be done.