1968 Chrysler Town and Country

Julesva5

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Hi all - I've returned to this forum after having been out here a while ago with my 68 Plymouth Fury III convertible. I now have a 1968 Chrysler Town and Country and am looking to improve cooling on its 383 4 Barrel. Two questions - 1) has anyone fitted an aftermarket cooling fan to the front of the radiator (mine is a 22 inch)? And if so recommendations on the best ones? 2) Does anyone know where to source a fan shroud? I'm also working to replace thermostat and generally ensure cooling system is right. I appreciate the help here and I added a couple of photos of the car. NOTE! the garage it's in is the guy's I bought it from. Some day!

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THAT, is one sharp wagon, Was the car restored or original. I don't know your budget but Glen-Ray radiator custom makes your needs.
 
Nice wagon!

When was the last time the radiator was cleaned? Miles on the car? Just curious.

Might need to knock out the core plugs on the block and clean the block coolant passages if a radiator does not help.

How hot is it getting? Verified the heat with an IR heat gun? 180 degree F thermostat?

A 7-blad clutch fan set-up might be a better upgrade, to me.

Just curious,
CBODY67
 
Hey all - it's getting above 190 driving so not bad. but when I sit it goes above 230. I'm going to check thermostat first and put in 180. I do think the current radiator was repaired not too long ago mileage-wise. The car has had a repaint and rebuild on engine back in 2012-13 and been well cared for since.
 
Before you do anything, check the timing, back flush the coolant system and take your radiator and have it hot tanked and rodded out if necessary before you do anything else. I'm not sure that an electric "pusher" fan will do much as you currently should have a direct drive fan on your car. However if your wagon is idling to low, that could be a factor when stopped.

When the car is running hot, have you checked the temperature with a heat sensing gun? If you put the car in neutral and increase the engine RPM does the temperature start to go down?

My recommendation would be to have a 3 core narrow fin radiator fitted to your tanks and add a factory two piece metal shroud, a 7 blade fan and a clutch fan. I would also back flush the cooling system extensively with a chemical agent designed to clean cooling systems. Keep in mind that the green coolant that we use in our older cars can turn acidic after 2 years and eat away at an aluminum radiator. Using modern long life coolant isn't an option as it will eat away at your heater core causing it to leak.

Post a wanted ad for a two piece 22" fan shroud for a C Body. The B Body reproduction shrouds may work.

Another alternative would be to install a 26" radiator but your core support opening is for a 22" radiator so part of a 26" radiator would be behind the core support and require you to drill a few holes. This would give you some additional cooling capacity.
 
Love the wagon!

I had a similar issue with my Newport with a 383 and a 2 barrel. It was running over 200 and as high as 220 going down the road. I was also looking at getting a better fan and shroud, but I had the radiator checked at a radiator shop and it was pretty clogged. I had the shop recore the radiator and the temp now runs at 178 to 182 in all kinds of driving with the factory 4 blade fan and no shroud. When idling on a hot day it'll climb closer to 200 but it doesn't overheat. The moral of the story is that with a good radiator, you may not need the shroud and fan.
 
Awesome wagon!

I have a 66 300 383 4 barrel. I re-cored my original 22" radiator 10 year ago. Everything else is original and no shroud. Never hot or any overheating issues what so ever. I drove it in a parade for 45 minutes on a hot day just last year and drove like a dream.
 
(Considering these Chryslers have a "hot" and "cold" light, how are these temps being determined?)
 
I have a 383-4bbl in my 68 Sport Suburban wagon with 26" radiator & factory shroud. 2 years ago i had the system completelely flushed ,The factory original radiator was boiled & rodded out & thermostat replaced with a 160 degree thermostat car barely gets to 180 degrees when sitting in traffic and most times is around 160-165 degrees. Wasn't cheap($1000.00) but everything is factory correct.
 
Beautiful wagon. Please don’t put on one of thode ugly aluminum radiators. They look terrible.
 
Every 70/60s car that I "added" a "good" electric fan to has improved its a/c performance in traffic. So, I conclude it must be doing something good.
I've never swapped electric for mechanical.
 
Hi all - I've returned to this forum after having been out here a while ago with my 68 Plymouth Fury III convertible. I now have a 1968 Chrysler Town and Country and am looking to improve cooling on its 383 4 Barrel. Two questions - 1) has anyone fitted an aftermarket cooling fan to the front of the radiator (mine is a 22 inch)? And if so recommendations on the best ones? 2) Does anyone know where to source a fan shroud? I'm also working to replace thermostat and generally ensure cooling system is right. I appreciate the help here and I added a couple of photos of the car. NOTE! the garage it's in is the guy's I bought it from. Some day!

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Nice wagon. I got a shroud for my 67 300 w/22" radiator from Dante's. Also ordered their bracket kit as noted.


Where did you get the black mats you have underneath your cars?
 
I worked in Chrysler garages 69 to '79 and we didn't have any overheating problems with the original equipment. No need to upgrade. I am betting the core is plugged or block is full of rust.
 
That is one beautiful wagon. I'm surprised it doesn't have AC. As the others have said I would pursue cleaning the radiator and the block before I threw parts at it. If you throw parts at it and the block is the issue then you still have to clean it out. You could flush the system and the run some of this stuff, THERMOCURE Cooling System Rust Remover & Flush | CRC. I don't have any personal experience with it, but their rust remover works great.
 
Beautiful old long roof you have there!!

I concur on checking your ignition, timing, and vacuum advance. I had an overheating problem on the 440 in my 68 T/C wagon years ago, couldn't figure it out...was running fine then I did some work on the top end and all of a sudden over heating all the time. I was running a stock 26" rad with 7 blade fan and shroud so I replaced water pump, fan clutch, and even the radiator and it was still overheating!

I finally figured out that I had hooked up the vacuum advance to the worng port on the carb and was running full manifold vacuum all the time instead of metered/ported vacuum. I switched to the right port and I have not had a problem since.
 
(Considering these Chryslers have a "hot" and "cold" light, how are these temps being determined?)
Great question – if you go to this post you’ll find quite a bit of good info:

1968 300, any way to have engine temp lights AND a gauge?

This post provided the info for me to solve this for my 67 Newport, especially the info posted by FCBO member Larry Jett. I reached out to Larry, and he sent me the following:

Go to dakotadigital.com. Order up the ODY-04-01 and the appropriate sending unit....either 1/8 inch NPT or the 3/8 inch NPT to match the size of the additional hole you will unplug the factory slug from. You choose the color you want to see. You get to set the maximum temp you see before it blinks when the engine reaches it.

I followed those instructions and purchased the kit with the 1/8" NPT sensor. The sensor is mounted in a hole on the water pump housing - below is a pic that was originally provided by FCBO Member Big_John. Next is a pic I took of the sensor in my car, and a pic of the gauge.

And finally a pic of the gauge mounted behind where the left ashtray would go. I also installed a voltage gauge where the right ashtray would go. When I’m at shows I can close the ashtray drawer and the gauges are not visible.

The Dakota gauge fits in the ashtray hole for 65 and 66 Chryslers, but for 67 and 68 the ashtray is narrower which is why I mounted it behind the ashtray opening.

Thanks again to Larry Jett and all the other members that posted in the thread for the guidance on this!

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