to those that have did the pontiac engine in a third gen i have two questions. 1. what radiator/fan combo did you use to keep this engine cool. 2. Will I be able to keep the a/c. thanks

 

after reading through the pontiac motor sticky it looks like you will want to go with a radiator that will support a BBC. Some have had issues with the SBC rad being too small.

 

I was under the impression if u evacuate the heat with the dual fan setup the sbc radiator works fine. I feel like a bigger radiator might complex the problem, for example iwould be more liquid to cool with a car that doesn't have that much air flow going to the radiator?

 

Cooling is determined by the rate at which air can remove heat from the coolant, not by how much coolant you have.

Typically, the more coolant a radiator holds, the more heat can be transferred. But, that's a function of the rate at which air removes heat from the coolant, not how much coolant there is total (tube surface area, air flow, etc.).

 

So u would want better fans rather than big radiator right?

 

I put a 455HO in a '67 'bird along with larger rad and twin electric fans. The bigger rad and more fans means more heat removed. However, the issue I had was not the engine temp which remained nice and steady but the hot air trapped under the hood. In take air temp was high and I'd get vapor locks especially on hotter days. Air vents in the top of the hood or 2nd gen fender vents may be needed too.