I have a '64 Nova station wagon that's been a long term project that's finally getting a lot closer to completion. It has a 250 in it now in place of the original 194. The motor has a Comp Cams 268H cam, Crower steel roller rockers, screw in rocker studs, head work, high compression pistons, Clifford aluminum intake, Holley 390 cfm 4 barrel carb, headers, HEI ignition, and aluminum water pump.
The first thing I noticed is that the motor runs really hot, as in aroun 220 degrees when it's at operating temp. So last week I pulled the thermostat and found that it had a 180 degree thermostat in it. I bought a 160 degree thermostat and drained the cooling system to replace the t'stat and discovered that the radiator was probably the original, and had a 2-row core in it. So I pulled the radiator and took it to a local radiator shop that does high performance applications and talked about options with them.
I wanted to have a 3-row core put in the radiator, but apparently that's old-school enough that no one does that these days. So the shop is going to look into a couple of options, such as a high efficiency 2-row core or an aluminum radiator. They haven't called me back yet, but I should hear from them in the next couple of days.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions about what would make the cooling system work better other than what I've already listed?
