Help!!! Car runs hot!

Ok so I have a motor that I got out of another car I bought. It's a 355. It will run hot as in 240ish anytime you aren't doing a constant of about 45mph. I pressure tested the cooling system with no pressure loss. I replaced the water pump with the correct rotation pump. The radiator is a two or three core aluminum with a single electric fan. Thermostat was completely taken out. Air dam is under the car and in tact. I don't know what else to do but I am getting really sick of it. Oh and the oil doesn't look milky. Any help will be much appeeciated.
Oh the car is a 85 camaro.

When the car is cool, take the radiator cap off and start the car. Watch the coolant flow I side the radiator. Make sure the radiator isn't plugged. Why did you remove the thermostat? No reason not to run one if anything run a 160. Do ou know for a fact the water pump is good? Lastly it could be the timing or fuel mix at idle. How much initial timing are you running? Idle mix too lean?

sounds to me like the radiator is plugged,or a hose is collapsing and sucking shut,i recc a thermostat too,no reason not too,it may be circulating to fast threw the engine and radiator too cool proper.

The only reason the thermostat is out was to diagnose the problem whether it would run cool at all or not. I don't know about the timing because I had Tom at ote do that. I will check all that out tomorrow. I guess part of me is just worried the motor is messed up since it is fresh and I have found other things messed up from the p/o. Thanks for the help so far!

I say fan.

agree in part with Kurt by further saying that the electric fan is only pulling air through the area it fits..I had the same issue and went back to the full shroud and stock fan.and my cooling is awesome...

Checked the flow of coolant today with the cap off and found what looked to be good flow. Reved it up and it flowed faster. Watched the hoses as I reved it up and found the lower to suck in a bit but still flowed. I think I can count out the radiator now since the radiator used to be in basically the same car with no issues. The fan is working and is wired to a switch. Looks like I have to look into the tune now?

My fan worked great as well but it was not pulling air through enough of the radiator..just saying its an easy check..if you have the stock shroud and fan put it on and rule out the air flow..you mentioned that it varied when driving so I would think it is a air cooling issue...I doubt the tune can be that outa wack

I would say not enough fan. 3rd gens suck for cooling. Even with my dual 12" fans it isn't always ideal.

Dumb question, but is the fan wired so the blades are spinning the right way? Some are reversible depending on how you wire them. It might be trying to push air thru instead of pull.

^ could very well be the case. Good thought. If it is infact spinning the right way I would think even one electric fan would move enough air at idle to keep the car decently cool. YOu might see some temp creep on these hot humid days but it should go right back down once moving.

I checked out the fan today now. It's mounted on the engine side of the radiator and I for sure feel it blowing towards the motor. I know this because I switched the wires and it blew the other way. I assume the air should w pushe towards the motor.....?

Yes the way you have it mounted it should pull the air through the radiator

Is it pulling a good amount of air thru? Like if you put a piece of paper on the otherside of the radiator it should easily grab it and suck it to the rad.

How much of the rad is the fan covering? Pic maybe?

what about trying a after market temp gauge??? maybe it's just reading wrong??? i don't know

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Originally Posted by Karps TA

Is it pulling a good amount of air thru? Like if you put a piece of paper on the otherside of the radiator it should easily grab it and suck it to the rad.

How much of the rad is the fan covering? Pic maybe?

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Been asking this..you can have the best electric fan but if it isnt covering enough to bring air through the fin area well then it will run hot...

Or the radiator itself isn't up to the task. IE not enough core, corrosion etc

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Originally Posted by loud91rs

Checked the flow of coolant today with the cap off and found what looked to be good flow. Reved it up and it flowed faster. Watched the hoses as I reved it up and found the lower to suck in a bit but still flowed.

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if the lower hose sucks in a bit with the cap open, wouldnt it suck in more when the system was sealed closed? maybe try the same test but with the cap tightened and look at the lower hose.

I inspected the hoses again when the system was under pressure. Using my hand to rev the motor up, you could see the lower hose collapse a bit. If I put slight pressure on the hose, it would fully collapse. I really hope this is the problem. I don't know how high I was revving the engine, but my guess would be 2500-3000rpm. The car still overheats at 2000rpm going down the road though. Who knows, but looks like I'll have to buy another lower radiator hose. This one was new. It's an aftermarket radiator, so I had to do my best to pick this one since the oem ones do not fit. I attached some pictures as well...
Thanks for all the help so far guys. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet though :(

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That is not enough fan IMO. Looks like you're barely sending any air over 40% of the radiator even. You could use 2 of those.

Bare minimum 60% of the radiator should be covered with shroud and/or fans.

I LOL @ ur fan.

Just a thought...

Are there standard and reverse rotation water pumps for chevys?

BTW if that's the Summit/Jegs generic radiator what I used for a lower rad hose is a generic hose covered in braided stainless steel ordered from Jegs or something. Since the radiator outlet is pitched and so close to the idler arm the SS braiding protects the hose from any rubbing that may occur. I can't remember if it was 18 or 24" long.

I had a hard time finding any other hose that worked real well.

Thanks for the advice on the hose. It looks like I am going to bite the bullet and buy a dual fan setup. You guys have any recommendations on a reasonably priced dual electric fan?

Cheapest Jegs has is their brand for either dual 11" for $180, or dual 12's for $200.

maybe look for a stock 3rd or 4th gen system?

stock dual LS1 setup used goes for around $100. there are some good dual kits on ebay with wiring and all for around the same price too.

make sure you get hoses that have the wire spring inside to keep it from collapsing,
anything over 45 mph the fan should not be needed,so if its overheating more on the go my opinion is get a thermostat in it and get the hoses right.

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Originally Posted by Reverend Cooper

make sure you get hoses that have the wire spring inside to keep it from collapsing,
anything over 45 mph the fan should not be needed,so if its overheating more on the go my opinion is get a thermostat in it and get the hoses right.

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Absolutely correct

Since it is a fresh build... are the intake gaskets installed backwards?
Meaning the block off plate in the gaskets are installed towards the front of the engine? I think there will be a small tab sticking out of the front of the intake gasket on either side if installed correctly. Otherwise if the block off plate is in the front, the only circulation thru the engine is by way of the heater core.

^^^i didn't build the engine but you raise a very intriguing question. I wouldn't be surprised since I don't have any heater core lines. I am still going to buy a fan since it's unanimous that I need one, but I may as well pull the intake off and take a look. I have been meaning to put my rpm air gap intake on anyway.

Make sure you have a V belt pulley style water pump, since your running V belts instead of a serp setup. If the guy put a stock camaro serpentine setup one one there and you just changed the pulley, it wont be right. Make sure you have a water pump with the standard rotation. The serpentine water pumps spin different. You can remedy this by using a TPI or vortec truck accesory drive if you feel like it though.

With the small openin on the front of those cars though I would also look into a better fan than that.

in my 91 with a 305 and shorty headers i had to have dual fans goin otherwise it got way hot under the hood yes that fan is to small if it was built into a shroud that cover the whole back of rad then it might pull enought surface area, maybe

I have a Camaro radiator in my Monte and I put some Ramcharger dual fans on it. Keeps it super cool and they were priced to sell. I'll see if I cant find a link or vendor for them.

Edit:

Here's a picture of some Ramcharger fans. They were selling for around $130 shipped a few years back from SMM Enterprises. I don't know if they still sell them or how much they are now, but they were a screamin deal a couple years ago. I listed who I bought mine from.

Mike McKinney
SMM Enterprises
219-926-9793
perfparts@comcast.net

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