68 firebird overheating

I know to help you need all the info, so...

1968 motor rebuilt and installed in a 1968 firebird convertible. The cam is a street/strip, idles fine, edelbrock 650 carb, and timed to about 13 degrees. I have a new 195 thermostat, water pump, radiator, and clutch for the fan. There is no fan shroud yet, but I've had a '68 without one before and it colled off just fine. Also, without air, it was not always installed. I have a coolant cap thats rated at 15 lbs.

The darn thing gets real hot (according to the rally guage) and when I hit the hiway it goes to the max on the guage which I believe is 250? I put on an antifreeze bottle and hose to catch the overflow. It will overflow if I don't throw in the cluch and idle it as I'm doing 30+ mph to cool it down.

The water pump has the metal inserts in, and there's only one way to install them, but as I looked at the pump fins, they seem to rotate backwards from what I thought it should, but the new pump is the same as the old one. Maybe thats just the way it is.

Any ideas? Thanks

Reply to
Brian
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You definitely need the shroud and a good fan AND a good fan clutch. Also a two core 21" radiator is marginal unless it's in REALLY good shape.

Reply to
JimV

GET the fan shroud installed. That will solve all your problems. Also make sure you have the correct radiator fan. An A/C car should at least have a 3 core radiator too.

Going from an incorrect aftermarket 17" fan to a factory 19 1/2" fan made my '71 T/A go from pegging out the needle at 250 degrees to staying at 190-200 degrees all day long.

Reply to
Dennis Smith

The fan shroud is O/O from year one, all I have to do is figure out how many cores this radiator has...

Also, turned in the fuel/air screws from 2 turns out to 1.5 turns, and checked to make sure the choke opens.

Thanks!

Reply to
Brian

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