What about timing?

Is the engine over bored a lot?


One thing I learned after years of dealing with this stuff and reading on here, shrouds and fans aren’t that big of a deal. If you get some important stuff correct that is. You need a good condition radiator and you need a good pump. Pulleys are worth looking into, I don’t have a magic bullet set of numbers to post. Just do some research and ensure you have something that will work.

I had a 69 rr that by happen chance came with a broken shroud somebody had duct taped. That just fell on apart one day and I planned to replace it soon. Then I noticed it didn’t make a difference, so that car never got a shroud. People used to freak out about it because the gospel is you must have one. I even started running a 195 factory stat because I didn’t care for the oil turning black so quickly, that made no difference on an auto meter mechanical gauge as far as getting hot. Sat right in the stat all the time. Idle, beating on it.

Also learned on that car that you don’t have to cut the 22” core support when running a 26. Guys freak out about that.

One day I was showing the car to a family member and he said the fan was on backwards. It came that way and I never noticed or need to check as the car never ran hot. I flipped it around and it made no difference. Not even a little.

The recipe?

Stock factory built 383 hp that I poured the sand out of on the stand when I did a little going over and a new chain.
Stock 26” radiator in a 22 hole
Edelbrock pump
Some random aluminum housing. No idea on who made it.
March serpentine belt pulley set that didn’t serpentine, just ran the belt in stock pattern
Stock fan and fan clutch that was good
Good sharp tune up
Jet hot coated headers
Ran right on a 180 and a 195 stat on mechanical gauge even on 90+ humid days