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Cooling a stock Bugeye

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ichthos

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I have noticed that people use both fans in front of the radiator and oil coolers. I am thinking of traveling from Washington to the Southwest next summer. Overheating is a concern. Which device would work best for me? Are both easy to install? any input would greatly be appreciated.
Kevin
 
I'm thinking of replacing present Stock Radiator with GEO Metro Unit. Fits in the same space and twice the cooling capacity. They come with an electric puller fan. Take off the stock fan and use a temp switch that firs in the radiator fins. Pics on how Frank did PIECES can be found over at SpriteSpot.com under Cooling Section. Radiator comes from GEO Metro Auto Trans 89-92 I believe. Details are over there and might also be a Wiki on this site for the same thing.

I've got a BE Bonnet on my '68 and under high speed runs i.e Expressway constant speed above 65 mph I need more cooling.
 
Ichthos, I'm assuming you've had overheating problems with this car previously.

Before adding fans and such, what's the condition of your engine? Is it well-tuned? Timing, plugs, points, carbs, etc., etc., all in top fettle? Is your radiator in good shape? Has it been reconditioned?

Doing this stuff, above, is where time and money spent will pay off big time: it's MUCH cheaper to fix this stuff than to buy the oil cooler and/or Hayden fan.

For example, from Moss:

13 row oil cooler = $70
Rubber hoses = 170 (SS hoses are $190!)
Hayden fan = $135-$165

That's a lot of scratch.

IF everything was in top condition and I still had an overheating problem, I'd go for the Hayden electric fan. It's thermostatically controlled and it works. My MK III Midget has one and it does the job.

MY engine is in good nick, everything in top shape. The only time it overheats is on VERY hot days, in very heavy, stop-and-go traffic. The Hayden elecric fan (thermostatically controlled) has cycled on only once or twice in more than 4,000 miles of driving, and it cools the engine down nicely. I also have an oil cooler fitted (all done by the PO).

Good luck, let us know . . .
 
Don't want to hijack this conversation but this is the opportunity to pose a question from the Wisconsin 50th. While we were waiting to get on the track at RoadAmerica, Jeff Schlemmer was going up and down the rows helping people trouble shoot their cars. Someone was talking about this and I not so much heard as overheard him say that Jeff had said that pusher fans are problematic because their bulk against the rad reduces the rad's cooling surface by 20%. As I said, I didn't hear this from the horse's mouth but, what do you think?
 
It is sort of another "religious" debate. Theory and practice do not always match up and often other variables need to be considered (especially ducting).

FWIW, I think with a puller fan there is less opportunity to make things worse.
 
In my opinion, and from significant evidence and corroboration, the stock Bugeye radiator IN a stock Bugeye with ALL of the shrouding and sheet metal in place is up to the task.

Alterations that are frequently made that eliminate some of the original shrouding will be problematic.

Jim, what radiator do you have? and how close to "bugeye-ness" is the sheet metal beneath the BE bonnet?

An electric fan will significantly diminish the available cooling surface of a radiator and do it even more at speed.

I would only consider adapting the radiator for higher pressures and a recovery tank. That's really what the Metro "upgrade" is. The neck on the BE radiator is such that finding a suitable higher pressure cap is difficult. The racing radiators made to be virtually identical to original have made the necessary modification to enable a higher pressure cap and recovery tank.

Peter C
 
If your running a late model big block 1275 you have ~34% more displacement.

More displacement means more HEAT. :thumbsup:

Steve

:driving:
 
PeterC said:
And I've been told the capacity of the stock radiator is sufficient for a real big block Chevy.
Click to expand...

Good Story....and it might be true if it was completely unshrouded and only had free air @ 30 MPH constant. Hidden away in the front of a BE in traffic with an metal fan from 1958 :lol: pulling......it might be rough.

LeeCreek put Rally Vents in his bonnet and now has great cooling. YMMV :thumbsup:

Steve

:driving:
 
I went through this a few weeks ago. Bottom line, I now have a pusher fan added to my BE in additional to the stock puller fan. It comes in with stop-n-go traffic and that's what I needed. I don't notice any problems with it blocking air flow.

Another help was with the water flow. I don't have the heater in so I had the heater/water valve turned off. Based in info from this board I ran a hose from the heater valve into the radiator input hose. (I had blocked that out). Having the water flow helped my overheating issue also.
 
I have stock BE shrouds and ducting in place. Oil cooler does sit in front of the radiator. Using a cross flow radiator and a 1098 not a downflow. Al little tricky getting hoses to line up but all looks good.

Around town no issues whatsoever with cooling. Temps even with Heater valve off stay just below N. It can idle all day and not overheat. At constant speeds above 50 mph I can watch the needle climb up and up never overheating but getting really, really close. Slow down get off and expressway ramp and temps drop to below N within a few seconds of slowing down on the off ramp.

I have 2 thoughts, but I believe I do not have sufficient cooling happening at higher revs.
1) Lower radiator hose makes a really sharp bend could be collapsing and blocking coolant flow at higher revs.
2) Water pump, worn out and not providing sufficient capacity at higher revs.

I seem to be losing coolant somewhere and might be around the water pump fan pulley. A really slow leak at speed as no coolant is found under the car.

Repair steps - Replace water pump, lower hose and small hose to block. All of that can be done for $50-60 in parts. Timing has been retared a few degrees already. If high speed overheating remains an issue then seriously think about converting to GEO Metro Radiator and Electric Fan.

It just takes time to get it done.
 
I wonder why no one has mentioned replacing the stock water pump with a high volume pump an oversize pump pulley to slow the flow down. Humm?
 
PeterC said:
Yep.... evacuating the air that gets jammed up under the bonnet IS a problem.

Peter
Click to expand...

:iagree:

Before he put in the rally vents, LeeCreek put a 2x4 on the battery box, bungee-ed his front tilt bonnet and drove the car. He said the amount of HOT air coming out was unbelievable! :savewave:

Convinced him to go on with the project.

I always wondered about louvers too, anything to let the heat out.

YMMV

Steve

:driving:
 
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