1965 with new AC overheating

[Baron Von Crowder]

Dump your 160 thermostat and put the 180 back in. At 160, it will never close, your coolant will never stay in the radiator long enough to transfer heat, hense, your temps will continue to climb and you will over heat. I'd dump the flex fan too and reinstall the stock 5 blade and get yourself a shroud.

I had the opposite problem in mine, didnt have a thermostat in, and couldnt get up to temp.

[4bangen]

my dads 65 would overheat at highway speeds but not in town. Turned out it had a flat lobe on the cam, and a warped head. was getting blow by over the head gasket.
x3 on the 180 stat and putting a shroud back on it.

[NoClassic]

Are you using the factory fan shroud?

[lilvega]

I was able to fit this Summit electric fan in front of my radiator and behind the hood latch. I don't think there is room in a 65 though.

Absolutely get rid of the 160 t stat. 180 or even 185 is where you want to be. I used a Derale thermostatic switch that turns on at 185 and off at 170. I run around right at 185 all the time.

[DC COBRA]

I have a 66 with factory air, PS automatic 289 2 barrel that is about 99 percent stock and original and it has the exact same problem. I bought it from the original owner, it has 105000 miles on her and motor was freshened up about 10000 miles ago. I have owned it for three years and it will run hot with air off in about two miles of driving with air about 1/2 mile. It does not have a blowed head gasket, I have put a 5 blade heavy duty factory fan and it has the factory shroud on it, I put a factory replica aluminum radiator with 3 1 inch cores (99 percent stock) and it helped a little over the stock copper brass rad. I have tried no stat 160 180 195 did not notice much difference. I even tried a catch bottle but it rarely pushes any water, if does it might be a couple of tablespoons. I drove it to Vernon last year about 225 miles and it stayed almost to the hot mark entire trip with air off, run damn good no problems. I don't really no what else to try just don't like seeing one that hot. The fan pulls very good air, will hold red shop towel firmly on outside of condenser and is a little loud at speed. Looking for answers myself. I own an auto repair shop and did the combustion gas test in the radiator,passed also made sure timing was dead on and even retarded and advanced a little no difference.

DON

[stephen4785]

Iv battled this same thing in a 65. The front end isnt designed to have enough air flow over the condenser and the radiator. Like everyone said so far-180 t-stat, electric fan, and build your own air dams/shrouds to funnel in air and keep it going through the radiator/condenser. I think the problem is that the gap between the front bumper/valance allows air to be diverted under the car instead of through the radiator and condenser.

[jw33]

Crappy water pump, bad radiator cap, bad gauge, bad tune...

[hawaii5.0]

Looking for suggestions as well, my 66 Mustang has always run warm.

[KBScobravert]

What are you considering hot? I don't see where you posted the actual temps.

I stopped chasing any temps below 200*. Now I just want them to stay above 190 and below 210. Running too cold and oil stays below temps where condensation evaporates.

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[Z06killinsbf]

Be wary about those aftermarket fans, a lot of them don't pull enough cfm to do much for a V8. I'd find a nice Taurus/Contour or even LS Camaro fans to install.

Also, how far away from the radiator are your mechanical fans? My car would ONLY get hot when stopped at redlights and the AC cranked but that's because my fan was unshrouded and too far away from the rad.

[Torinoman]

Be wary about those aftermarket fans, a lot of them don't pull enough cfm to do much for a V8. I'd find a nice Taurus/Contour or even LS Camaro fans to install.

Also, how far away from the radiator are your mechanical fans? My car would ONLY get hot when stopped at redlights and the AC cranked but that's because my fan was unshrouded and too far away from the rad.

This. Most aftermarket fans are garbage. Get a fan from a Taurus with the 3.8V6 or Contour dual fan setup (the Windstar fans are even better but they are almost 30inches wide), which ever fits your radiator better. I think the Contour fan is only 3 inches thick if you are limited on space and you could probably trim that down a bit if needed.

I had a Taurus fan on my Torino with a very healthy 460 and a generic aluminum rad. That fan always kept it around 185 even though it didn't cover the entire radiator. They flow a ton.

If you wanna get real crazy the 2010+ F150s come with e-fans that flow insane amounts of air. But they are something like 32 inches wide and require variable speed controllers.

[Baba Ganoush]

I used the dual contour/focus/cougar fans and a flex-a-lite controller. Same setup on my daily 5.0 for perfect engine temp control and cold AC.

[hawaii5.0]

I ended up getting a 16 inch fan and clutch from CJ's pony parts. Seems to be working well I just drove my 66 home with the air on and it read 190 degrees. Just thought I'd post that in case it helps someone out.