First, my 65 is NOT overheating but....

It currently has a repro copper and brass 3 core generic radiator from John's Mustang. It looks the part, fits well and mostly works. Engine has a 7 blade fan on a thermostatic clutch which seems to be working although it does not roar like the one on my truck or motorhome when they get hot. Engine is outfitted with a flowcooler water pump and a 180deg balanced MrGasket thermostat.

I drive this car. I sit in traffic jams in Houston on 104deg days with the AC on.

It has never boiled over on me but it does get the gauge over to the P in TEMP on the gauge. Hotter than I would like and not much room for error.

If I was to splurge a bit and go for a different radiator, is there a unit out there with SIGNIFICANTLY more cooling capacity than the 3 core I have now? IE a truly high density fin count aluminum unit or some such? Are the aluminum units really all that much better at COOLING or are they mostly just lighter weight? It would need to fit the stock location, I am NOT cutting the core support. If its aluminum I would also paint it black in an attempt to have it look as stock as possible. Looks is important. The car is all original and goes to quite a number of shows, but its NOT a garage queen. Not any more.

I see quite a number of available radiators on the market for 65 Mustangs but very little real data is available for any of them. Fin surface area etc would be nice to know to tell them apart. Not afraid of spending a few bucks but more money does not always get more product. I have seen the same aluminum radiator on several sites for pricing anywhere from 230 to 400....

 

Well, right now you have no idea how hot "P" is. Last I checked, that's not a valid temperature:P Stock gauges are notoriously inaccurate, so the first thing I'd do is figure out exactly how hot things are getting. An infrared thermometer would be handy, but you can just tape a mechanical thermometer to the top of the radiator if that's what you've got.

Second issue: doesn't look like you have a fan shroud in your list of goodies. Everything else looks good, but you need a shroud. A shroud with the fan properly spaced (half in, half out of the shroud) makes a big difference in traffic.

 

Yeah, what he said. The gauge is inaccurate and you have no idea how hot it's getting, secondly, there's no reason to be afraid of it getting hot, if it goes up to 230 it's nothing to worry about. And it does sound more like a fan problem than a radiator problem.

 

Sorry, it has a stock 65 fan shroud and the fan is where it falls, there is no spacer with a clutch nor room for one. Its part in part out of the shroud. There is about 1/2 to 3/4" space between the front of the fan clutch and the radiator.

You are right, I need to get some real temps. I even have a fluke temp probe to do it with. Will do so and get back. May turn out to be the sending unit.....

 

applying a foam rubber "gasket" to the front of the shroud to help it seal against the radiator would help a bit. Also make sure there is about a 1/2" of fan hanging out past the shroud on the engine side. If the shroud totally covers the fan it won't work quite as well I hear.

-Gun

 

I live in Phoenix,,,111 degrees out right now,,, guage doesn't make it,,however a shrould and after market electric fan mounted between grill and ac makes a difference, guage is still bonkers,, but you'll notice that after a "heat soak" like stoping for grocerys in this heat that the gauge drops nicely with the fan installed,, I also have a 3 row copper radiator,,, 200 ci motor 3 spd manual tranny,, fact is when you look at the set up of front valance and grill and such thers not alot of air flow going on so you can use all you can get,, good luck

 

So where do you check the temp at to get the most accurate reading with an infrared thermometer? Upper radiator hose? Lower radiator hose? Top of radiator? Somewhere on the engine?

Cody

 

Top hose. The bottom one will be 20-30° cooler.

Put a manual shutoff valve in the heater hose from the intake manifold to the firewall.

If you are overheating in traffic, at idle, consider installing a distributor vacuum control valve, which speeds up the idle to cool the engine when it begins to overheat. Factory AC cars from 64-66 had a similar system using an air temp valve in the PCV hose, but it was less accurate and reliable than this:

http://www.mustangbarn.com/images/va...20ac%20234.jpg

 

On a similar note, are there better fan clutches? I know different ones lock up tighter than others to move more air as the air temp increases. Is there a stronger or tighter one from a truck or a lincoln that will fit and move more air on a AC car? Not really worried about HP loss here, just cooling. How about smaller diameter water pump pullies. That was a trick that worked well on the 5.0 engines in the Fox bodies.

 

I've been in bumper to bumper in 120° on the 15 freeway in the desert and it has only gone over the halfway point only a bit. The only danger I was in was the tail lights melting the turn sig lenses from me sitting on the brake. It was that hot.

Factory gauges are not really reliable, especially after 40 years. Thermostats can easily be off, also. If you check your temps with an external infrared thermometer you'll find a 3 row should be suffiecient.

CP