'36 Phaeton cooling system advice.

Rakkasan

Rakkasan

Member
Picked up my phaeton from the body shop where some very bad scratches, and weird body work was being corrected, and decided to take it to the cruise at Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida. Everything was fine until the end when all the cars cruised through the park so the people could ooooh and ahhhhh. Got through alright but when I pulled up to my trailer I noticed the car overheating badly.

Getting it home I checked the water pumps and they're working properly, and there wasn't any noticeable buildup going into the engine. I drained the system and put in some "water wetter" which helped a little, but it's still running too hot while it's idling or moving at a slow speed like in a parade.

Two things I noticed, and this is what I need advice with, is that there was no thermostat (though I doubt that would be the reason for the over heating), and it looked like the fins on the engine side of the radiator had been bent in an area covering about a 1/10 of the radiator. Looked to me like the previous owner banged into it when trying to install the generator. (Just a guess) I tried spreading the fins out as best I could but it still gets too hot. So should I have a new core put in the radiator or is there something else I should be looking at?
 
I would make sure the fins are "straightened " out so air flows thru them. What is the condition of the rest of the cooling system? Timing? Etc, etc.
Paul in CT
 
I had to run a "acid" through my engine to remove all the sediments from back in the day when people used to put creek water in there car on the side of the road. It helped a lot but still on a hot day it will overheat some.
 
you can buy a fin straightening tool at most radiator dealers, it looks like a comb and you just run it thru the fins, a quick check for a plugged radiator, when engine is running and warmed up put your hand at the top of the rad, it should be hot , now put your hand at the bottom, it should be a lot cooler, if not the water is not flowing, DONT get your hand near the fan, or if some one has an infrared gun for heat checking borrow it, slow timing and no shroud will contribute to over heating, you might try putting on a bigger fan, one with more blades
 
Rakkasan ....................
If you are running a very slow idle speed, that might be your problem. At slow idle, very little air is circulating through your engine compartment and the flathead water pumps do not work well at slow speed.
MIKE :)
 
You can purchase a fin comb at Harbor Freight or other similar store that will help you straighten the fins on your radiator. Also, this is the nature of early V8 Fords. Henry did not design the cars to sit in traffic.
 
what is "overheating badly"....symptoms, etc??....might check the temps at the heads, etc. with infrared temp gun to see if the temps are the same as shown on your gauge??....Mike
 
I probably sound like a commercial for Skip Haney but I am sold on his water pumps and overflow check valve after they totally solved the over heating problems with my '35 fordor. I had constant overheating problems with my car regardless of how fast I drove it. After installing a set of his rebuilt pumps and a radiator overflow check valve I have had no more problems with overheating in the last two years. This includes driving in 100*+ temperatures.
 
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