Fluidine radiator

There are alot of us that have had the Fluidine radiator for many years trouble free! Mine has been in for over five years with no trouble! Its mounted in the stock position with Mariha fans and the car has never over heated! Do you have the correct thermostat?
Good Luck

The motor heats up to 210 220 and stays there under normal conditions. Heavy loads and 100 degree weather, slow traffic has run it higher in the past. It started spark knocking once before I got back to the front of the pack. How does the Miriah fan mount? I figured the current setup is borderline. What thermostat should I be running?

The Mariha fans mount in the stock location with the stock mounts! My thermosat is 180 degree. Just make sure it is for a Cleveland 351 not a windsor! There is a difference! I'm sure someone here will come up with a part number.

Put a bottle of No-Rosion in it.

http://www.norosion.com/

Take a look here. Stay's at the temp for thermostat,no problems.

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5650045562...540075764#8540075764

Mark

Bill

the proper T-Stat is the Robertshaw #333-180. It is available from Summit Racing, stock number BRA-333-180. Summit lists the T-Stat as a Flow Kooler T-Stat. I've read elsewhere that the NAPA T-Stat #197 is also equivalent, but I haven't verified that.

If you can't find the correct T-Stat elsewhere, it can be purchased from Flow Kooler. I would prefer you did business elsewhere unless you have no other choice.

If the T-Stat doesn't look & function like the one pictured below, its the wrong one.

cowboy from hell

One of our members here just installed a Fluidyne radiator. He's running Meriah fans which were doing and adequate job with his stock radiator. After installing the Fluidyne, his temperature was even higher than with the stock unit. Upon checking, we noticed that there was little air flow through the radiator. The fans were right up to the radiator (no shroud)but there was very little air on the back side. I actually thought that he had wired it wrong and that the fans were spinning in the wrong direction. It turned out that the air was being deflected off the radiator face and very little air was passing through it possibly because of the dense core. We moved the fans as much as we could away from the radiator and that improved the air flow but the car still seems to run on the hotter side (I expected better from the Fluidyne) He has since purchased a flexalite dual fan but has not installed it yet. The Meriahs work well with my Hall Phoenix 5 core (190 degrees w a/c in traffic). With the fans against the radiator, there is a lot of air movement unlike the Fluidyne. The core seems less dense too. We're thinking that the Fludyne because of its dense core needs a shroud to force the air through it.

Here is the 197 from NAPA.. Looks a little different than the Windsor, but not much. Will it work George? I just read your last post again. You said "If it does not look of function like this it is wrong" Too bad because Summit is going to cost me more in handling.... I'l wait for my radiator to arrive thanks .... Mark I bookmarked your pages... great work!

quote:

Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
... Will it work George? ...

I would not use it.

cowboy from hell

Go to Fluidyne "Discussion Board", do a search on "leaking". Mine lasted only 5 years, I only drive my Pantera 7 months a year. 6 tubes leaking where they enter the end tank. I talked to others in the racing community and agreed that Fluidyne has some leaking problems. Aluminum radiators are difficult to repair. I decided this year to have a custom copper/brass radiator fabricated, it will be light weight, easy to repair, with the correct tube and fin density.

The thermostat you picture from NAPA is a cleveland thermostat and will work fine. It is the same style I use. I do drill two 1/8 inch holes in the mounting ring to help purge air out and give it a little flow when closed.

I have an aluminum, radiator, but not the Fluidyne. I have a custom unit from Pantera performance. He has some local shop make them. I had him make a custom single pass radiator with two 1 inch cores. It works well enough, that it will keep my 375 cid turbo motor cool idling in a parade on a 90 degree day. Most of the time, I only use 1 fan and it never gets over 220. If I run both fans, it will sit at the thermostat temp (180). I have a shroud and two Mr Gasket fans on the back. One is 14" and the other is 12". I have had it installed about 8 years with no problems. Here is a pic.

Here is a pic of the thermostat I use.

Pantera Performance uses Ron Davis Racing Radiators to make his radiators. They are in Arizona. I have had one in both my cars and in my race cars, they work very well. My Pantera stays at 180 degrees even with the AC on in the summer. They come with the fans and you can even get them polished if that is something that you desire.

When I redid things on my 1974 with 18000 miles on it I had the stock radiator recored. I am still using the original fans. The thermostat is a Robert Shaw and I am using a Flowkooler water pump. The car has about 1 1/2 gallons of antifreeze and two bottles of Redline Water Wetter in it. It will idle for 1/2 hour and the temperature guage stays at 190.
Use the least amount of antifreeze you can get away with. It has about 1/2 the heat transfer capability of water and will make your car run hotter than straight water (directly from an antifreeze company technical support person). Some is needed in a Pantera so the water in the heater core does not freeze when the A/C is run. Water Wetter is supposed to make the car run cooler.
I know the above works for my car, with a stock engine. It may not work for another car, especially with a built engine or a block that has a lot of rust and corrosion buildup in it.

George, in your post you recommend that people only deal with FlowKooler if they have no other choice. I was wondering why you say that. I had no problem with them, although I have had a couple difficulties with Pantera Proformance, and no longer choose to deal with them. The problems were I was charged more for parts than their online catalog quoted, and was told "Well, we have not updated the online catalog yet". I checked a week later and the prices had not changed in the online catalog. I was also given a price over the phone for exhaust headers , ordered them right then, paid with my credit card, and was charged more for them than quoted. I was told "Oh, the price just went up". There were a few other problems too, which they took care of immediately. Overall, not an excellent experience.

I'll address 2 issues,

1. Thermostats:

The thermostats in the pictures posted by Bill & Dave do have a "plug" that extends downward to block the hole in the recirc orifice pressed into the Cleveland block below the thermostat. This is definitely a better choice than a "Windsor" thermotat. However, the OEM Cleveland thermostat was a high flow thermostat, identical to the Robertshaw thermostat. I have assumed that Robertshaw actually manufactured the OEM Ford thermostats, I truly mean they are identicle.

One of the issues with the Pantera's cooling system is insufficient coolant flow, so it makes sense to use parts that will increase coolant flow whenever possible, and to avoid using parts that would decrease coolant flow.

So if I'm going to make a recommendation on the internet, I'm going to recommend the best option available. The Robertshaw thermostat is a high flow thermostat identicle to the OEM thermostat, it is the best choice when purchasing a thermostat for your Pantera.

2. Doing business with Flow Kooler

I had difficulties with the new owner of Flow Kooler on a businessman to businessman level last year. I am leary of the man's motives. I would prefer to send business elsewhere when possible. That's all I am prepared to write.

cowboy from hell

quote:

although I have had a couple difficulties with Pantera Proformance

Okay, just who are you talking about here?

Precision Proformance - Byars brothers in California

OR

Pantera Performance Center - Dennis Quella in Colorado?

My money is on the Byars, as Dennis does not have an online catalog. But I think you need to clarify to avoid confusion.

Larry

You are correct. I should have written PRECISION PROFORMANCE.

George,
I went and looked at the #197 thermostat at NAPA and unfortunately it did not look like the Robertshaw in your picture. The NAPA part looked like all the other Cleveland thermostats I have used. I think you got a bum steer.

Art

It arrived. I kinda hate to attach my fans to the aluminum core. Will it hold up if I use a padded kit that utilizes ty wrap technology? What size are the thermostat holes? any reccomendations on where to buy the thermo switches? Most from NAPA start too high....Thanks y'all.. this thread is helping me get my plan together....Bill

I have heard that the tie wraps will saw through the radiator. I'd fab brackets. Don't forget to use Hypercool with the Fluidyne to prevent corrosion.

I agree, look closly at the web pages on my install & you will see I used 4 tab plates secured to the top and bottom lip's with small screws, I then used flat head bolts to attach the flexalites,

Also a note on thermostats, I use Milodon's
http://www.milodon.com/water-pumps/water-pumps.asp
It looks just like the one George shows, noted better quality & an explaination as to why the difference physically, No heating cooling issues going across desert at 160+ for extended periods or stop and go in the city at 110*F with air on.

Mark

quote:

Also a note on thermostats, I use Milodon's
http://www.milodon.com/water-pumps/water-pumps.asp
It looks just like the one George shows,

Milidon site only shows the top of the thermostat. And yes, it does match the Robertshaw high flow George picture shows.

BUT, Milidon has only one part number for ALL ford/chevy engines. THUS, they are not selling a Cleveland specific high flow thermostat, but a regular - Windsor - thermostat.

It is therefore NOT closing off the recirculation passage in the block, and will not send all water pump flow to the radiator, but will always be sending some to the block because when it opens it will not close off the recirc passage.

In fact, Summit Racing - unlike JEGS - makes note of this fact in their catalog...

Larry

Notice my clips that hold the fans to the radiator. I opted out of the cheezy molded hoses too.

Here's my setup,

A close up with relay's..

I kept the fan chroud about a half inch away from the fluidyne. Did not want to take a chance of the fans rubbing on the cooling fins of the fluidyne radiator. Works great.

That lQQks nice.. proven setup. Check out the extended cover I made from thin AL.. I don't have hood vents, so I sealed it up and force all air under car. The radiator fills the front ..but there is about 2 inches on the driver side where air can get around, I wonder how much that hurts air flow through the core?