Dear Fellow Camaro lovers,


I own a 1984 Chevy Camaro Z28. It originally came with the 305 TBI motor, but now, it has a carbureted 350.


My problem is that the engine overheats. It goes to 220 degrees, and If I don't turn on the defroster full blast, it sometimes exceeds 220. I am afraid that during the Summer, I may get caught in traffic and the temps will exceed 230 degrees.


In regards to the cooling system, everything is in place except for one thing: the lower shroud piece. Everything in terms of the cooling system appears to be functioning: the water pump is similar to stock and works fine, the radiator works ok, the fan works (clutch type fan), and I have a 180 degree thermostat installed. The coolant is a 50/50 mix.


When I drive uphills, the car gets hot really fast. It doesn't like hills at all.


I have a couple of inexpensive ideas. For one thing, the radiator cap needs replacement. Also, I am thinking about adding Redline's "Water Wetter". In your opinion, will this help reduce the temperatures a little bit? I think that it will work, but I don't want to be overly optimistic either.


The engine is mostly stock- stock crank, rods, and pistons. However, it has a Competition cam (Specs unknown), an Edelbrock carburetor (600 CFM?), headers, and an Edlebrock aluminum intake.


What can I do to keep the car running cool? I am on a fixed budget, so I want to keep the costs as low as I can. Maybe a year or so from now, I may try to get a Be Cool radiator- but for now, I am going to stick with what I have. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


Yours truly,

Sneaky

My 86 El Camino has a 305 in it and the factory guage says it runs at 220 all the time once warm. Once each day it climbs beyond that and if I run WOT at times it also climbs just to the edge of the red on the guage and then comes back down. The orig owner is well respected in drag race circles (inducted into the drag race hall of fame several years ago) and he tells me it's run like that from day one off the showroom floor. It's got less than 10K miles on the new crate and runs just like the old engine which lasted 130k miles so I haven't tried to play with it.

Make sure all the plastic is in place, it makes a difference...

I used to have a 1984 Z28 that always showed higher than normal temperatures on the gauge. I took it to a shop where a friend checked the temperature of the coolant with a probe thermometer - it was much cooler than what the gauge showed. I don't remember what the temp difference was, it was in 1986 when I owned it.

There could be a couple of problems.

First, the new radiator cap and/or Water Wetter will not help unless you are expelling coolant.

Second, moving or pulling a load and getting hotter is either a lower hose colapsing or partially all the time and going up hill just requires more hp and therefore taxes the system too much.....or a too lean main jet setting which could be an all around problem (read the plugs).......or you are just over whelming the radiator! The radiator is most efficient moving down the road and should have enough capacity to cool under all conditions. However, lack of surface area because of the smaller and lower hp engine or clogged for some reason as well.

If you have a spring in the lower hose (feel it) then I would concentrate on cloggin, jetting and then too small of a radiator in that order.