I was thinking about converting to an electric fan for awhile, on a switch.
Now I'm thinking about it again.

I used to have some black plastic panels that fit the "nostrils" in the grille, and would simply wingnut thru the honeycomb.. You could block off 1, 2, 3 or all 4 of the ports. Since I was in southern Nevada, I almost never used'em.

Now that it's up out of the single digits, it seems to be back to normal.
Glad I didn't buy a radiator.
I still may switch to an electric fan at some point.

Interesting.... I was just about to post a question about operating temperatures....

I have the opposite problem. Though obviously a more unique motor arrangement.

My truck will idle up to about 190* after a bit. My Electric fan is wired to kick on at about 185-195* (though I've never actually pop tested the thermoresistor personally) so that explains why. I'm running a small fan as I dont need much cooling anyway.


But When I'm driving the car cools off (almost instantly) to a drafty 160*. The other night when it was a bit chilly (for Florida) it drove around at 135*.

I imagine this is due to my good ol 3 core full copper radiator.

What temperature should these motors run at to get real efficient?

190* Is the car staying at that temp or is it fluctuating back and forth?

Rises real steady. Perhaps takes 5-10 minutes of idling, and then just pegs perfectly, as the fan cools it at that temp.

diesels cool down when idling, mine is the same why by the time i get to work its barely warm but i also just put a new radiator in but if u let it run when just setting make sure u bring up ur idle up.

I block off my rad with cardboard completely until it warms up past freezing. Under that, everything is fine being blocked off. I also noticed the temp doesn't drop as low when the t-stat opens while driving. Cardboard out, driving, 0*F, temp will drop down to 170's and then come back up. Rad blocked off, same situation, might drop to 180.