Cooling It Down!

I do a lot of cruising and it is not at all unusual to get stuck in traffic at a stand still or slow moving for 45 minutes or so on hot days. There is no place to safely pull off and you will probably get a ticket if you do. This means that the cooling system needs to be flawless all the time.

Here is a tip that I picked up about cooling accidentally last summer. I found that sitting at a stop light the hot air flow from the motor area was moving forward and up over the radiator and of course back through it. So really the rad was getting overly hot air pulled back through it. I made up a series of baffles that fit under the hood and around the rad to seal it from the motor and cooling issue went away.

Cars with beak hoods like mine are prone to this and I think the gassers and one piece front ends can have problems like this even with lifted front ends. Heat rises and has to go some place.

I also looked around on stock cars of various types and found that the mfg have gone to a lot of effort to prevent flow of air from the motor to the front of the rad. Check your original rad support. In our custom cars we sometimes toss away good engineering for any number of reasons. Along the same line when crusing down the highway most of us don't have a problem however with with open space around the rad guess where the air is going....around the rad again so cooling can be an issue on the road too. Over the winter I'll install some road hugging rubber spoilers under the front end to direct the air flow around the side of the car and lower the undercar pressure. The rad is fully sealed so the air coming in has to go thru the core. I also just finished a stainless steel tube lower rad 'hose'. This provides a smooth flow for the water to the block. No more twisted hose with a spring in it.

My car has a very restricted area to put a radiator without extensive cutting. I have an AC condenser and a large trans cooler stacked in front. I also made my own fan shroud and sealed it to the radiator. I have a pretty high flow fan that is thin so it just clears the blower belt. I got after the hole for the fan with the bead roller and a tank roll and made a nice smooth shape for the air flow to the fan. I also sealed the fan to the shroud. Extra work but I need every trick in the book. I also went through 6 thermostats. Quality is poor. If there was room in the housing I'd install a Cummins diesel one like my truck has. It has a very large opening and a rubber seal on the valve. It lasted 250,000 miles.

Venting

bentwings said:

What do I call this hood? If yours is a bikini, what's this a thong. haha ......

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NICE PICTURE..... As some of you may have noticed I am recently "new member" to GHR forum..... have been doing a lot of reading of older threads and hanging out in the "garage" checking out all the really nice gassers & hot rods members have posted.

I am converting a "Drag Car" back to being a "street/strip car". Even though the car has NOT had a history I am going to do everything I can think of to improve cooling .... "just in case".

One thing that is often not done today is "venting" the engine compartment where/when possible.

Back "in the day" drag racers used to put "shims" in the back of the hood between the hood hinge & the hood so that the back of the hood would have an opening in the back of the hood and allow heat to escape.

Remember, hood louvers, even though they are one of the "coolest hot rod" add-ons are also a great weigh to "vent" the engine compartment.

The engine in our car is setback a "LOT" placing it completely UNDER the cowl and surrounded by a engine cover. I am going to "vent" this area by adding a fan to "stir up" the air in the back of this "box" along with installing a hood scoop, fender vents & possibly hood louvers..... every little bit helps!!!!

406Rich said:

I too have had the stop light issue with my coupe, although my problem is no room for a standard puller or electric fan bcause silly me never moved the motor back like I should have ....... I`m old school but at 200 I get nervous, I never wanted to cut the perfect firewall, but I probably will have to. View attachment 864 View attachment 863

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First off your '37 looks really good and the old school mags make it even better looking.

I'm "old school" also because at 200 degrees I start to "stare" at the temperature gauge "NON-STOP" .... I squeeze my hands around the steering wheel until they turn "blue" and beads of sweat start to slowly "drip" from my forehead..... HA!!!

Right now we are on our "honeymoon" with our Opel (which we traded a hot rod El Camino for) so things like "street manners" have yet to be discovered.

The Opel has been a "strip only car" for a very long time. The previous owner said he never had any issues at the drag strip but the drag strip is NOT like driving on the street. o even though I should not be worried based on what the car has done for years I am still taking a good LONG look at the current cooling setup & what I would like to do improve it. Both for more cooling & of course for looks!!!!

Rich it looks like you have done all you can do for now. All the "major to-do's" are done.

Here's some "food for thought"....... A "minor" yet possible "helpful" improvement would be to use an "aluminum oil pan". Most people think these oil pans were made strictly for "looks".

The classic "finned aluminum" helps to dissipate heat thru its finned design & of course "aluminum" also dissipates heat much better than "steel" oil pans. A rather inexpensive upgrade for potential cooling & "good looks".
http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/norm/trd-9004_w_m.jpg

Only hang up is finned oil pans are only made with a factory/OEM stock 4 quart oil capacity.

Going to a aluminum oil pan with "increased oil capacity" (2-4 quart increase over stock oil pans) is another option to consider. In addition to the increased oil capacity the prices for these "aluminum oil pans" (they are a work of art!!!) are NOT cheap.

I already have one of these on my "wish list".
http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/stf-1095_w.jpg

Most of the aluminum pans I've had any dealings with were ill fitting imports. I guess if you can find a quality oil pan it might be different, but even then it wont cool better at idle where you're having issues now, as you're not moving so it wont help.
Now a remote oil cooler would be of great help, and they can be easily plumbed into the oil filter position by using a remote oil filter kit, then plumb the cooler into the lines for the kit by buying one more line to go from the cooler to the filter. I've seen a few people do this for road race cars that run hard and hot, and it definitely works.
I've got a remote kit I had on my Camaro when I raced it, and took it off when I returned it to street only use. I'm toying with plumbing it into the Austin this winter when I do my next upgrades, and maybe an oil cooler too.