banman
Well Oiled
- Dec 10, 2012
- 1,503
- First Name
- David
- Willys Model
- Wagon
- Willys Year:
- 1954
Interesting... (I've got a 283/ M465/D-18w/od so very similar) I also used to run warm (220+)--but I never overheated (boiled over). 16lb thermostat on a 3 core radiator. The SBC was designed to cruise on the highway at 2400rpm--the water pump should be doing fine with that. Do you have the oem pulleys on the engine? You could try swapping a smaller pulley on the water pump to increase the rpm of the pump. Only cost you a pulley and a belt to try... Can also get a cheap IR thermometer 'gun' and see what the temps really are on the heads, intake, various spots on the radiator and "see" what's happening...Back home finally. The shop put in a 26" wide radiator that gave more cooling capacity. Helped quite a bit. The rest of the ride went pretty smooth. Had to shim the outside of the starter more. The overheating remains a problem - At 2200 rpm with the overdrive I figure I am going between 60 and 65, and the temperature holds around 215-220 degrees. However in traffic, at a stop light, or going up a hill the temp climbs on up. I've gotten as high as 250 again before I realize it and slow way down going up a hill. I'm right in there with the semis crawling up the big hills.
I just had a possible brainstorm - I have been using Herm's overdrive on my sbc 350 and TH350 rig, with the dana 18 transfer case. I need to get the shims to allow to it go back to direct, so it has been in overdrive constantly. Would this cause the overheating? My thinking is that with the lower rpm, the water pump isn't turning as fast and not circulating water as well. 60 mph before would be 3500 rpm, now it is around 2400 rpm - that would be about 30% less rpm - would that equate to quite a bit lower waterflow?
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