Thanks to all that participated in the over heating problems, I just got my 312 back together, I blocked the bypass and installed large diameter 180 degree thermostat, works great, I am still having problem of circulating at idle, no water movement,  I did purchase a 5 inch pulley and 6 blade fan, have not installed yet. Thanks again to all. john

Good luck John, I did exactly what you are doing to my 56 Victoria because it would continuously over heat in traffic. Mine already had the 6 blade fan and I left it for a while but now it is off and a stock 4 blade is on. The noise is considerably less than when I had the smaller pully and 6 blade and the car does not heat up at all anymore.
To test your installation ,start up with the rad cap off and the rad tank about 1" low. At the begining you should see no water movement at cold idle and as the thermostat opens there should be water movement, I had some and I knew the problem was fixed.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

John -
Is your engine in a sedan or wagon? What sort of nose clearance do you have between the WP and the radiator?

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I have a 292v8 1957 doc frohmader at webrodder.com says it two central exhaust ports needs cleaning but two new holds must be drilled in head and block fel- pro head gaskets tells where holds are to be drilled and sizes?.....

That's center not central on exhaust ports

Those holes don't do anything to help with cooling.  I don't know what cleaning the exhaust ports has to do with it.  Haven't heard that one before.


Lawrenceville, GA

un block the by pass,as when stat closed water can't circulate threw the  engine as well water pump will cavitate causing hot spots in the engine along with in accurate temp gauge reading then move the gauge sender to the therm aria near the heater outlet . some excellent  info on colling  on this site(also a bit of which craft)  just do some research and use the factual info.
all cooling systems have a bypass so water  can move when stat closed. the comments on pulley size make sense. as well the better fans.

I have drilled 3 holes 3/32 inch  in thermostat