Aluminum Rad Recommendations?

[miketyler]

yes, you and I both. I have one of those infra-red digital thermometers as well. I think the t-stat housing should get you within a few degrees of engine temp. It is steel and there may be some dissipation but that should be pretty close. Am still tinkering with mine. I think both our cars are running in the 195*-200*+ range. I really need my car running like MEK's where the needle only goes up 1/4 of the way when its 95* outside.  I do not feel comfortable driving my car across town to a show with the temps the way they are now.   

[matt63]

Based on the heat radiating from the engine I don't think the engine is running overly hot.  My t'stat housing is chrome so it's not of use with the infrared gun.  I was shooting the rad hose and I couldn't get a temp over 140 F when the gauge said 180 so something is wrong.  I'll test the sending unit tonight.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

I'll admit I use Water Wetter from Redline in my car, but I'm happy it runs so cool. The headers are another thing, ceramic coated or not.   


  Mike

[miketyler]

MEK - what are the specs on your cooling gear? Are you running an OEM radiator? Electric cooling or clutch fan? Some of the Moparts guys claim noticeable improvements going to a flowcooler water pump (adds a disc to the impeller to reduce cavitation). I have also read of cooler firing plugs - Ithink it would be a stretch but could I possilby realize any temp improvement there? 

[Bullitt-]

miketyler, I reviewed your posts and never saw a statement as to when you experience overheating. Last Sat. at the local Mopar club meeting we had two members both complaining of overheating, one had no problem in traffic but overheated at higher speeds, the other had no problem on the road but overheated in traffic. Each of these problems have different causes. If you are having issues at speed timing, lean mixture, restricted air flow thru the radiator should be looked at (a consensus that a larger radiator would help but was not necessary), if issues are idling in traffic is your problem, fan efficiency, radiator restriction, coolant flow is the type of thing to be looking at. 


if your having both I guess yer jest screwed . 

[miketyler]

All the testing I have done has been around the neighborhood, mostly stop and go traffic for periods of 20-30 mins and usually in 90*+ days. I still have not put another temp guage on it but I definitely need to. Also, I need to try the extended freeway run to eliminate the air flow possibility. I have read in other threads that a highway run for 20 minutes or more takes the fans out of the equation. If I overtemp then, its not a question of air flow as fans dont do much at speeds in excess of 40 mph.

Yes, I am growing tired of analyzing every thread related to overheating mopars. My engine is nothing special with everything stock and from my records, should be well broken in by now. I plan to buy a new electric temp guage as I cant seem to find any place to screw in a mechanical gauge.     

[HP2]

True, and we are all assuming that it is truly hot. Problem being we all have different definitions of hot. To me 195-210 degrees is pretty dang warm, but not hot. 235+ is hot.

There also is the variable of the wonderful mopar hot/cold temp guage without reference to numbers. Checking senders and t-stats in boiling water is a start, but even that can vary with altitude. Water boils at 195-198 where I am at, so it actually works out great for checking thermostats, but bad for anything beyond that

[matt63]

I just did some testing of my electric autometer temp gauge including installing a new sending unit.  It really makes no sense at all.  I used an infrared gun on the outlet hose near the t'stat housing and it read 160F when the gauge read 180F. I put the sending unit in boiling water and it read 20 deg low???.  I debated installing a mechanical guage but I would have to tee a heater hose to install it which doesn't look great.  One thing I did notice is that at 180 I don't have any problem putting my hand on the upper rad hose which leads me to question the 180F reading.  I think I will check the autometer wire connections and make sure that they are good.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

MEK - what are the specs on your cooling gear? Are you running an OEM radiator? Electric cooling or clutch fan? Some of the Moparts guys claim noticeable improvements going to a flowcooler water pump (adds a disc to the impeller to reduce cavitation). I have also read of cooler firing plugs - Ithink it would be a stretch but could I possilby realize any temp improvement there? 

Mike,

  I have the good ole Mopar setup. 26" radiator, a 3 core, I believe. 6 blade clutch fan. Are you running A.C., or anything that might stress the system?



  Mike

[Bullitt-]

Might have a solution for taking temperature readings, our service techs use something like this to check water temp. in dishwashers & to calibrate oven thermostats. The only complication will be getting the probe into the system but I think it would slip into a radiator hose temporally with no issues. Just a simple multimeter with temp. probe
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37772

[Oldschool]

I am running around 800 HP in the beast with a Be- Cool system.  Twin fan system.  No overheating issues here....        

[miketyler]

yes, am running the AC although it doesn't seem to pull the engine down much at all. Temps out side in DFW here are 90-95, in the vehicle feels like 98-100. I need to get a graduated guage so I can tell exactly what I am running at. I am unsure of the accuracy of my factory gauge and don't know what the temp is understood to be when the needle is horizontal. Although I would think you wouldnt want it runing above horizontal     

[Got JOB]

The factory gauge  is not very accurate to determine the engine temps. A good mechanical gauge is the only way. My 340 bored .030, mild cam, 10 to 1 comp. never got but 1/4 up on the factory gauge but was actually running at 200 degrees on a mech. gauge. A Be-Cool radiator, stock fan, and more timing got it to a constant 180. The radiator will actuallydrop the temps to 140 on a mild night on the highway. I also didn't have a place to screw in the mech. probe on one of my other cars, so I had a bung soldered into the top tank next to the hose. Not completely acurate but close enough and better than the factory gauge.

[miketyler]

Well there's an idea. Where did you get the bung at or did you machine it from scratch? I was even considering making a metal sleeve coupling that I could screw the probe fitting into. I would have to sacrifice my radiator hose though   

I only need this temporary so I can validate my OEM temp guage. I just bought a new Sunpro electric off of Ebay last night. I will install it when I get it and see if I can confirm my over heat conditon. If its staying within range, I would send my temp guage out for calibration

On a similar note, would a aluminum radiator cool better or dissipate heat faster than OEM?

[Got JOB]

Radiator shop installed it for me.  My radiator is a Modine replacement type, it already had a fitting on the passenger side of the tank for the thermal switch on later models. The fittings are the same size.