I have been having cooling problems with my 1970 Dodge Charger six pack car. Its got a 22" rad, which for some reason Chrysler thought was OK on a six pack car. But since it is a stock resto I don't want to put a 26" in the car. Motor was done about three years ago, tranny was done last year, and the rad was redone with a modern 3 row core four years ago. I probably have 6-7k miles on the car since the rad was done. A friend recommended an aluminum water pump from Mancini Racing, would this be a good step towards fixing my problem? This is the pump:
http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/mabalhiwapu.html

Are you running a shroud?

Yep, and a clutch fan. Tested the clutch fan and while it wasn't shot it still wasn't good. So replaced that and it still runs hot (230 on a 70 degree Washington day).

prob at idle/slo speeds and or out on the highway. what do the plugs look like? Has it always ran hot since built? how far in the shroud is the clutch fan? timing in normal range? Take the stat out for (1) day. Stock iron housing? operating heat riser/open intake gasket/manifold?

Mostly at highway, haven't checked the plugs, its always ran hot but a little more since the tranny got done last year, shroud is fairly close - you want a measurement?, I bumped the timing down it didn't help, stock iron intake which was milled to fit the block (it had been a problem), no heat riser. Haven't tested the thermostat yet, was going to do it when I got the new water pump.
Like I said, it has always run "a little" hot. But I took it down to Spring Fling in April and it ran hotter than normal. When I got to California, it got up to the 220/230 range on the freeway. Then on the way home we were on the 14 freeway to Palmdale and didn't make it to the top of the hill. Got up to 250 so I pulled over and it boiled over. Lucky I had a buddy with an empty trailer heading home so we loaded it up.

What kind of WP housing? and is there a coil in the lower rad hose to prevent a collapse when using a HV water pump??

What kind of thermostat are you running? I have found that lately the thermostats people are selling are not up to snuff. I always use a 160*F Thermostat. It is supposed to be fully open at 160 degrees. In my bench tests I have found that they all BEGIN to open at 173 (+/- 2*F). I have 3 brand new Moroso and Mr Gasket Thermostats that are pretty much junk to me. They were in the car for an hour but have zero drive time.

Normally a 160 in my car will make her run about 170-175 degrees because I live in very warm weather. With the 180 I tried once (bench tested and opened full by 180) I was running somewhere near 205 while driving.

One other thing you can do, after the thermostat is to throw some Royal Purple Water Wetter in the coolant, it will reduce the surface tension and drop your temps about 5-8 degrees,

Also...How many fan blades does your Radiator fan have?

Have you installed the Water pump with the Air Condition option. The A/C pump has more blades on the impeller than a NON A/C which exhibits a higher flow rate

Gary,,, can you take a picture of your fan/shroud area so we can see? Also, what thermostat are you using and are you sure it's opening properly. I used to have a "overheating" problem with Dana, my former C500. I troubleshot it by placing a cooking thermometer in the radiator neck when cool and fired her up.. I observed the water to make sure the coolant started to flow after awhile (to verify the thermostat was opening) and as well observed the temperature of the thermometer. My car never boiled over when I shut it down, so it all didn't make since. Does your '70 boil over? Turns out it was junk water temp sending unit purchased from 7-11 auto parts. I put in a mopar version and all worked well... Apparently the bi-metallic strip in the sending unit that creates the resistance was all wrong...

Troy

Does the car still have the 323's? If it is okay during low speed driving, I would think fan and pump are fine. I have seen cars with new radiators that also had replaced engines that were not cleaned out well, that deposited rusty cast iron chunks into radiator over time, that impeded the flow capacity of the rad. Worth looking at.