radiators

I personally think if you switched from a pusher to a puller electric and probably a nice copper unit you would be ok. I got an aluminum one but I don't have a shroud for it and have a mechanical fan and it will creep up when in traffic. I'm going to switch to a big electric soon puller though.

Cobain03 said:

the motor was rebuilt this year, so the block should be flowing good.

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being rebuilt has nothing to do with flowing good. Your talking about a 40 year old block, the rust builds up in the water jackets over the years and hot tanking it will not get rid of all of it.

I went through the same thing with my .060 289, tried everything out there for YEARS till i found the right combo

I would suggest a three row copper instead of four beacuse the 4-rows usually use smaller tubes than the 3-row negating any benefit from the extra row. Stock shroud and stock fan should work well. These can be had for around $150 or $160.
Any small block bored more than .030 over is usually going to have problems cooling due to thin walls.
I agree to check everything else first. After hot tanking you can still stick your finger in the freeze plug holes and get gobs and gobs of casting sand out so that does not guarantee a clean block. After hot-tanking, a block should be power flushed with detergent and a pressure washer through all holes and then cleaned with brushes.
A friend of mine wouldn't listen to advice from others and spent $1500 on aluminum rad., Edelbrock pump, electric fan w/thermostat, coolant filters,etc...Turned out his thermostat was stuck, ($10 problem).

Good post!

iskwezm said:

being rebuilt has nothing to do with flowing good. Your talking about a 40 year old block, the rust builds up in the water jackets over the years and hot tanking it will not get rid of all of it.

I went through the same thing with my .060 289, tried everything out there for YEARS till i found the right combo

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Thank you for posting that. Really irritates me when someone says "I just did XXX so it must be right". I've seen them punch the old freeze plugs right into the block, and cause hot spots.
Point being, take abso-fricken-lutely nothing for granted. Less the egg be on your face.

I do like the idea of the wider '68 radiator. Like Pontiac used to say... "wider is better"

Scott

Tim65GT said:

I upgraded to a 4 row copper 6 years ago, but can't say how much better it is because I didn't drive it in the summer with the 2 row and the AC condenser in front of it.

I am planning on putting the biggest crossflow aluminum radiator I can fit, because the 4 row copper can't keep it cool with the AC on.

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Not really necessary. I just tested my new Griffin GRI-7-565BC-CAX Muscle Car radiator today in my '65 with a 306cu. It was a drop-in installation except for the bottom radiator support needed to be cut a bit. This thick core radiator cools like you wouldn't believe even with the AC on in 93 degree heat. I have the Derale DER-16926 electric fan/shroud combo which is the same one sold to Scott Drake and HotRod Air.