Ok. I put a 160° thermostat in. It will run at 160 as long as it's 70-75 ° out. But now that its its 90° it still runs at 190-200. So the thermostat was a waist of time. Then I put a trans cooler on, it only runs at 150° if it's 75°out what a waist of money. By the way it has a fan on it. What???
thanks
John..

 

And also. I have switch on the dash so that I can turn it on when I want to.its a 383s.

 

what are you trying to accomplish?

Neal

 

The thermostat will only keep the coolant at the set temp IF the cooling system has enough capacity for that 160 temp. If it does not as the temperature outside rises, the coolant temps will go up regardless of the thermostat. You could have a radiator issue, hood seal issue, air dam issues, water pump issues or even engine issues like timing incorrectly set too retarded etc. Lots could be going on. My L-82 355 450 gross HP engine never goes above 180 degrees with a Dewitts aluminum radiator, Robertshaw Specially modified 180 theromstat, High flow stewart aluminum water pump, stock mechanical L-82 heavy duty clutch fan and AFR aluminum heads..never.

If your tranny temps never go below 150 degrees even on cool days, the cooler is probably too small (GVW rating) for the the heat transfer you need. Most of the fan mounted coolers are very small. I run big GVW Long/Dana coolers on all my daily drivers and a mustang GT and the temps never exceed 150 degrees even on 90+ temp days. None of these cars have mechanical fans either for constant air flow through the coolers...all have electric cooling fans that cycle on and off without the AC running.

 

Well I've seen guys on here say that they can keep the trans running at 150° all the time. All the money I spent, you would think that the engine and transmission would run cooler. I waisted allot of money. It ran at the same temperature without adding all the upgrades.stupid!!

 

The whole engine. And radiator,are brand new. It was built by a race shop. Everything is brand new. I don't know if the fan is too small or not. The mechanic said it was big enough to pull a RV. But on these carsc there's no air flow. So money waisted!

 

And I also have a high flow water pump!

 

You running the trans cooler as a stand alone or in conjunction with the radiator cooling for the tranny? I run all my coolers as stand alone...no radiator cooling, The cooler does all the heat transfer.

 

Yeah. It's not running through the radiator
Because to me that for sure would have been a waist of time. I pulled the clock out and put a temperature guage in. Everything is beautiful. But I haven't reached the goal. If it was70° out. Everything would be okay. Bummer..

 

What do you have for a radiator?

 

A 15 degree increase in ambient air temp will not cause a 30-40 degree increase in coolant temperature.......impossible. I would double check your gauge.
Also....cooling the trans down more will have little effect on coolant temp as well.......I mean it will help some.....reduce underhood temps, but water temp is water temp......not the temp of the engine or the oil.......actually oil temp is much more important but nobody ever monitors it.
190-200 is fine.......but I prefer 170-180 in Texas as it is just hot outside.....this keeps the components of the engine cooler.
But lets go through a couple of things:
1) Spring in lower hose?
2) High flow Thompson-Stant style thermostat? (Lets your hi-flow pump be hi flow )
3) Do you have the lower front lip spoiler......(this is huge..bottom breather car )
4) Pop the headlights up......does it help? ( This helps determine if airflow is insuffcient....the headlights when retracted restrict airflow from the very front grilles)
5) Run with the hood popped...does that help?..(Old C2 trick.....is the air getting out?)

Just a few things......I may think of more....

Good luck

Jebby

 

It's a aluminum radiator. Brand new, that's all that I know. But everything is the best. I don't know like I used to. But even the centrfical fan has extra fan blades on it. The whole works are new. The engine has less than 1000 miles on it. The trans is built with heavy dudy cluches. Shift kit. With a 3500 stall.

 

Will running with the head lights open really help? It just doesn't seem like there's that much of a Gap between the opening ta me?

 

3500 stall running through the radiator then the cooler?
(thats your issue)
By pass thje radiator, run your trans lines only to the external cooler and back youll see a nice difference.
Had the same issue with a measly 2800 stall. Those create a lot of heat, and when they slip can raise your coolant temps. Dont give up yet

Also know that longer stroke and the fact the engine is tight will create a little more heat than the 350.
My old 350 would run around 170-175 all day, the 383 wants to run about 10 deg warmer.
Theres always the option of adding an oil cooler if youre not happy with the results think youll be fine without it.

 

When I look through the grilles on my 72......all I see is lights.......when I open the lights......I can see the radiator........kinda of an old school thing but I saw it work for my Dad in person in the 80's on his 77'.............all because he was missing the (drum roll) Lip Spoiler! He put that on and highway temp dropped 20-25 degrees!

Jebby

 

Well no. I passed the radiator. And then used 3/8 lines V's the 1/4 inch lines that were there. That was supposed to let the fluid run more vigorously.

 

I agree that TRUSTING that your gauge is PERFECT and reads correctly though out the entire scale is doubtful. Especially when you start to get to higher temps if it is an electric gauge using sender. I have had new temp senders be off by 100 degrees F.

I am NOT a fan of leaving the hood cracked open due to any air from the engine compartment can now get pulled into the cabin through the cowl area.

YES....I guess if the person KNOWS for a fact that the engine has no exhaust leaks and all is good. I guess they can do as they wish...but I do get customers who complain about smells in the cabin and many times it is due to the under hood w/strip has been removed.

And for what it may be worth. Just keep in mind...or at least I do.... that 90 degree air temp is NOT how hot the pavement is. So the car is sucking up the air coming off of the pavement. SO...the increase you see CAN be valid due to the pavement temps on a sunny 90 degree F day can be well over 100 degrees F+.

And...if your transmission cooler is mounted down low right in front of the radiator...and it is running at XXX degrees F. Then you might need to possibly stop and think that the air coming off of it that is being blown onto the radiator right before the coolant goes back into the engine may be getting preheated or NOT being allowed to fully cool down due to the trans cooler being in that location.

It is not my car...so my opinion on the temperatures you are currently running at makes no difference. If you were a customer of mine and asked me for my opinion...then I would let you know what I think about this.

DUB

 

Thanks.DUB. I do agree with everything you said. The exhaust is new. All the wires are new through out the car. The cluster guages are NOS. I guess that from the HP and TQ, that that's the way it's gonna be.. I can live with it. The car is nearly mit. Im just used to my C5Z. Everything is perfect.
thanks
John

 

I guess that I could take the whole front facia off and the hood,then it will run cooler! Hahahahaha...

 

Just out of curiosity, where did you install the trans cooler? That 3500 stall converter is going to make some heat in the fluid as well, so placement of the cooler is important.