1963 SF Over Heating Update

["Dennis C." <dennis.2914@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is my story about how to spend to much time and money trying to 
cool my 1963 Sport Fury with a 383.

My brother and I brought the car back to life in Arkansas, a guy parked 
it next to his house in the 70's and never got back in it.  When we got 
it together I had the original radiator re-cored.  The car seemed to run 
ok in Arkansas but I now have it in Yuma Arizona where I am having 
trouble cooling it in the summer.

Initially I checked the cooling system and installed a new thermostat, 
no improvement.  Then I wasted money and time installing an electric fan 
in front of the radiator.  Not only it didn't help but may have actually 
hurt.

I found a reproduction metal fan shroud at the Fall Fling made by Rocket 
Restoration.  It did not fit, the top of the shroud hit the upper 
radiator tank.  It appears that when the radiator was re-cored the tank 
was installed too far towards the engine in the radiator side straps.  
My education started when I went to a radiator shop to see if he could 
correct the location of the upper tank.

I found an old guy with a small radiator shop.  I told him I had a 1963 
Plymouth that was over heating.  He said I had the wrong style 
thermostat or the timing was off, old Mopars don't over heat.  I told 
him the timing was correct, he showed me a Mopar style thermostat that 
has better flow than a standard thermostat.  I finally got him to look 
at my radiator that I had in the back of the wife's car.  As soon as I 
opened the back he asked who re-cored the radiator.  When I told him it 
was done in Arkansas, he said it would work in Arkansas but not in Yuma! 
 He said I had 10 fins per inch and he thought the old Mopars had 16 or 
18 fins per inch.  He dug through a stack of old radiators and showed me 
the differences in cores from ones like mine with not many fins to a 
motor home radiator that was almost solid with fins.  He agreed to move 
the tank for me and did a marginal job but I have been able to install 
the shroud.

Now I am waiting for summer.  If the new thermostat and fan shroud are 
not enough I'll buy a new aluminum radiator or see if a better core is 
available for my radiator.  Here is the information on the thermostat 
and shroud I am using

Thermostat
Milodon #16406 180 degree

Shroud
Rocket Restoration #7423 with #9212 mounting kit

Thanks to everyone who has given me information and help over the last 
few months.

Dennis C.


1996 Dodge Ram 3500 Van Conversion
1964 Plymouth Belvedere 318 Auto
1963 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 4-speed
1949 Dodge Pickup 289/C4 soon to be changed
1998 Honda Valkyrie Standard


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