226 G straight 6 overheating
- Thread starter edhd58
- Start date
Vintage Copper 47
Senior Member
Did the shroud help? 
edhd58
Well-known member
Well yesterday it seems I had both an air flow issue and a possible capacity issue. One person thought the fan belt may have been just a little loose. At idle in the traffic jam leaving the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville it got to 200 degrees. It never boiled over, it never percolated but I didn't like it being at 200 degreets. Once I got out of heavy traffic and got rolling it cooled back down to about 160 to 170 when I was 45 to 55 miles an hour.
When I got on Interstate 65 and was running 65 to 70 miles an hour the temperature climb back up to 190 and pretty much stayed there. The thing is I have a 180 thermostat in it so my thinking is it should have stayed down around 180.
While at the Street Rod Nationals yesterday I did purchase a 16-inch Pusher fan that I'm going to install on it today.
This means I'm thinking I am going to do away with the regular fan and the fan shroud.
Any opinions on keeping the regular fan with the electric fan versus doing away with the regular fan with the electric fan installed.
One thing I did notice in tearing this thing down and getting ready to install the electric fan is that the water pump shaft has possibly two different lengths bells the fan mounts to and I've included the picture of those.
With the installation of the electric fan I am not going to worry about which Bell is on the water pump.
one thing I'm doing today is I am going to get a 160-degree thermostat to replace the 180-degree thermostat.
When I got on Interstate 65 and was running 65 to 70 miles an hour the temperature climb back up to 190 and pretty much stayed there. The thing is I have a 180 thermostat in it so my thinking is it should have stayed down around 180.
While at the Street Rod Nationals yesterday I did purchase a 16-inch Pusher fan that I'm going to install on it today.
This means I'm thinking I am going to do away with the regular fan and the fan shroud.
Any opinions on keeping the regular fan with the electric fan versus doing away with the regular fan with the electric fan installed.
One thing I did notice in tearing this thing down and getting ready to install the electric fan is that the water pump shaft has possibly two different lengths bells the fan mounts to and I've included the picture of those.
With the installation of the electric fan I am not going to worry about which Bell is on the water pump.
one thing I'm doing today is I am going to get a 160-degree thermostat to replace the 180-degree thermostat.
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Vintage Copper 47
Senior Member
I am not a "FAN" of electric fans... I think having one in front as as supplemental may be ok.. My radiator needs re-coring.. but I have been driving it around the county and if I keep speeds at 65 it will be at 200 degrees.. when I cruise at 60 it reads 180-190... Now the temp outside last weekend was 95+... so not too bad.. I know the motor should run cooler than that.. but as I repair/replace other items, this radiator will have to suffice. I have another radiator that I want to have rebuilt (I am a firm believer in keeping cars moving unless a major repair requires it to be down)... So when I have the scratch to rebuild it and rebuild another water pump, it will have to wait.. One thing about the straight six, they don't overheat to the point of seizure like a V8 will.. Case in point.. early July I was leaving San Pedro (hot rod lincoln fame).. and got a small hole in the bottom radiator hose.. going thru the Sepulveda Pass into the Valley and the engine temp got up to 230 degrees.. but even at a stop light it kept running til I got her home... I did a radiator flush and replaced the hoses.. which it gives me the temps at the top of this paragraph.. who knows, by the time I get the money to install the rebuilt radiator, the weather will cool to 70-80 degrees and it won't matter so much.. 
edhd58
Well-known member
Vintage Copper 47, I too am not a fan of adding things that werent there originally. Problem is, I cant get this thing to stay cool. Something you said kind of holds true to this car too. The harder I run it the warmer it gets. Problem is it doesnt seem like its running hard at 70, but it heats up.
Vintage Copper 47
Senior Member
I think you are still in the operating range.. I wouldn't worry so much.. My car gets warm going over a grade.. then cools down to 170 on the downslope.. From what everyone tells me.. these motors handle heat very well.. It is summer after all.. leave on the shroud.. stay on the highway, see how she does once the weather cools down... It might be fine..
edhd58
Well-known member
Ok. Here's an update. Electric fan is in. Sensor is in the thermostat housing. Temp gauge sensor is inn the head in the back. I let it idle till the temp reached 200 the gauge. The fan never came on , so i bypassed the fan sensor and the fan came on. Now i am wondering if there is a water delivery problem that cool water is not getting to the back of the motor.
Question now is, is the front of the motor that much cooler than the back. Is my gauge right, do I even have a problem. So many questions now. Looks like i have more testing to do.
Question now is, is the front of the motor that much cooler than the back. Is my gauge right, do I even have a problem. So many questions now. Looks like i have more testing to do.
edhd58
Well-known member
Well as crazy as what I am going to say sounds, it's my only explanation.
I think the overheating issue on my car may be attributed to me trying to make it go faster than it wants to.
Here is what has transpired since my last post.
I was talking to an engine builder that has some NASCAR engine building friends. There is some type engine they run that has a rear of the motor cooling issue and they run a line from the back of the motor to the water pump making the water pump actually suck water from the back of the motor.
SO as you can see in the pics, I did this.
I was also was believing the back of the motor was much hotter than the front of the motor because the cooling fan i installed never came on even though the temp gauge showed 210, and this is supposed to be cured by running the new hose.
So I now have a hose from the back of the head to the water pump AND I now have two temp gauges, one at the water pump(old one), one (new one)at the very back of the head.
I put a sheet of paper in front of the radiator to make it heat quick and fired the motor up.
BOTH temp gauges come to temp and are about 5 degrees off, the new one (bigger face) is 5 degrees cooler.
At 205 the cooling fan still hasn't come on, (195 on 185 off) so I ground the connection to the base of the sensor and the fan comes on (new sensor gonna be purchased).
I pull the paper from the radiator, turn the fan on and at fast idle the temp comes down on both gauges, and they stay 5 degrees apart, the new one is the cooler.
SOOOO I decide to drive it. At 65 to 70 it warms up to almost 200, fan on or fan off. I wish i had a tach so I would know the RPMs. So I slow down to 60 and it cools down (both gauges) to right at 190 and stays there.
The air temp is upper 80s. I do not have the lower air dam installed, I am going to do that tomorrow, and drive it again. I've heard that makes a difference.
The new gauge, at the back of the motor is showing always 5 degrees cooler than the other. I think this may just be gauge variation.
I'll keep you posted
I think the overheating issue on my car may be attributed to me trying to make it go faster than it wants to.
Here is what has transpired since my last post.
I was talking to an engine builder that has some NASCAR engine building friends. There is some type engine they run that has a rear of the motor cooling issue and they run a line from the back of the motor to the water pump making the water pump actually suck water from the back of the motor.
SO as you can see in the pics, I did this.
I was also was believing the back of the motor was much hotter than the front of the motor because the cooling fan i installed never came on even though the temp gauge showed 210, and this is supposed to be cured by running the new hose.
So I now have a hose from the back of the head to the water pump AND I now have two temp gauges, one at the water pump(old one), one (new one)at the very back of the head.
I put a sheet of paper in front of the radiator to make it heat quick and fired the motor up.
BOTH temp gauges come to temp and are about 5 degrees off, the new one (bigger face) is 5 degrees cooler.
At 205 the cooling fan still hasn't come on, (195 on 185 off) so I ground the connection to the base of the sensor and the fan comes on (new sensor gonna be purchased).
I pull the paper from the radiator, turn the fan on and at fast idle the temp comes down on both gauges, and they stay 5 degrees apart, the new one is the cooler.
SOOOO I decide to drive it. At 65 to 70 it warms up to almost 200, fan on or fan off. I wish i had a tach so I would know the RPMs. So I slow down to 60 and it cools down (both gauges) to right at 190 and stays there.
The air temp is upper 80s. I do not have the lower air dam installed, I am going to do that tomorrow, and drive it again. I've heard that makes a difference.
The new gauge, at the back of the motor is showing always 5 degrees cooler than the other. I think this may just be gauge variation.
I'll keep you posted
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Vintage Copper 47
Senior Member
Yesterday, I took the car to Ontario Convention Center in the early morning for a badge collector's show.. the temp outside was around 70 degrees.. the motor stayed between 160 & 180 degrees at 62 mph... When I sped up to 65-70 the temp went up to 185-190 degrees..
I had the car inside the display area of the Convention Center all morning in a climate controlled A/C building.. nice and cool..
When I drove home it was about 91 degrees outside.. The motor temp was about 190-195 degrees... at 65 mph.. when I lowered the speed to 60-62 mph, the motor temp dropped back down to 180-185 degrees.. So YES, pushing the motor a little can raise the temp..
Now remember, this radiator still needs a flush/recore/rebuild, etc.. So not bad temps.. Drive it.. I know you want perfection.. but these babies are like lawnmower engines.. just let em run!
I had the car inside the display area of the Convention Center all morning in a climate controlled A/C building.. nice and cool..
When I drove home it was about 91 degrees outside.. The motor temp was about 190-195 degrees... at 65 mph.. when I lowered the speed to 60-62 mph, the motor temp dropped back down to 180-185 degrees.. So YES, pushing the motor a little can raise the temp..
Now remember, this radiator still needs a flush/recore/rebuild, etc.. So not bad temps.. Drive it.. I know you want perfection.. but these babies are like lawnmower engines.. just let em run!
