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My '72 runs a bit hot. It has the stock radiator (as far as I can tell), but the previous owner removed the stock fans from their brackets and replaced them with fans that mount on the radiator itself (still pusher fans, unable to determine make). Just wondering if there are fans that provide adequate cooling with stock radiator, or do I have to replace that as well? What's a good replacement? If I use a 45 degree lay-down model, do I need hood vents (I've seen several examples on the various web sights that don't use vents)? Pertinent info: I live in Seattle area (air temp rarely hits 90 degrees). No immediate plans for competiton. Believe current thermostat is 180 degree (possibly 160). Considering GTS style air dam for aerodynamics, but would certainly appreciate any cooling benefit. Thanks for the help.

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Depends- for instance, 215F is not 'too hot'. My wife's '97 Z-28 routinely runs at 215F and the electric fan doesn't even switch on till 230-235F. Your '72 probably has the early 0-220F water temp gauge. Ford noted that with the early gauge, people didn't really READ the gauge; all they saw was the needle "pegged" near the end of the scale and panicked. So they went for cheap fixes, in several ways. First, they stuck a 5 watt resistor in the gauge wire near the distributor, to lower the gauge reading. (Remove it). Second, they put the temp sensor in a remote location, in the radiator surge tank far away from the engine. (Remove it from the tank & place it in the block where it was on millions of other Fords) Finally, in '73 they changed to a 0-260F gauge. Note that none of these 'fixes' actually lowered the engine water temp, only the needle reading. There are a multitude of ways to coerce your 351C to run below 200, but it seems to make more power and last longer when operated at 200+.
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