Thread: Ford 289 overheating problem

Hi Ean,

Could be retarded and as you have not driven the car on the road the timing could still be out.

You can check to be sure that TDC on the piston is what you see on the Harmonic Balancer. Turn the engine to TDC on No 1 lead firing position, remove the plug and put a lead pencil into the plug hole - rock the crank back and forward to see the pencil move up and down and determine where TDC is in relation to the Balancer/pointer. That will be a proper check.

Some balancers can have the outer section slip relative to the inner attached to the crankshaft, particularly if they get contaminated with oil from leaks. They are unpredictable and can move intermittently.

Bob

Was the engine rebuilt Ean? Higher compression? Too lean? - What carb etc. The first things that spring to mind are as mentioned not enough advance, tight engine, leanness?

The 91 degrees, is that with the thermostat removed? Do you have a fan shroud? At idle in reasonably high ambient temps with a tight engine then it will run hotter without airflow through the rad.

JC

Originally Posted by justinc

Was the engine rebuilt Ean? Higher compression? Too lean? - What carb etc. The first things that spring to mind are as mentioned not enough advance, tight engine, leanness?

The 91 degrees, is that with the thermostat removed? Do you have a fan shroud? At idle in reasonably high ambient temps with a tight engine then it will run hotter without airflow through the rad.

JC

Gday Justin,

No I did a big end bearing change, but that's all. The Carby is the one that came with the engine, its a 4brl autolite carby.

The engine would go to 100 easily with the thermostat in , but a noticeable drop to 91 with it removed. I only removed it because no water was coming from the top hose until it got above 95 degrees, so assumed it was faulty.

I have driven the car 50 mtrs or so, and using a timing light at idle engine timing is 6" BTDC as the manual states.

I am sure that I have the timing right as I had to fit the dissy, so if I got it that wrong I assumed it wouldn't have fired correctly from the start.

The engine rotated freely after doing the bearing change and refitting the sump.

Cheers Ean

What sort of fan and shroud are you running? You should get a solid blast of hot air off the fan at say 2000rpm with the engine at 90C. I've found that traditional engine fans don't work too well if they are too deep in the shroud. I used to fit 2" shorter fan spacers to P76's with similar problems, made a big difference.

Great little engine.

This may be a waaaaay long shot, but I 'built' one up from a long motor and bought a water pump (unknowingly) for a late model 302 - fitted, but the 302 ran a serpentine belt spinning the pump in the opposite direction and not circulating any fluid efficiently = rapid and sustained high temps.

So, has it got a new water pump on it?

Other than a blockage in a gallery somewhere, I'm buggered if I know.

All the best,

Matt.

Originally Posted by bee utey

What sort of fan and shroud are you running? You should get a solid blast of hot air off the fan at say 2000rpm with the engine at 90C. I've found that traditional engine fans don't work too well if they are too deep in the shroud. I used to fit 2" shorter fan spacers to P76's with similar problems, made a big difference.

It has the fan that came with the engine its an 8 blade fan that runs from a single pulley, so 1 single belt, no air con, just turns waterpump and alternater. I haven't installed the shroud yet as been trying to find 1 after I run over the last 1 and destroyed it... by accident of course...

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by bee utey

What sort of fan and shroud are you running? You should get a solid blast of hot air off the fan at say 2000rpm with the engine at 90C. I've found that traditional engine fans don't work too well if they are too deep in the shroud. I used to fit 2" shorter fan spacers to P76's with similar problems, made a big difference.

Apparently the ideal position is that the fan is about fifty/fifty in the shroud. That is what I was told when making a shroud to fit a 302 Windsor GS in my Series station wagon.

Bob

Originally Posted by bobslandies

Apparently the ideal position is that the fan is about fifty/fifty in the shroud. That is what I was told when making a shroud to fit a 302 Windsor GS in my Series station wagon.

Bob

I've experimented quite a bit with this. Straight tip fans can be 90-100% out of the shroud, bent tip fans not so much. Straightening out bent tip fans makes them noisier but far more powerful.