[350chevypower]

Hi guys I just recently purchased a 89 Chevy S10 with a 350TBI and a 700R4 transmission. IT is really fun to drive but i am having a cooling problem. I changed out the thermostat and put a 160 degree thermosta in and changed the upper rad hose which helped quite alot but still even after a hour or 2 of light driving or maybe even an hour of havin fun the temp gauge shoots right up.I am running a twin electric fan setup on the rad also that i manually turn on before i start the truck and leave on when its running. Any ideas?

[DoubleVision]

How hot is it getting? Does it have a serpentine or V belt set up? In many cases a V belt is used in S10`s for more clearence and the water pump is left, the serpentine water pump is reverse flow and will run hot on a standard flow V belt set up.

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by 350chevypower

Hi guys I just recently purchased a 89 Chevy S10 with a 350TBI and a 700R4 transmission. IT is really fun to drive but i am having a cooling problem. I changed out the thermostat and put a 160 degree thermosta in and changed the upper rad hose which helped quite alot but still even after a hour or 2 of light driving or maybe even an hour of havin fun the temp gauge shoots right up.I am running a twin electric fan setup on the rad also that i manually turn on before i start the truck and leave on when its running. Any ideas?

Not enough radiator, a pretty common problem with these swaps. Swap specific radiators in aluminum are available from several sources:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...0+115&y=4&x=39

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb....Z5Z5Z50000050F

If you want brass and copper early 70's Malibu's, Camaro, etc can be adapted.
http://www.radiator.com/chevrolet-ma...20L-8&cmp=base
Pick the thickest core 3 or 4 tube type from air conditioned models with an automatic.

I'm not recommending you buy from any of these places, just giving you ideas.

The Malibu radiator will not fit with conventional top mounts. Locate it on the bottom as stock, You may have to drill additional holes in truck's radiator frame or frame rails to mount them. The top uses the stock rubber insulators but rotated to the front of the radiator, trim as necessary for hood clearance. Drill thru the truck's radiator frame and the radiator's frame close to the mounts and secure with a long enough 1/4 inch machine screw and self locking nuts.

The 4.3 V6 radiator will not cool a 350 period, don't even screw around with the thought, it's a complete waste of time.

Dual fans ahead of the radiator is about as good as it gets. A factory fan can be run behind but there isn't much space for a shroud so you will always find this touchy in stop and go traffic and idling around. But any of these will keep it cool buzzin' down the interstate. My recommendation if you go into a factory fan is to drop back to a short pump and get the pulleys and accessory brackets necessary to back date their locations on the engine. Don't bother with simple round fan shrouds they don't accomplish pulling a low pressure area behind the entire core and, therefore, are in-effective. Make sure any electric fans mount to the truck's radiator frame, never to the radiator, they will shake it apart.

Ditch the stupid serpentine system, all the giant brackets do is just add weight, take up space, and interfere with trying to get cooling air thru the radiator and around the engine. Keep in mind that serpentine water pumps and fans turn opposite to V belts so you have to drop back to pre-serpentine parts for the swap. I like to use the aluminum Edlebrock pump as it knocks a few more pounds off the front wheels. When your ready we can talk about suspension mods that will make it handle like a Beemer and not kill you with ugly surprises.

You'll lose the engine oil heater inside the radiator with some of these, no biggy just takes a couple more miles to get it up to operating temp. But you if you loose the oil heater you'll need to re-plumb the tubes to and from it or better yet, remove the adapter above the oil filter, doing away with the whole system.

Bogie

[fast68]

195 thermostat will allow the engine to run at factory correct operating temps

i would dump the 160


warmer temps actually is better because it does things such as allow the air fuel mixture to combust properly/completely

among other things

sounds liek you have a cooling issue due to radiator size/condition, hose restriction, bad or missing or worn water pump, missing or broken fan shroud, crappy flex style fan or faulty fan clutch

are both hoses hot when running hot ?

if not then you have a plugged rad or bad water pump

can you see good flow inside under the radiator tank cap when running ?

use a flashlight

just trying to help



good luck

[curtis73]

cooler stat temps won't cure overheating, only delay it. Overheating is caused by more heat going into the coolant than can be shed by the cooling system. The temperature at which the stat opens has nothing to do with that.

Improve the way it gets rid of heat; better radiator is the first thing I'd do. Most swappers go cheap on the radiator because installing a bigger radiator means modifications they don't want to do. Then they skimp on electric fans and they don't work well.

A well-designed, heavily researched electric fan setup will properly cool big HP, but so many times people buy the cheapest, largest, thinnest fan that will fit and wonder why their $119 fans won't do the trick. The only time I ever bought an electric fan was for a Caddy 500 making about 450 hp. It was the best fan on the market at the time, proven over and over. It cost $650 and drew almost 30 amps, so one can't expect a "jeg's super cool" twin 10-inch fan to effectively cool anything but a 4-cylinder Honda.

Look to the Spal brand for absolute top-quality electric fans. Vintage Air also sells Spal fans under their "monster cooler" name.

[350chevypower]

thnx for all the help guys when i take it to my mechanic to geta through thru of the truck what needs to be done etc... ill ask him about the radiator issue keep it updated!

[350chevypower]

well i put a bottle of water wetter in and im gunna see how that does for no till i can get it into the shop!

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by 350chevypower

well i put a bottle of water wetter in and im gunna see how that does for no till i can get it into the shop!

Waste of good money!

Bogie

[350chevypower]

really? i heard its good stuff?

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by 350chevypower

really? i heard its good stuff?

The stuff is a non-foaming detergent, it tries to improve cooling by causing the water molecules to hug the metal surfaces. Its effect is minimal, you'll see from nothing to maybe 3-4 degrees when you've got a 20-50 degree problem it doesn't count for much reduction. We used to use it but stopped as it finds hoses that aren't as well attached as they could be and encourages their disconnection on top of just not offering enough improvement in temp reduction.

Bogie

[350chevypower]

oic well thnx for the tip!