How hot is to hot SBC 355 with steel heads ina pure stock car?

[twizted]

I was just wondering what yall consider to hot for a 355 with stock cast iron heads aluminum intake very mild motor small cam. It will hit 220 sometimes 230 in feature,guy that built the motor said run it as long as it aint pushing water out.
Car has new radiator, tight fan shroud, checked timming, straight water in radiator, 21 pound cap, pump gas 93 octane - tried race gas no real change. Thanks for any imput

[fast_crew]

If it's not pushing water it should be ok. I would still try to get about 20-30*s out of it. How do the plugs look(not lean)? How much timing are you running and is it locked out? How open is the front end (grille area)? Are you running a restrictor in the T-stat housing? What fan are you using? With this info we should be able to help you get it alittle cooler.

[ggp127]

you should be running 1 to 1 pullys,and make sure your hoses are'nt sucking shut.

[twizted]

Plugs look a lil rich
Timming is at 34 with distributor lock
Grill is cut with 12 2" holes about and 1" apart with a row or 6 3" under the grill
no air (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) built under it or anything like that
new 28" radiator (metric chassis)
bottom of Monte Carlo nose is about 9" off the ground in front
there is a 1" washer in T stat housing ( that will be coming out this week cause I have a race pump on now,
No one I race with is having cooling issues like I am some dont even have any holes in their nose?, Motor has like 10:1 compression small cam and run it on 93 octane tried race gas no real difference other than wallet thinner.
I got desperate and put Water wetter in today to try that and plan to pull washer from T stat housing next week I have been trying something diff every week and still pushing 230 at the end of feature. She will cool back down when you pat the gas under caution or if your not dogging it but run her hard and she climbs to about 220-230 by last lap of feature.

Thank for any help!

[fast_crew]

If the watter wetter and pulling the restrictor don't seem to help, not sure what fan your using but the GM high pitch 4 blade or a replica will be your best bet for max cooling.

[twizted]

It hit 230 last night but I was running it hard had a caution with 4 to go and she cooled down a lil and I finished was gonna pull of but got it down to 210 I think and stayed out. Restrictor is coming out if that dont help water pump is getting swapped out and the fan with a gm cause it is supposed to move more air.

If that dont fix I am about out of ideas. Thanks for advice

[docbolton]

only want half ur fan in shroud try big gm 4blade fan

[Egoracing]

Soak out your radiator! Use a kiddie pool and a few drops of Ivory soap and put enough water in to cover teh fin area without filling the water tubes. Let it soak and move it up and down a little,then change the water out and let it soak again. Keep doing this until the water stays clean.

[Driver88]

You only want your shroud to cover half of your fan blades all the way around. If you have to rev it under caution to cool it off you prob dont have 1to1 pulleys on your water pump which you need. Also I would would take the 1in washer out of your thermostat housing but I would go back with a smaller one(½-¾). If your car is continuing to get hot the longer you run but cools off when you slow down the water isnt staying in your radiator long enough to cool off before it goes back into your engine. A smaller washer will help with this. When you slow for caution your pump slows down so the water is in your radiator longer so it cools down then when ya rev it a bit it pumps the cool water thur your engine.
I hope this helps.

[918 Racing]

that will fix it had same problem put 19in 4blade on dont get over 210 now.

[Dirtrunner35]

http://www.limaland.com/gallery.phtml?show=4731&gallerynum=2009
No holes in front, make a shroud in front of the radiator, so the air goes under the front bumper and into the radiator

[Egoracing]

All a restrictor is for is to create pressure in the block, If you have a 1/2 decent water pump you do not need the restrictor. The miss information that is allows water to heat soak faster is not true. Go to Stewart Components web site and read up! www.stewartcomponents.com No BS, and this guy sells pumps not radiators but he will tell you how to cool your car PERIOD. Before anyone wants to argue, this is the person that has his pumps on about 90% of the CUP, Nationwide and Truck Series engines along with a BUNCH of the top teams in dirt racing. If we can cool a iron block 850+hp and a 604 crate all with a single pass radiator and use his information anyone can and save a bunch of money.

[918 Racing]

All a restrictor is for is to create pressure in the block, If you have a 1/2 decent water pump you do not need the restrictor. The miss information that is allows water to heat soak faster is not true. Go to Stewart Components web site and read up! www.stewartcomponents.com No BS, and this guy sells pumps not radiators but he will tell you how to cool your car PERIOD. Before anyone wants to argue, this is the person that has his pumps on about 90% of the CUP, Nationwide and Truck Series engines along with a BUNCH of the top teams in dirt racing. If we can cool a iron block 850+hp and a 604 crate all with a single pass radiator and use his information anyone can and save a bunch of money.

sounds expensive 4 blade fans about 40 bucs and i guarantee it will fix it !

[Egoracing]

sounds expensive 4 blade fans about 40 bucs and i guarantee it will fix it !

PLEASE tell me how reading something is expensive? Stewart says point blank. good fan, single pass radiator, a good pump, no restrictor or a good T stat, and to keep the pump about 6000 rpm. Simple, cheap and it works.

[usafracer]

Where is your temp sender located? Had a guy that I built a motor for kept telling me it was overheating. He had the sender in the head.

[3dinter]

Thats my question too,,,where is your temp sensor located ??
in the head or in the intake or in the water neck ??

[Driver88]

Well my car ran hot. I bought a $5 pack of restrictors (or you can knock the center out of an old thermostat) and put one in. Which im sure made the water stay in the rad longer and now car car doesnt run hot. Putting a new pump on it my have made it run cooler too. Im not sure I didnt try that the restrictor was alot easier and cheaper.
I also run a oem pump.

[Egoracing]

Well my car ran hot. I bought a $5 pack of restrictors (or you can knock the center out of an old thermostat) and put one in. Which im sure made the water stay in the rad longer and now car car doesnt run hot. Putting a new pump on it my have made it run cooler too. Im not sure I didnt try that the restrictor was alot easier and cheaper.
I also run a oem pump.

You area causing back pressure in the engine which is killing steam pockets which will cause the water to boil out. You are better off letting the water flow and getting a good pump as it is worth HP in the pump design and lower back pressure on the pump.

[Driver88]

Well Im thinking Ill be ok. I have a GM water pump and Gm puts a thermostat in when they put the engine together. And a thermostat either stops the water flow or restricts it. But thanks for concern.

[DANNY]

All a restrictor is for is to create pressure in the block, If you have a 1/2 decent water pump you do not need the restrictor. The miss information that is allows water to heat soak faster is not true. Go to Stewart Components web site and read up! www.stewartcomponents.com No BS, and this guy sells pumps not radiators but he will tell you how to cool your car PERIOD. Before anyone wants to argue, this is the person that has his pumps on about 90% of the CUP, Nationwide and Truck Series engines along with a BUNCH of the top teams in dirt racing. If we can cool a iron block 850+hp and a 604 crate all with a single pass radiator and use his information anyone can and save a bunch of money.

Hey Ego, thats some good reading... Too bad not everyone understands it lol ;)

You know i have run 30% reductions since the start and i notmally run 190-210 depending on if the grille is blocked... :)

[Egoracing]

Hey Ego, thats some good reading... Too bad not everyone understands it lol ;)

You know i have run 30% reductions since the start and i notmally run 190-210 depending on if the grille is blocked... :)

We had HUGE issues with one motor and spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the man him self and were going to order one of his pumps. He actually talked us out of it and said that the pump we had was good enough. He talked us into taking the coolant bypass tubes off of the motor saying that in some applications they will catch air from a steam pocket and cause it to push water and create more problems. BINGO, No more overheating. We tried dual pass radiators, 2 water pumps, special T stats, restrictor and no restrictor, special additives some were quite expensive. Nothing helped. Followed his rules and the car went from 240-250 at the end of a 30 lap race to 220 during a day time practice when the air temp was into triple digits. Heck we ran hot at the Ice Bowl at Talladega when it was 28 in the morning and hit a whole 55 for a high.

[sj valley dave]

An OEM water pump is designed for running down the road at 40 mph and idling in parking lots..IMO You need a good basic foundation to start from and that means a good pump designed for a racing application. In the past we have used Moroso, Edelbrock, Stewarts and now have an Adams pump on our Dirt Late Model...

[twizted]

Will try to answer questions asked -
- Car has an aluminum race pump dont know brand and coleman pulleys
- Temp sensor is in drivers side head but I added one to to water neck to compare
- removed washer that was a gutted Tstat (maybe wrong maybe right for removing?)
- Belts are almost to tight for me, I can turn motor with fan without slipping belts

Plan to try no restrictor in practice and heat if it doesnt cool better got a friend supposed to bring me a restrictor to try that way. like I said i'm running out of ideas but thank for all input. As of right now I follow the school of thought that the fast the water moves the better it will cool.

[chevy370lsx]

13:1 355, 36 degrees on 110, with Moroso pump, 25% reduction pulley, 5/8 restrictor, no holes in nose piece... 190-210 depends on outside temp.. I'm a firm believer in a restrictor, used to run 220-230 with no restrictor and holes up front and even had a sprinkler in front of the radiator and I ended up putting the restrictor in and solved my issues, but what works for one may not work for another. Just stating my expirience..

[DaveBauerSS6]

IMCA Stock car and Pro Stock, 2 and 4 bbl motors, 36 degrees on 110, with Edelbrock water pumps, 1 to 1 pulleys , no restrictor, single pass afco radiator, holes in nose piece, 200 temp in 100 degree valley heat, 4 blade fan 1/2 in a tight shroud and about 1/2 gallon of antifreeze mainly to prevent corrosion. And like Jeff says tight belts. Also like ego said, bath and shake the radiator every 4 races. Very important. Tried a spoiler early on and it seemed to scoop up debris and beat the lower rad fins. I scrapped it when I found this combination. The IMCA car will run 170 in March and April; have to tape off the radiator.
Have used this in other cars I'm involved with and it works.