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Overheating woes

7K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Capt_Jack 
#1 ·
My 440 Duster just was put back together after being parked for 8 years. Wrecked and sat in a field with the drive train in the shed. Did a few upgrades, Mancini 727 transmission with manual valve body, Turbo action 3500 stall converter, Mallory ignition box, aluminum 3 core radiator. The car has C.P.P.A. under chassis headers. I used to run regular transmission with 6 cylinder torque converter, and a 4 core truck radiator.
Since the upgrades I can't seem to get a handle on the temp. Slowly climbs up in about 30 minutes of driving. Rigged up a dual fan that comes on at 190 degrees with a nice shroud. It runs a 190 thermostat. I used to drive it to the track 75 miles one way. It would get hot on hot days through town, but cooled off when I got her moving. I'm at my wits end. Is it the stall converter? The radiator, the thermostat? No heater in the car. Any ideas? Tired of throwing money at it with no improvement. Thanks for any replies.
 
#6 ·
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#7 ·
I do not right off hand.

I will have to pull them off and check. I will try to do that in the next few days.

Herb
 
#8 ·
First thing, are you using a "V" belt or serpentine belt.

Mine are serpentine.

Herb
 
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#10 ·
160 Thermostat!

I'm in S. Texas, and you want to talk about overheating being a problem. I have a bb 73 Charger 3 core rad in my 70 Duster, it fit, barely, I have a separate trans cooler, and a dual 12" electric puller fan set up by flex-i-lite. Running the 160 thermostat worked for me along with the huge radiator and the separate trans cooler. I don't know how important it is for the engine to be at 180, but at 160 it is further away from overheating. If there ever is a problem, I have more time to notice it.

Also, make "sure" there isn't even the "slightest" of pressure leaks. Any pressure loss could cause a prob. It could be as simple as changing out the rad cap! You can put a pressure tester on it and leave it overnight at 14-16lbs to make sure there are no leaks. The needle shouldn't move.

Bob
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hi,
This is an old post ,but worth bringing up again. There are some aftermarket water pump housings on the market that are inadequate to keep your big block cool. They are forged with a restricted port or ports in them. Mine was forged with 3 large ports the size of a half dollar and one small port that was about the size of a dime. That restriction has caused me at idle overheating problems for a long time. If you bought a new housing and started experiencing overheating problems, that's probably the cause. All the ports should be about the same size. If not you have one of the pieces of crap being sold that will give you nothing but headaches.
 
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