magic_man77

I don't now if you are wanting to put any money into the car eight now, but you might also try switching to an electric fan. I switched mine in my '66 and it helped a lot. What I did was put 2 of them in. One in front of the radiator and one behind it. I wired them both to the igniton switch and bypassed the thermostat on the fans. That way it will always be running. The dual fans help for 2 reasons. A lot more air flow and if one stops working for some reason, I will not overheat. Just a thought.

MustangPammie

Is there a particular manufacturer or type of electric fan I should buy?

magic_man77

Not really. Honestly I cannot remember what brand I used. They were not a wellknown brand though. I just got one that would fit my car. You can also buy them as a pair in some magazines. I think I saw the pair in Summit.

Cannonball888

The Derale DER-16926 electric fan from Summit has an integral shroud and fits the 65-66 stock radiators perfectly. Derale provides this fan to HotRod Air who adds brackets and a thermostat and then sells it for more. Scott Drake also sells the same HotRod Air (Derale fan) kit for a lot more because he can.

Scott H.

(IMO) Paladin's post was excellent.
Pammie, do you have a fan shroud? If not, I'd put the correct one for your car on. Sitting in traffic is a way of life these cars weren't originally designed for. If the shroud alone won't keep it cool under those driving conditions, you can upgrade the fan.
Putting it in neutral does two good things. One it lets the rpms come up a couple of hundred for more air flow, second it stops the slipping and heating of the automatic transmission fluid. Also giving yourself a little more room between you and the car in front will help keep your car from injesting hot exhaust which worsens the problem.

Now, as to what to do when your car over heats and won't cool off by itself:
My suggestion is to pull into the nearest gas station, and use an open water hose at full volume to pour water over the lower half of the radiator while the car is idling,and the hood is closed. If there is a spray nozzle on the hose take it off. You want large volumes of cold water, not high pressure low volume. Unless your engine is out of coolant, or has a coolant flow problem, this will quickly reduce the temp to a safe zone.
If your car doesn't start cooling down immediately when you do this, go ahead and shut it off, and find a nice place to spend a couple of hours. You've got bigger problems to deal with. Doing anything other than this is inviting danger to yourself. Just ask earlymustang, what hot coolant is like.

Very nice to see someone so cogniscent of what the gauges are doing.

Clu7ch

not to be sexist or offensive to the ladies, but i know many women who mess up cars and run out of gas cause the seem to not understand gauges. i have a friend of mine who's car stopped working about a month ago. she bought it new in 2000 and other than oil changes, has done nothing to maintain the car. i now have to go over there (cause i'm such a helpful guy) and do a tune up, new filters and try and figure out the problem.


back to the topic at hand, you should be fine. if you are travelling and not stuck in traffic and your gauge jumps high or your gauge gets past roughly 5/6th's of the way up than you may have to worry. best thing to do if that does happen, get out of traffic and let the car cool off abit than get it home and try and find the problem. i agree an electric fan will help a bit and you may wanna switch out the thermostat. i believe a 190* (or 180*) will help a bit.

espskillz

yea my 66 has been overheating but when it over heats it spills out anitfreez!!! so i kno its a big problem. will installing an electric fan help out alot? is it worth 120 bucks? but i do live in tampa its like 90 degrees at 10 in the morning soo if its worth it let me kno.

Cannonball888

Yes, and I would recommend a coolant recovery overflow tank 2" x 15". You can get brand new nice polished stainless steel ones on fleaBay for 25 bucks.

weires66

My 289 66 Mustang will puke up about a pint or so of coolant when i put my car in reverse to park on HOT HOT days. It seems like its coming out of the overflow tube which just flows out onto the ground. I guess with the overflow tank the tube hooks to the overflow tank???? Thanks guys.

Occasionally on those hot hot days and im stuck in traffic or idling around a parking lot at stop signs etc, it feels like it wants to stall. Is that a hot air thing?
Thanks again.

Scott

Soaring

Yeah, that's a hot air thing Scott. Your fuel is boiling either in the line or in the carburetor. Make sure your fuel lines are away from heat sources suck as the exhaust manifold and block, and that you have a spacer under your carburetor.