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Ultimate cooling set up

Boy, as usual, you guys are wealth of experience and knowledge. I guess I’m not exactly sure where to start. I did find some 5900 CFM fans, which maybe I’ll start there. Keeping my Spal pusher fan.
Seems like those would be good for any changes down the road to radiator or other set up.

Next, if needed maybe I go with a two row, larger diameter tube radiator? My water pump seems to be functioning very well, just according to the flow in the radiator. I will be changing my thermostat to a flow cool or whatever that was. Looks like a great idea.

I’m open to name-calling, harassment and insults!
5900 fans
 
Dont buy those.
Your money would be better spent on a better water pump and thermostat. Hood vents are also great if you’re willing and like the look.
 
I have a cowl hood, so there is some passive ventilation.
1. I’m not really sure what a better water pump is, except maybe a high flow.
2. Even though I have a new motor, I’m in smog country and the Blazer is pretty much a dog. Even with the new 290 horse motor. So I wasn’t hating getting rid of the fan for that reason.

Definitely getting a new thermostat. Drove it today in 100° weather and it definitely creeped over 210 with the AC on. Turned the AC off and it cooled down. Hard to believe the AC causes so much drag! Unbelievable. New compressor lines new condenser…
 
It’s not just the drag of the compressor working on or adding load to the engine but the condenser is basically a huge heater blow’n hot air directly on most of the surface area of your radiator fins.
A good system should handle it with ease though - think of all these turbo diesel intercoolers stacked up in front of these modern truck radiators.

The aftermarket cowl hood opening will allow some hot air to escape while stopped but not as much as the extractor vents would - but as pointed out up above it’s something that ya’ gotta like the look of.

Just a thought - is this motor running lean and correctly in time because these things can make things get unnecessarily warm if outta wack ?
 
You know I’ve been meaning to do some kind of review on this carb cheater I got. Not sure if you guys have heard of those. From a guy out of Ohio. It’s basically a controlled vacuum leak. Anyway I know my air fuel mixture is generally around 14 or 15, so a little lean. Timing is set at 6-8 before.

Unless I’m in the mountains, the carb cheater doesn’t really do anything because it does run lean already.

It gets warm going down the freeway at 60-65 (456 gears) pulling its own weight and it gets hot when you’re sitting in traffic too on hot days.

Do we not think that replacing the clutch fan however good it may or may not be with massive electric fans is not a good idea?IMG_0526.png
 
If your S/D fan clutch is engaging properly at highway speeds then that’s about as much air as you can get pulling through the radiator by far !

At idle type speeds a really strong dual electric fan setup running all out will most likely move more air.

The absolute first thing to do though is get your carb situation acting right and then follow up on the other cooling issues ( if there are any after that’s addressed ? ).
 
I know the air fuel mixture can be manipulated by exhaust leaks (O2 sensor) and vacuum leaks. I don’t know of any though. It doesn’t seem to run lean otherwise, except for being really underpowered.
For instance, getting on the freeway is a real exercise in timing.
Is that a sign? Otherwise man, it runs like a top. I went through about three Quadrajests and feel like I got a good one.
No audible pinging, ever.
 
If I read things correctly you said this truck has 4.56 gears ?
What tire size ?

Even a stock crate 290HP motor with decent gearing should have absolutely no trouble getting up and going to merge onto a freeway.

This really gives question to possible retarded timing issues - might be worth a few bucks to let a legit shop verify correct timing and search for ALL potential vacuum leaks.
It’s possible that you may not have any liquid or airflow induced cooling system issues but rather tune related problems.
 
How have I never heard of this before? Also makes you wonder if GM tried this and then decided CCC was a better idea? https://thecarbcheater.com/ I assume you set the base tune a little rich (or buy a Holley ;)) and let this vacuum leak it to stoich. Getting idle speed right could be tricky.
 
Blue85 said:
How have I never heard of this before? Also makes you wonder if GM tried this and then decided CCC was a better idea? https://thecarbcheater.com/ I assume you set the base tune a little rich (or buy a Holley ;)) and let this vacuum leak it to stoich. Getting idle speed right could be tricky.
Click to expand...
According to the guy, all carbs run rich, causing less than peak performance and eventually, premature engine wear. But! If your engine isn’t tight (vacuum, exhaust), it throws it off.
Mine was reading in the 17’s, so I contacted the dude and he’s like “you have an exhaust leak”. Uh. No I don’t. Well, took it to my exhaust guy and sure enough, a donut leak.
I just put mine in and haven’t messed with the custom settings yet.
 
Lots of great information here, I’ll add my experience with high flow aluminum proform water pump.

Link

Just a carbed 355/th400, nothing wild. Original(but re-cored locally) brass GM 2 row. Won’t go over 210, on a mechanical autometer gauge. The interesting part to me, is overall the maximum temperature reached or not reached only shows half of it. Since install a few years ago, I’ve seen constantly higher hot idle oil pressure (25/30 vs 15) - indicates lower oil temps and less heat soak to me, but no gauge to verify. The thermostat cycling can also be observed on the mechanical gauge, save for the hottest/slowest crawling days.

Also, reusable cometic reusable water pump gaskets, for the win, goodbye RTV.
 
tarussell said:
If I read things correctly you said this truck has 4.56 gears ?
What tire size ?

Even a stock crate 290HP motor with decent gearing should have absolutely no trouble getting up and going to merge onto a freeway.

This really gives question to possible retarded timing issues - might be worth a few bucks to let a legit shop verify correct timing and search for ALL potential vacuum leaks.
It’s possible that you may not have any liquid or airflow induced cooling system issues but rather tune related problems.
Click to expand...
35’s. Alright, I will do it and report back. I’ll explain the poor acceleration, overheating (per gauge) and have them look for any vacuum leaks and tune issues.
I can tell you that going up a 5% ish grade, I’m maxed out at 35-38 mph in 3rd (700r4) and 2300 rpm, not hauling anything. Like, there is nothing left.
Floor it, nothing but bog. Drop it to 2nd and just get higher rpm, no added speed.
 
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Blue85 said:
It sounds like something isn't right. You should verify that the secondary throttle blades are opening and that the mechanical advance is actually working. It's also a good idea at some point to verify that your timing marks are right.
Click to expand...
Now that you say that, it doesn’t sound mile the seconds rare opening. I remember once I had to bore out the 4 hole gasket b/c the blades got caught on it. Will be a great thing to check as well, thx.
 
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