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-   -   dodge 440 getting hot (https://www.racingjunk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33776)

zipper06 09-09-2013 01:14 PM


Originally Posted by roadkill2
C'mon guys . . there's at least two, and probably three threads up here that deal with overheating, and they all "boil" down to a couple of things, either the water isn't in the radiator long enough or the radiator isn't big enough. A third might be not getting enough air through it in the right places.

On th' Mopar Motor Home. If it works good at 55 but heats at anything over, it's one of two of the above . . It ain't rocket science.

I agree RK, if the MH was mine i would put a restrictor plate in it instead of a thermostat, just like i do with with every race car, course i run alcohol so i have more trouble getting the engine warm than cooling it off,

Zip.

kbartley 09-09-2013 02:03 PM

Same here zip, on my fed running alky

kbartley 09-09-2013 02:08 PM

I kinda feel like these radiators are more for cars running electric pumps. Maybe im wrong. Agree or disagree??? Or maybe that's just silly sounding.

kbartley 09-09-2013 02:16 PM

I was told by the owner that this 440 came out of a 78 Monaco police car. This may be true cause it does have h.p. Stamped on top of block. I know that coolant is not staying in radiator long enough. So my question is do I drop back to a 6 blade pump and or stock radiator for a 78 cop car? Hmmmm.

TheYellaBrick 09-09-2013 05:30 PM


Originally Posted by kbartley
Yep, steel fan 1 1/4" space between fan & radiator

I presume the 'Yep' was an affirmative you DO have an effective shroud ? Effective meaning it covers the entire radiator and there is no more than 1/4" - 1/2" clearance between the fan blade ends and the shroud fan blade opening.

Do this experiment, yank off the hood and see if you get the same results.

We're gonna solve this problem yet..... :D :D :D

I pull with my '77 Dodge 24' MH 440/727 no AC but with a trans cooler. Has gotten quite warm towing over some bigger hills. My brother checked it out one day and mentioned my vac advance hose was plugged into the wrong inlet on the carb. Hence no timing advance and the engine was working less efficiently and heating up. Original complaint was no power up hills. It runs cooler with MOpower !

roadkill2 09-10-2013 08:01 AM


Originally Posted by kbartley
I was told by the owner that this 440 came out of a 78 Monaco police car. This may be true cause it does have h.p. Stamped on top of block. I know that coolant is not staying in radiator long enough. So my question is do I drop back to a 6 blade pump and or stock radiator for a 78 cop car? Hmmmm.

Probably be a good place to start. I do know that the Mopar 440's have more applications than most other engines, and in those applications, the operational parameters were pretty narrow. Especially in the pursuit and RVs.

The Pursuit vehicles had huge radiators, generally, because they were designed to sit, idling, with a load on the accessory drive from the A/C, and the 185-200 amp alternators, and also for running at high speeds for long periods.

The RV's on the other hand were designed to be tucked back into a hot doghouse and run at optimum torque generating speeds, which in most 383/440's is around 2800-3200 rpm and about . . Yeah, 55 mph . . So for that turd you needed to put a lot of water through a fairly large frontal area radiator . . If you have one of those and a little radiator, you're probably gonna have heating problems . .

kbartley 09-10-2013 04:54 PM

We'll the guy at champion radiators told him in the beginning that the 4row would be plenty. So when that didn't work they told him that was a bad design & sent him a 2 row. Now both radiators only have a 22" wide core barely 18" tall. Thinking about going with the radiator that's supposed to be in front of that engine. It's got a core that's 27.5" wide. Then there's the shroud issue.. Got to find that.
I tell ya, this thing is taking up valuable shop space. Uuuuggghhhh!

kbartley 09-10-2013 05:07 PM

I really do think at this point he would sell it. Or I might ;-) butt it's painted up like the general lee. Which is kinda interesting because he is way tooo young to know the show. We both do agree that this car is cursed. I started fixing things on this car last summer. Trans, wiring, centerlink under oilpan somebody ground off half of the material to clear pan. Reworked the 440 over the winter & put it in. Might have 50 miles on it. Now this. Ahhh nevermore me im just venting. I know, I know, wrong area of the forum

TheYellaBrick 09-10-2013 07:30 PM

Vent away Man ! We ALL have had dealings with cars like this ! GAAARENTEED !
At this point I'm saying the biggest aluminum radiator you can stuff in there. Speedway has a lot of universal units available. 31" X 19" - $140 to $400

kbartley 09-11-2013 06:27 PM

We'll a 32" wide crossflow won't fit. Damn howd I get so many wide radiators?


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