How can I tell? The original motor was a 283 but was changed just prior to me purchasing it. It has a 160 deg thermostat in but runs about 180 on the highway. It will hit 240 at a long stop light.

-- Edited by Duggie on Sunday 1st of April 2012 01:39:45 PM

V8 cars never used a shroud,  they had a spacer between the craddle and the rad.

You should have the spacer and be running a short pump.

TrueConnections Chevelles makes the proper shroud that was used on some 327 and AC cars,  it is used along with the spacer and no clearance issues.

Here is a stock 67 setup for reference

do you know if your engine bore is standard, 30, 40 or 60 over?

The engine is 1968 which was bored .040 over. Flat top pistons, L79 cam, 461 Camel back heads with 62 cc combustion chamber. Edelbrook Hi Performance manifold with a 600 CFM carb. Puts out about 370 HP.

That engine shouldn't run that hot... I'd check a few other things first... as Paul mentioned, the timing first, experiment with another thermostat (and check yours that it is even opening), try running without one even, your water pump may also be a culprit - cooling comes down to flow, there's a few free things to try before you spend any $...(if you haven't tried them yet)... You may also consider an upgrade to gm hd clutch fan (most guys swear by them)

your rad is probably a 3 row rad (they all have one core) and should be up to task to cool the car... I haven't seen the shroud you bought in person, but if your set up is original i woundn't think it would hit the ps pump etc.etc.. post up some pics of the set up...

ak

i have to chime in on this one, i have exactly the same combination or had in the wagon, its not 370 horse but about 470 at the wheels, i used to run a 3 core rad with no fan, it was fine on the highway running about 180 in traffic the temp would quickly climb. it ran a max of 4 degrees of timing otherwise it would ping on todays high test, the cam was a bit bigger that the L79. the new engine is a 10.7, 30 over L 79 torquer and it runs a big fan with clutch 160/180 thurmostat summer winter, it now runs a big block rad at  180 all day long 210 while towing heavy loads. i have a space of 4 " between the rad and fan. remember that some pontiac motor would run up to 250, these old motors due run hotter.

Hi Everyone,
First I would like to thank everyone for their help and suggestions. this is a great site. I will start with a new thermostat, probably leave it at 160 degrees. I have just put new plugs in and new wires on, the HEI cap is next as the posts and rotor looked liked they were arcing. The rad is a 3 row, I verified that today. It is 24" wide, I think it should be 25 1/2" judging by the mounting brackets. I will try to post a few pictures later if I can figure out how.

https://s1062.photobucket.com/albums/t493/trimaster33/

-- Edited by Duggie on Monday 2nd of April 2012 07:59:23 PM

-- Edited by Duggie on Monday 2nd of April 2012 08:45:18 PM

-- Edited by Duggie on Monday 2nd of April 2012 08:50:01 PM

I put a shroud on my 66 Beaumont and it fit perfectly.The flange or bracket on the radiator has to be flush with the radiator when bolted to the rad support,the shroud will only fit one way,try to flip it if it has clearance issues,and of course the spacer has to come off the radiator because there isn't room for the the shroud and spacer.I got my shroud from True Connections as well.

Wow - I must say I am impressed. 370 HP from a 283 is very impressive. 65wagon's 470 HP at the rear wheels is amazing! You guys obviously know what you're doing. I could never get that much out of 283 that was to be driven on the street. Out of curiosity, what RPM's are you turning at those HP numbers? What's the maximum torque? Very impressive numbers.

The core in mine (a '66 with V8 and no AC, but I think it is the same as the '67's) is 15.5 inches by 23.5 inches (measured). The catalog says it is 15-5/8 inches by 23 inches...

I agree that your rad should be keeping you cool even without the shroud. I overheat when idling for long periods on hot days - but I am running a long water pump and no spacer. I have a couple inches between the fan and the radiator - too much. I remember reading somewhere that you should have about 3/4 inches clearance and you wouldn't need a shroud.

My engine is pretty lame by comparison though - only 330 HP out of a 350, so it should run a lot cooler.

One other thought - the pulleys haven't been altered to reduce fan speed have they? I seem to recall guys doing this for high revving engines. Some of the fans won't tolerate the 7000+ RPM's some of these 283's are subjected to.

i dont think i said 283 if i did sorry about that, that kind of horse power would make a 283 act like a 302 and we dont need that, 315 is all i would push from a 283 and still be able to drive it. its not hard getting 470 out of a 327 and still be able to cruise

Today I finally got around to replacing the HEI distributor cap and rotor, I also replaced the 160 deg thermostat with a new 180 deg one. I set the timing to 12 deg BTDC and went for a drive. The car has never felt this good, it ran a steady 180 deg for an hour or so, I then let it idle for 20 minutes while I tidied up the garage. It only went up to 195 deg, of coarse it was only 12 deg Celsius outside today but it looks good. I failed to mention that the timing was at 22 deg before I changed the cap and re-set it. Maybe this has been the problem all along. Once again thanks for the response and all of the suggestions.