Circle track cooling tips

[Geoff2]

Check out this cooling website for myth busting:


www.stewartcomponents.com

[sanfordandson]

Good fan...GM 4 blade is the best but they dont make it anymore. There are copies out there (CV products)
good pump..i like the stewart stage 3
no belt slippage
shoot for about 6500 water pump speed
NO RESTRICTORS

400's are hard to cool. especially if its a stock block.

[sanfordandson]

Like I said, a fan is for 15 mph and less.

[ZIGGY]

400's are hard to cool. especially if its a stock block.

IME not if you're allowed auxiliary cooling lines.

[sanfordandson]

400's are hard to cool. especially if its a stock block.

IME not if you're allowed auxiliary cooling lines.

I agree

[geraldtson]

I have a 406ci circle track engine running upwards of 8000 rpm on dirt. I seem to have an over heating issue which happens inconsistently. Last week the air temp was 85 and the engine didn't over heat. Last night it was 60 degrees and I got 6 laps in before I shut it down. 240ish degrees and blowing water. We have changed the cap.. running a gutted thermostat. Radiator seems to be good.. no rust no restrictions good air flow. Is there any tips to help solve this problem?

Have also seen fans installed backwards.Friend was having overheating problems and the minute i looked at it i told him the fan was backwards but he paid no attention. Several weeks later of running hot he came up to me at track and said you were right, fan was backwards. When installed backwards some of these steel fans will pull a little air or beat it around and fool you! Seen this more than once. Of course this would make it consistently run hot. If fan had been removed and reinstalled backwards this would explain inconsistencies.

[user-23911]

Have also seen fans installed backwards.Friend was having overheating problems and the minute i looked at it i told him the fan was backwards but he paid no attention.

It doesn't matter which way the fan blade faces, it'll push the air in the same direction.

What matters is the direction in which it spins.

Some fan blades are pullers, some pushers, they spin in the opposite direction.
Which way you mount it makes no difference.
A trap for the uneducated.

[tracyracin]

A big thank you to all that have commented. I soaked the radiator last night in a pool of soap and water and I couldn't believe how much dirt and grime came off it. I have decided to pull a little timing out of it and look into my jet sizes. Will update as i go along.

[Tuner]

Have also seen fans installed backwards.Friend was having overheating problems and the minute i looked at it i told him the fan was backwards but he paid no attention.

It doesn't matter which way the fan blade faces, it'll push the air in the same direction.

What matters is the direction in which it spins.

Some fan blades are pullers, some pushers, they spin in the opposite direction.
Which way you mount it makes no difference.
A trap for the uneducated.

It looks to be beer:30 in OZ?

[Tuner]

A big thank you to all that have commented. I soaked the radiator last night in a pool of soap and water and I couldn't believe how much dirt and grime came off it. I have decided to pull a little timing out of it and look into my jet sizes. Will update as i go along.

If you think 28 degrees is "pull a little timing" then you should be good to go.

[bullheaded]

Need to look at your chassis set up as well. if the car is dead hooked and fast you are working the engine much harder and making heat, especially if you're pulling down the rpm. When the car is free and spinning your not making as much heat, no load. I raced sprint cars a number of years and in the heat race, when the track was still wet and heavy, it wasn't uncommon to finish ten laps at 220-230 degrees. Come feature time when the track was blown off and you were searching for grip , I could run a caution free 25 laps and it would never get over 180.

[tracyracin]

Need to look at your chassis set up as well. if the car is dead hooked and fast you are working the engine much harder and making heat, especially if you're pulling down the rpm. When the car is free and spinning your not making as much heat, no load. I raced sprint cars a number of years and in the heat race, when the track was still wet and heavy, it wasn't uncommon to finish ten laps at 220-230 degrees. Come feature time when the track was blown off and you were searching for grip , I could run a caution free 25 laps and it would never get over 180.

The majority of the nights the track runs our class (DIRT modified style car) first all night so the features and especially the heats are most often full of grip. The last month or so I've found myself changing gears throughout the night which up until this year has rarely happened. The track has slicked off a lot by feature time due to the hot windy weather.

[77cruiser]

Have also seen fans installed backwards.Friend was having overheating problems and the minute i looked at it i told him the fan was backwards but he paid no attention.

It doesn't matter which way the fan blade faces, it'll push the air in the same direction.

What matters is the direction in which it spins.

Some fan blades are pullers, some pushers, they spin in the opposite direction.
Which way you mount it makes no difference.
A trap for the uneducated.

It looks to be beer:30 in OZ?

With the beer he can't tell that the blades have a curve to them. Have another Joe everything will be curved.

[Rosenbluth]

Here's one for ya...my first year in DLM, I had an engine from a well known builder, he would put a yellow mark on the damper, yellow mark on the pointer...told me, just line em up...so I did...BUT..I had also used a digital timing light and punched in 34 deg into it as well...because when we did our own motors, we'd mark the same as the builder did, but we'd mark zero and use the 34 into the timing light to set timing...builder marked 34...or somewhere close...so..his 34, plus my 34 in the timing light...68 baby...over heated over and over...eventually burned a piston, little light came on in my head on the drive home that night...wonder about setting timing I said to myself...got home, unloaded...BINGO....expensive lesson learned, but never ever forgot it... I can laugh now because that was 20 years ago..or more maybe... Double check ur timing is where it needs to be...

[geraldtson]

Have also seen fans installed backwards.Friend was having overheating problems and the minute i looked at it i told him the fan was backwards but he paid no attention.

It doesn't matter which way the fan blade faces, it'll push the air in the same direction.

What matters is the direction in which it spins.

Some fan blades are pullers, some pushers, they spin in the opposite direction.
Which way you mount it makes no difference.
A trap for the uneducated.

You need to take a closer look at some mechanical fans as i referenced earlier. I said when turned backwards SOME will PULL some air. Not as much as when installed correctly. Study the pitch and bend of these fans. I think we've all seen the ones marked ENGINE SIDE. This is not just a reference of offset but of design. Everyone here know's about pushers and pullers but were talking circle track clockwise rotation mechanical pullers here. You stated " Which way you mount it makes no difference" YOUR WRONG in many appications. MY fan is not completely concentric on both sides as well as many others so installing them backwards with same rotation WOULD have an effect on air flow. You run yours backwards i'll continue to run mine as designed? Oh i forgot. You don't need a fan?