There are several ways to come up with a smaller pulley - and I sure I haven't explored them all...
(1) A deep offset 289 single groove with a spacer behind it to get the proper groove alignment - I put a one inch thick turned aluminum disc behind this one.



(2) A 302 double groove pulley with one groove machined off....


(3) A CVF brand 289 aluminum pulley - that I had re-machined to leave a single groove spaced like the original T-bird part.


 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I took a closer look at this TBird.  The radiator top water neck has in fact been moved to the driver's side.   I started the car and warmed up the engine.   When I removed the radiator cap and revved the engine, I could see no movement in the coolant.  I suspect the fluid flow is top to bottom and the radiator isn't doing much cooling.   If that's true it's hard to believe it doesn't overheat when moving.  It looks like I need a new radiator.  The only question is if I should install an aluminum radiator or stay with a stock style unit? 

I have a couple of questions.   Does the fan shroud do anything except keep your hands out of the fan?  The fan blades are at least 4-5 inches from the radiator and the shroud has all kinds of holes around it.  It couldn't be pulling much air through the radiator like that.  I would like to ditch the stainless fan and go with a clutch fan or electric fans alone.  Is this advisable?    I see lots of inexpensive aluminum radiators on EBay for around $200.00.  Are these units Ok or do I need something more expensive?  Thanks for the help!

A fan shroud does help with air flow through the core.  Ideally, you do want no gaps or holes.  What you have looks to be as designed and is a lot better than nothing.

If it cools at speed, then I don't think your radiator is the problem.  You have a coolant and / or airflow problem at idle.  Given that you have observed no coolant flow, this is probably the issue.  It doesn't matter how good the radiator is if coolant isn't being pushed through.


Lawrenceville, GA

Sounds good.  I'm considering pulling out the stock fan, shroud and radiator and installing an aluminum radiator with an electric fan.  It won't look stock, but I'll keep all the original parts and it will get rid of that terrible fan noise.  We'll see.

Two things...er... three.

1) The radiator upper tank is incorrect in the placement of the upper hose. This will not allow coolant cross-flow across the core. The LH side core is doing most of the cooling.



2) The fan is placed too deep within the shroud. The blades (back side) need to be @ 1/4" out of the shroud.

     Is the FLEX-FAN 18"

3) If using a later wide mouth thermostat, make sure it does not hit the heater control valve behind it preventing it from opening fully.

Start with the basics before going to bigger bucks. Number matching doesn't matter, you just want a clean driver?

____________________________

It’s hard to tell from pictures, but that’s probably the fan I’ve had no luck with. They make more noise than airflow. It also, as mentioned, isn’t properly located in the shroud. Also mentioned, the shroud needs to be sealed off.

That radiator needs to be restored or replaced. I’ve had good luck with aluminum, but I’ve always used BeCool radiators with their shroud and electric fan. They are very proud of the units, just look at the price list.

As Kultulz says, do the basics first. Just throwing in an aluminum radiator with a stick-on fan probably isn’t going to do it if something else is wrong.

Read Greenbird’s stuff closely. When I was in Tucson last July, it was just off a high of 117. The local swimming pool, with no heat, was 91 degrees. Rich people down here use heat pumps on the pool and cool them in the summer. So he knows about heat, water flow, bypass volumes, etc. not to discount others opinions.

I ended up where I am because the blower on the bird didn’t allow anything but an electric fan. On a stock application the clutch drives worked very well out of the factory. On electric fans, go look at Spal. A lot of money, but I think Ferrari still uses them. Or an oem one from a junkyard. I’ve had 3 aftermarket electric fans that weren’t any better than that stainless one.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Greenbirds has it right. This has been discussed at length on this site. Even thou it wasn't on a T-Bird I had the same problem. After I changed the water pump pulley with a Mustag 302 I could remove the 5-6 blade fan went back to the stock 4. I bought the pulley from Summit along with a spacer kit. It was chrome and I painted it satin black. The original pulley was over 7" the 302 was a little over 5". Been great for over 5 yrs.

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

.If you are a member of CTCI, the latest Early Bird magazine has an article about better flow through the timing cover and spacer.

The shroud in the stock configuration is little more than a guard because of the design of the lower piece. CASCO has a full shroud that replaces the bottom part..  Ideally, the fan should be about half way into the shroud opening for best performance.  CASCO also has a smaller water pump pulley for better flow.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Thanks for all the great information.  Good stuff!

I installed the new aluminum radiator and electric fan in my 55 TBird today.  What a difference!!   The car runs 170 degrees no matter what.  I'm pretty sure I could let it idle for an hour and the temp gauge wouldn't budge.  The radiator is a Champion CC5557 3 core Pro Series.  It came with a matching electric fan. Total cost with of the radiator, electric fan and relay kit, a little more than $300.  I removed the old radiator and fan.  Left the original pulley.  The radiator came polished and looks to be good quality.  You can barely hear the fan with the engine running.  If you weren't listening for it, you would never know it's on. Ditching the old stainless windmill fan got rid of all the wrong noises.  All I can hear now is the sweet sound of the Y block rumbling under the hood.  Wish I had this car back in high school!