COOLING PROBLEM SOLVED......


Just thought I would pass on what I did and learned in solving my
overheating problem.

The BRUTE FORCE WAY

1) Flushed and flow tested my 5 year old rad.
( 22" HD radiator for A-body Duster with A/C )
2) New rad and heater hoses
3) New water pump ( GMB )
4) New thermostat ( Stant )
5) 50/50 anti freeze
6) 6 bladed flex fan.......
( But I am putting on a 7 bladed clutch fan
as soon as I get it )

NOTE:

Water Pump....... the NEW water pumps from Airtec and GMB have a stamped steel
impeller that has "8" blades on it. The old OEM pumps and rebuilt pumps sometimes had old cast iron impellers that had only "6" impellers to them. The new 8 bladed impeller pushes much more water than the old 6 bladed ones. In this case 8 is really better than 6.

Thermostat....... I tried using a "Hi flow" thermostat from Mr. Gasket. This has a bigger diameter opening to it than the regular ones. HOWEVER..... after trial and error we found that the "housing" base of the hi -flow thermostat does not let water flow around it and into the radiator. It was like putting a "plug" into the line.
The company never tested it on the slant six's otherwise they would have realized it would not work. Stick to the standard "Stant" thermostats.

Now the car actually runs at 180 degrees ( the thermostat I am using ) and the temp gauge reads just a little below half.

Thanks again for all the help.... this forum is great.


Julie Roth

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Duster Girl

Good going Duster Girl. It sure sounded like a "block" in the block!

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Chuck Rivers, Webmaster

wow, out of all the things its the cheapest part of them all that causes all the problems, just tells ya not to look for the hardest and most complex problems first!

Justin

Once again, aftermarket stuff; 'also fits mopar'(with slight modification) means fits Ford, GM; might fit Mopar; (you)buy it, try it, and find out.

My friend, Brian, and I once had a thermostat 'boil-off'. The winner was Robertshaw brand thermostats.

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'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd

You are exactly right about the thermostat. The correct application Robert Shaw 335-180 places the poppet valve further away from the head (towards the thermostat housing) than the most common applications. With regard to the waterpump impeller, you have to be careful about how you draw conclusions. While the aftermarket has more vanes, it does not have a solid one piece backing plate. The cookie-cutter aftermarket design actually has less flow capacity than the OEM solid design.

Mitch