Hello,

I recently installed a 455 into my 67 Cutlass and am having cooling issues. The car runs great and does not overheat but at idle, say a red light for instance, the temp will rise to about 210 - 219 and drop to about 165 - 185 when driving 30 miles per hour. (depending on ambient temp) At freeway speeds the temp will rise to about 200 and drop once again when I hit around 30 to 40 miles per hour. I still have the 3 row radiator in the vehicle and was told to move to a 4 core. (I am not a automotive guru so dunno a lot about cars).

I searched on the forums for someone else with this issue and couldn't find any for my year 1967. If one is posted and I missed it; I apologize.

I searched online and the only 4 row radiator I can find that says is a direct fit is a Plastic one. I was told 4 core all metal radiators were made for different year cars that would drop in and be an exact fit or fit with some easy mods made.

If someone could turn me onto a good all steel radiator or know the years I should look for in a junk yard for a used one....I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time,
Airy

 

Sorry I should mention the car has A/C and is an automatic....

 

Are you running otherwise (455) stock? Shroud? If you don't have a shroud, that should solve your problem. A good (clean) 3-row should work fine.

 

yes I have the shroud and the 455 is stock with a mild cam. The 3 row is totally clean and I had it rodded to be sure it was good.

 

I sorry, the 455 is not stock..dunno what I was thinking....I had it bored .30 over other than that and the cam it is a mild RV cam plus the 750 carb and Street Dominator intake.

 

Bring the vacuum advance and/or centrifugal advance in faster. The vacuum advance hose may be routed through a thermostatic switch in the water passage of the intake manifold. If so, it is not giving vacuum at an idle. run the hose directly from the distirbutor pot to the carb or intake. Ported vacuum on the carb is less aggressive; try both. By the time the air hits the 4th core it is hot, so 3 core radiators are fine.

 

What water pump is on it? What fan do you have? I would put a fixed fan on it that spins all the time.Your radiator should be fine.

 

The fan is an aftermarket fan with a spacer. I am not near the car to measure it but I can tonight. The water pump is a stock water pump from the parts store. I cannot remember where the distributor vacuum hose is routed. I will check on that as well when I go home. If memory serves me right I believe it is attached to the carb already. I do have a photo of my engine bay but the breather is on. I will try to get some good shots tonight and post them to see if that will help.

Gotta try and figure out how to post pictures with the threads...hmmmmm

 

Many of the aftermarket fans don't cool worth s###

 

amen


a non clutch fan can impede cooling at hiway speeds.

 

I came accross this thread, if you need help I have a perfect easy solution for less than 200 dollars! And it's a bolt in! My 67 442 resto-mod , 461 runs a cool 160 degrees! Let me know-Rob

 

I just put a 455 in my 68 cutlass with a similarly built 455, I am getting a constant 215-218 at the thermostat with an infra-red thermometer. I too was thinking of going with a 4 core replacement. I have a 1 1/2 year old brand new out of the box modine 3 core currently installed . I think 215 is too hot although it runs great and hasn't overheated. I feel the temp ought to be 180-195. It has a shroud and a standard fan. Hot head temps could cause detonation, can it not?? I would like to get my initial time up around 15 degrees, but I get some detonation over 7 degrees....Any thoughts on the "hot head" theory of mine?

 

The ALUMINUMM radiator that am currently using is from a certain YEAR Subarban drops perfectly in 67-A body, bought from Auto Zone and you will need two upper and lower radiator sleeves for the hoses(compansate for the size differnces) from Napa. If you need more I will be home friday and locate the part numbers. It;s plug and play

 

68RAG you also brought up some points to consider. As you can see in the previous thread my 461 has aluminumm heads, intake, the heat will disipate much faster than the stock iron pieces, Currently running a true 10.25 CP @ 20 degrees initial timing and 36 degrees at speed no issues at at all still at 150-160 degrees and in the middle of the Texas heat in traffic 175-190. The 461 will pull your shirt off ask Richard (Gearheads)

 

check fan belt tension it may be slippng.

 

Same issue here. In my case its too little air at idle through the radiator(Jegs universal ALUMINUM) and the fan is too far away from the core so the air moves between the fan and radiator instead of thru the radiator, At speed, it'll run 178 all day long. Parked at idle, it'll hit 250 if you let it, after say, 15 minutes. Watch those spacers, If you hang your fan too far out it will eat the water pump bearings quickly. Do you have the right diameter fan for your shroud? there should be just enough of a gap between the blades and shroud to prevent contact, and no more. Personaly, I'm gonna go with a BeCool twin fan unit and be done with the whole mess. Comes with its own shroud and flows 2300 cfm thru the radiator.

 

have you checked to make sure your upper or lower radiator hoses are not collapsing under load?

If you have hoses w/o springs in them its possible.

 

Did you install the BeCool unit? How is it working?
________
Aleksa19

 

No I ended up using a jegs unit that had twin s blade fans that cost about a hundred less then the BeCool unit with straight fans. The s blades are supposed to be quieter but man, it sound like I've got the ghost of Oldsmobile living under the hood now. I'm running a Flex-a-lite variable speed controler on the fans and the way the speed up and slow down sounds kinda like a WWII air raid siren. not that loud mind you, but the same kind of sound. That being said, I drove it in 85 degree weather the other day and it never past 195 on the gauge. the fans ran constantly at there lower setting but it kept it cool. I'am also missing the cardboard flap that should be below the radiator which would help direct more air thru the radiator and improve cooling even more i would think.