need some help figuring out what i got??

[deadtofall_11]

i have and 84 olds with a 350 sbc, temp constantly runs at 215 degrees, just put new fan, thermostat, fan and had radiator bolied out, now im trying to figure out if the radiator in the car is the original radiator (car was a v6 car) it meaures overall about 33 in wide by 18 or 19 in tall has trans line hookups, overflow hookup and heatercore hose return hookup, see picture
so is this the stock rad or an aftermarket one. just didnt know if it was big enough since car is running warm, was also told it was just rebuilt and was told that would make it run warm but 215 makes me nervous???

 

[RockSS]

I see u have a shroud thats good (very important) next what stat temp did u put in? and where is the unit located cause if its in the head its gonna read higher as opposed to sending unit in the intake. It sounds like your radiator is big enough cause your temp wouldn't stop rising if it was too small go buy a cheap gauge and check to see if maybe you calibration is off on your old 1 ...

 

[deadtofall_11]

i put a 180 stat in and i have already put aftermarket temp gauge in and installed it on top of intake

 

[Kris_84elky]

I would take the radiator hold down off the top and see how thick the core is. When I replaced my radiator in my el camino cause it couldn't cool my 350 sbc (was original v6 radiator) I was shocked that the core was so thin, it was about 1" thick. Then I figured out why my car was always running hot, it was also clogged. But replaced it with a aluminum 3 row from champion and now it rarely sees 180 except for when it gets hot out but even when it is hot I haven't seen it go past 180 yet. My guess would be if the radiator core is pretty thick, then it's been replaced before.

 

[deadtofall_11]

i went out and measured and it about an 1 3/4 thick

 

[pontiacgp]

you'd get a more accurate temp reading if you placed your sender on the side of the head

 

[deadtofall_11]

if its the right rad then should i try a higher or lower stat??
could ac condensor be blocking to much air flow as it sits in front of the rad or what???

 

[deadtofall_11]

ill try moving the unit this afternoon and see what happens

 

[Kris_84elky]

That might of been what mine was as I never measured it, just looked at it. I remember the core being like half as thick as the side tanks. Just shocked me how thin it was but then again mine did originally come with the 229 v6 so it's not like it needed to cool a lot but wasn't even close enough to cool my 350 sbc. It used to run over 200 and even higher on hot days. Thats what I believe finally ended the 3rd gear in my th350 even though I rarely took it out on hot days. But now I have an aluminum one and running an external trans cooler in line with the one in the radiator. Have you had the entire cooling system flushed out? Maybe there is some build up in the block that is restricting flow.

 

[deadtofall_11]

no have not had it flushed and my core is just as thick as the tanks