hrazor35

Greetings all,

Bear with me people I’m new to muscle cars so if I sound a little stupid please forgive me. I have a few issues but first let me tell you about my vehicle. I’m the owner of a 1966 Olds 442 all original that has had the engine upgraded with lots of upgrades. These upgrades were done two owners ago so I have no idea of what they are but I do know for a fact that the car is pushing 400 plus horse. I’m having an issue with cooling….well maybe it’s not an issue I don’t have any idea. That’s why I’m here. LOL! Anyway the engine has been overhauled and I noticed yesterday when getting one of my last cruises before the season is over that my temp gauge had a reading of 210! From what I can remember the gauge never went past 170. There were no other issues with the vehicle but I’m thinking because of all the upgrades to the engine itself and none done to the cooling system that this could be my issue. I’ve taken out the thermostat will start upgrading the cooling system itself this winter. I am looking into a high performance water pump, a Be Cool radiator, and an electric dual fan setup for the radiator. Will this drop my operating temps significantly? This whole set up will push me close to a grand and I’m just trying to figure if the investment will be worth the end result. Is 210 really high? In the past the car has overheated and actually shut down on me and would not start till it cooled off (and after a 70 buck tow of course) and I’m sorry but I cannot recall what the gauge read at that time that it shut down on me. The radiator and water pump are stock…am I headed in the right direction?

Issue number 2

I have a stock Carb on the 442, Rochester Quadrajet. Friend of mine is giving me a Holly 3310 (750 CFM) would this be a good carb for this engine? Will I notice a significant increase in performance? I know my gas mileage will go to heck but this is not a daily driving car and gas mileage is not important. Horsepower and drivability are…..what type of carb are you guys mating with your Olds 400?

Issue number 3

Does this car have a fuse box? Im hearing rumors that they don’t and that the electrical system works with some kind of relay system? If there is a fuse box (I know that this sounds really stupid) where in the hell is it? If it’s a “relay” system how does it work and how can I trouble shoot electrical issues with this type of system??


I know this is a ton of stuff guys but this Olds has become like a child to me and I just want to make sure everything is done right with it. Any help that you guys can give would be so much appreciated. One more thing….any 442 owners in the Akron area that I can network with?

Ranzan

the fuse box on a 66 is just above your E-brake as far as the over heating well ....could be a few things

Craftsman442

You might want to check the thermostat. Simple things like that can prevent overheating, but all the cooling system parts that you mentioned are really coool and will cool the engine down as well. Plus, I think this type of car is worth the parts.

As for the Carburator question. I think the 750cfm is an ok match. Just make sure it is adjusted properly- Fuel/Air ratio. I think you will see a quicker reaction when you step on the gas rather than a Rochester, but that is just my opinion.

Specman

Did all that stuff you talked aobut and it ended up being the radiator, which was only 1 year old!!!

More than likely its partially blocked radiator. Especially if its happening more onthe highway than around town. NExt time you run it, after it heats up, shut it off and feel around the radiator fins inside. Blocked areas will be colder than open areas. Then you know.

Cooling system 101

Get the radiator serviced or replace it with a multi-core.

Oldsguy

Normally under regular driving habits, quadrajets give better fuel economy because their primaries are smaller than most other carbs, they are called "spread bore". Most other carbs like Holleys are called "square bore" where the primary and secondary barrells are the same diameter. But, if you get into the gas pedal a lot, then you may see poorer fuel economy with the quadrajet because the secondaries are larger, much larger than the primaries. If all other things are equal including carburetor cfm rating, then your performance will probably be about the same between carburetors with a little better throttle response with the quadrajet because of the smaller primaries, especially in the lower rpm range. You might find a little better overall driveability with whichever carburetor is newer and more recently rebuilt but that is something that can be corrected in the older un-rebuilt carb. Lots of variables.....

rockethound

one thing i would recomend is replacing the thermastat then check and make sure your coolent mixture good, then the next thing is there a fan shroud funeling the air across the radiater and to the moter. it sounds like a therastst problem tho.