Finished my SC install on fresh 383 - Overheating now New Everything - Help

[85Procharged383]

I did the 383 at the same time as my Procharger. I can't seem to keep the car COOL in this Alabama weather. It was about 93 degrees the other day, and just driving around, my car got up to 236 degrees. I have a 180 degree T.stat in and the fans also kick on @ 180 degrees. I even bought a new AC condenser and new Radiator, both stock replacements, and even cleaned out 2 lbs of leaves out of the front. I have replaced the small AC fan up front with a huge 16" electric one. Both fans are moving TONs of air. If I run the AC, you can literally watch the temp climb up to about 240 degrees. After that... I cut the AC off and drive in OD untill I can bring it back to about 220 degrees. What the heck is going on??? Is it because the new motor is tight? Do I need a heat sheild between the manifold and Air Filter? Whats the Key to keeping it cool. The system is working ok, as far as my components...when it is 80's outside, I can keep it cool as long as I don't run the AC. I never had problems with my 350 and clogged up radiator / AC. Any hints or tricks would be greatly appreciated. I used 1 gallon of antifreeze and filled the rest with water. Here are my mods: 383 bored .030 ATI Procharger 10lb pulley w/ intercooler Stock ported heads siamesed / ported runners 36 # injectors Base Timing at 6 degrees 3.5 Borla XR-1 - No Cat Ported stock exhaust manifolds Crane .454 lift cam - Hard locks/retainers/springs Rebuilt 4+3 and OD Carbon Fiber Clutch AC Delco Factory Replacement AC condeser/radiator (HD) 16 inch cooling fan to replace small one - even wired it to the other fan to kick on same time.

[MasterDave]

Boy, the only thing that comes to mind (and it worked for me) was to drain out the darn anti-freeze and do not use it again. Anti-freeze is not really a coolant, it's an anti-FREEZE. Don't sound like it's gonna freeze up at 93+ degrees :D . Use water only and two bottles of Red Lines 'WaterWetter'. It has a water pump lube in it. It's all I use, changing it every year. It's dropped my temp 20+ degrees at least. It removes the unseen air bubbles out of your water making it 'wetter' and allowing more cooling capability. Works for me. :cool:

[8388]

You need a 160 thermostat. and have the fans come on around 165 degrees.

[lead foot 85 vet]

I'm dealing with the same problem.........85 with 8 lb boost......with the a/c on don't ever think about boosting, it just puts more heat in front of the radiator.........make sure you put all the air dams on and use water and water wetter.......the problem is because the intercooler is in front of the radiator, make sure you call dorian ex.219 at ati and tell them! they made it sound like I was the only one ever to have this problem and got defenceive when I told them it was the location of the intercooler that was causing it to heat up. my temps went from 235 before the water wetter to 215 but I,m not boosting much in the heat and rolling down the window. also I just sent mine back today because it was toasted after 800 miles, the oil gallery is plugged in the sc and it never had a drop of oil ever! Its only 1 month old check your return line and see if it has oil in it. any way I just went through the install e-mail me if you have questions and read the c5 section there's more poeple with supercharged vet's there. leadfoot


p.s. I wonder what using only water is going lower my boiling point to were thats going to be a problem? :mad

[BubbleHead]

Have you burped your cooling system??? It's possible you have some air in the system, which can cause your problem, if it's running hot all the time.

[lead foot 85 vet]

How do you burp a system? :confused:

[8388]

Similar to cramming. Get it warm enough so that the thermostat can open, Rev it up to about 1500 rpm and add antifreeze, drop to idle and repeat. Put the cap back on, rev it up a couple of times and kill it. let it cool enough to remove the cap and repeat if necessary. Keep an eye on the temperature gage while doing this.

[BubbleHead]

You find the highest spot on the cooling system and try to use that point to release any air.

I've never tried 8388's method but, it may work very well. Luckily, the LT1's come with a small vent valve on the water neck/thermostat housing. Makes it super duper easy to burp the cooling system.

[Viet Nam Vett]

I run a Carroll Supercharge Kit with a Vortec at 6lbs on my 86. My Thermo is a 160 degree. It runs a cool 185 all the time. Sounds like to me your problem is the old burping THANG mentioned in the above post's. The way I burp mine is by bringing the motor up to thermo opening point with the rad cap off. Then have my buddie bring the RPM's up slowly and watch the level drop in the rad. Then I add the gack in the rad. As it fills I call for more RPM untill it goes down again and just repeat the process. The important think here is not to let off the high rpms untill you can't get anymore in. Then while the R's are up put on the Rad cap. If you let the R's down before you get the cap tight you'll have a GUSHER!!! The problem with the C4's is that the cap is below the level of the water in the engine so it's allways trying to back out when hot. The only way I found to completly get all the air out is by doing it this way. When the R's are up the water pump will flow the water and air through the system untill it reaches the rad cap opening and the buble off out the top. So I keep the R's up un till it's full to the top.

Don't know if I read in the post's weather or not you checked your warter punp for flow, or if it is a new water pum. I had an over heating problem on my 65 and ended up puting on a stewart high flow pump which solved my problem. Stewart makes pumps for NASCAR. Check out there site. with all that work you have done sounds like you might have over looked the pump.

Good luck................ :flag


[Modified by Viet Nam Vett, 12:47 AM 6/28/2002]

[lead foot 85 vet]

burping the system can't hurt and I'm planning on doing mine when I get the sc back but it"s not causing the problem....on the early c4's, procharger is putting the intercooler in front of the radiator and it's blocking the air flow and then when boosting it's blocking and heating the air because it gets the air first..............I ran 175 before........195-200 now at low rpm, no boost no hp increase therefore the heat increase is caused by the intercooler placement...............and it's installed exxxxxxacty per their instructions.

[Slammed Vette]

I hope ATI figures something out because thay are just asking for trouble.

[lead foot 85 vet]

there help so far has been to put the blame on my system, bad radiator, bad water pump, I replaced the water pump....no differance...it ran cool before the sc soooooooo the fix is going to be up to me......and so I'm going to have to move the intercooler or reduce the boost and remove the intercooler, or live with the high temps.......but for the time being I'm working on it...........thanks for the input.

does anybody have this system.... 8 lb boost, procharger,intercooled on a 85 that runs cool ? they say I should only get a 5 to 10 degree increase and to keep it at 195 I'm running distilled water and water wetter, no boost ( of course I can ) and no a/c on the highway . someone give me hope.

[Fast Glass]

I had the same problem when I installed my Procharger 3 years ago. Since mine is a ragtop, and the a/c system had a hole in it somewhere I opted to remove the condenser from the car while installing the blower. With both cooling fans running and 6 psi of boost, the car would run so hot I was concerned. There was no air in the cooling system, and the radiator was free from FOD except for the huge intercooler in front of it. The only option I had was to install a Be Cool aluminum radiator. It is not an exact direct fit either. But after the install the car is lucky to hit 190 on a hot summer day in Michigan.

[Ender85]

I dont think you should ever run water only. The anti freexe keeps the coolant from freezing, true, but it also prevents boiling, which can be a problem @ 212 deg. :D

[95Purple]

I have the same problem with my 95 with the vortec at 8lb. My problem was a small radiator, the core was only 7/8" thick. Im having a local radiator shop make me a custum one that is 2 1/2" thick. I pick it up in a few hours. Sure hope that was it. :crazy:

[lead foot 85 vet]

Keep me posted 95purple if that fixes it, thats what I'll do,but I have the heavy duty radiator now, how do you get any better? I've been to the radiator shop and they said custom was the only way to get any better then what I have. thanks for the reply's...........leadfoot

[95Purple]

Picked the car up today :yesnod: New radiator works great :cheers: It was 85 out today just sitting there it never went above 177 and my fans cycled on and off. Driving in traffic with A/C on never above 197. :lol:

[FastMatt2]

I had the same problem with my 94 zo-7 auto, it gets 115-120deg here in the summer, and my Vet would go into the 260deg range, with the AC on putting around town. I removes the stock radiator 7/8" 1 core, and installed a 2 1/4 " 2 row... and that got me down to 190-210 no matter how hot it got...

Now I need to do something with my Viper, it is almost red-lining. I gess in this heat nothing stays cool (but my stealth even with a 3" front mount intercooler in front of the Radiator, never goes over 190!)

[black bart]

I'm dealing with the same problem.........85 with 8 lb boost......with the a/c on don't ever think about boosting, it just puts more heat in front of the radiator.........make sure you put all the air dams on and use water and water wetter.......the problem is because the intercooler is in front of the radiator, make sure you call dorian ex.219 at ati and tell them! they made it sound like I was the only one ever to have this problem and got defenceive when I told them it was the location of the intercooler that was causing it to heat up. my temps went from 235 before the water wetter to 215 but I,m not boosting much in the heat and rolling down the window. also I just sent mine back today because it was toasted after 800 miles, the oil gallery is plugged in the sc and it never had a drop of oil ever! Its only 1 month old check your return line and see if it has oil in it. any way I just went through the install e-mail me if you have questions and read the c5 section there's more poeple with supercharged vet's there. leadfoot


p.s. I wonder what using only water is going lower my boiling point to were thats going to be a problem? :mad

If your theory is correct then how would you explain my driving in 90 degree heat and water temp never went over 184.

[lead foot 85 vet]

Actually you are correct, it is just a theory but I'm looking for systems simular to mine that work so I can compare........yours is working, enlighten me oh great one. Is the cooling system stock? Is your intercooler installed as per ati instructions?