CUTTING HOLES in my rare Hemi Plymouth Superberd to FIX IT???

BUY the Hoovie-Superbird t-shirt for that 70's muscle automobile ambiance (LIMITED TO 250 t-shirts).

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!

Follow me on Twitter!/ hooviesgarage.

Follow me on Facebook!.

CUTTING HOLES in my rare Hemi Plymouth Superberd to FIX IT???

You May Also Like

About the Author: RareCars

59 Comments

  1. The radiator needs to be sealed against the radiator support and ducting panels made to span from the lower grill opening to the radiator face. It is really no surprise the car is still overheating at idle after the holes being drilled. Those only offer benefit in motion. Ideally those holes should have flaps on them that can seal when the fans create negative pressure in that space but allow flow in motion/at higher road speed. This is really not super complicated to be honest. EDIT: Here is the instructions and wiring diagrams for the Gen 1 Fast ECU – https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/xfi_ecu_operationmanual.pdf

    1. Exactly what I was thinking. Those holes only make things worse when the car is idle. The fans are going to try to draw air through the path of least resistance and that happens to be the holes and not through the radiator. Anyone with common sense would come to the same conclusion.

  2. I would definitely rewire the ECU, it’s a real rat nest, heck, you could get your glove box back, and yes, the aluminium box fan shroud is the way to go.

    1. I have a special offer, only for fans over 18
      years old 💋👇💙
      HOUSEOF-LUST.XYZ/Negin

      Gaze: “Amazing”
      Lops: “Sensual”
      Smile: “sweeter”
      Body: “cold”

      So with toy and his tricks, do not read it to him that he writes well mamon there are only to laugh for a while and not be sad and stressed because of the hard life that is lived today.
      Köz karaş: ” Taŋ kaldım ”
      Erinder: ” Sezimdüü ”
      Jılmayuu: ” Tattuuraak ”
      Dene: ” Muzdak ”
      Jizn, kak krasivaya melodiya, tolko pesni pereputalis.
      Aç köz arstan
      Bul ukmuştuuday ısık kün bolçu, jana arstan abdan açka bolgon.

      Uyunan çıgıp, tigi jer-jerdi izdedi. Al kiçinekey koyondu wins taba algan. Al bir az oylonboy koyondu karmadı. ” Bul koyon menin kursagımdı toyguza albayt ” dep oylodu arstan.
      Arstan koyondu öltüröyün dep jatkanda, bir kiyik tigi tarapka çurkadı. Arstan aç köz bolup kaldı. Kiçine koyondu emes, çoŋ kiyikti jegen jakşı dep oylodu. #垃圾

      They are one of the best concerts, you can not go but just seeing them from the screen, I know it was surprising

      💋💌🔞💘

    2. Did you see the wire nut? I dropped an F bomb in shock when I saw it behind the glove box. Anyway check me out on only fans.

  3. Classic Mopar owner here. Few things.
    1) check the CFM on those fans. All electric fans aren’t created equal
    2) my Rallye gauge also read 15-20 degrees higher than my mechanical gauge (and temp gun). I just redid my gauges and went through this.
    3) high pressure water pumps can also cause overheating because the water doesn’t sit in the radiator long enough
    4) yank that fast junk out. EFI has come a LONG way since 2007.

    1. @The Broken Life Actually yes, your right in regards to pushers and pullers and their efficiency in standard applications. It has alot to do with laminar flow in/low of the fans, and that a pusher creates alot of turbulent flow in front of the rad, where as the puller has a nice laminar flow into it to give the blades the performance “win”, with other variables also lol. Our application was very special, and it was operating in a low vacuum environment which completely changed the characteristics of the fans we were testing ( i have edited my above comment to have correct info for the general masses; as i was having a brain fart regarding my test results, it was many years ago) . I happen to forget we were operating in a very specific environment and low pressure environments (ours being variable vacuum), caused havoc in performance. The pressure drop thru our “thermal transfer radiator” was significant, causing the puller to barely be able to pull anything.

    2. @Damien Mills If you have the space, a push and pull can provide peak performance. The pusher will create a higher pressure zone in the radiator, allowing the puller to “pull” more, in the simple terms of things. Again this will significantly vary based on radiator fin density and the such, but its basically creating a “booster” style setup, that as long as its sized correctly shouldn’t restrict airflow at higher speeds. Again that would probably require some wind tunnel testing to verify.

      Oil coolers are highly under rated, i wish folks paid more attention to them. The thermal rejection ability of basically using the lubricant as a thermal rejection coolant beyond the basic rejection surfaces of the oil pan and block sides can unlock a significant thermal management boost.

    3. @Jack L I’ve never messed with fans in a low pressure atmosphere, so I could imagine how some compression may actually be useful just to collect enough mass to actually transfer heat. Low humidity would have made collecting enough moisture for evaporation a nightmare too.

      As fascinating as an application as it is, it’s literally backward from a car where we often times have more than an atmosphere of pressure in front of the rad.

      It sounds like you get it. 👍

    4. @soundman447 agreed. When i put my Dart back on the road, it’s getting a Holley Sniper EFI system. It currently has a ’68 383/Holley 750 under the hood, and i can’t tell you how many times it did not want to start back up if it didn’t sit long enough after being shut down. I could also tell the difference on the really hot/humid days, as the power was down. Yeah, i know, hot/humid air kills the power, but so does engine bay air temps of the 160°-170° range. Good cooling and good fuel supply go hand in hand.

  4. Using spacers to move the panel out an inch or 2 would gave been a MUCH BETTER solution than cutting the speed holes.

  5. I would imagine it’s pretty embarrassing to come to a stop light and have your Plymouth Superberd, stall on you.
    I’m surprised, the wizard didn’t notice more of these issues that are obvious, like the non-Automotive Household wire nuts holding connections together.

    1. @Drinkwhiskwyraisehell I agree. Seems he needs a model specific, step-by-step service manual/schematics to do anything beyond basic maintenance or it takes him repeated tries to get anything 100%

    2. @Drinkwhiskwyraisehell I’ve never got the impression that Wizard doesn’t do good work and more importantly, he has a reputation of being honest.

    3. @Krule World I don’t have any reason to think he is dishonest. However after seeing how many times vehicles return not fixed and misdiagnosed, plus with his nonstop self promotion, I think he isn’t that great. I don’t the guy is a crap mechanic or anything. Just cause he is a youtube celebrity doesn’t mean he is all that great. He is just good at convincing people he is the only good one out there.

    4. @Drinkwhiskwyraisehell Unfortunately, I do believe you are a bit correct on that one, also when you watch his videos the other mechanics are doing a majority of the work.
      Lastly being called a wizard for doing a transmission swap and lengthening a drive shaft, any good mechanic can do that.

  6. I’m with these guys. On hold for two hours? Ha! Pull that crap out! I’ve always wondered about fluid dwell time in the radiator and air flow. I’m not a fan of the car in general, but I’m on board the fix it journey. Thanks Hoovie!

  7. I bet a stock fan on the engine with a factory fan shroud would cool better. Plus using a radiator additive like Water Wetter helps with cavitation (water boiling in the cylinder heads). Worth a try. Get a real temp gauge too. If that doesn’t, work, a better electric fan might. Plus the correct water pump must be used! High flow might not let the water stay in the rad long enough. My last 440 in a GTX gave me fits like this, but you learn to keep an eye on it.

  8. I feel your pain and frustration. Plus, Superbirds and Dodge Daytona’s are my dream car.
    With that said, I agree with a lot of the cooling system advice. We just went through the same problem with a high output engine rebuild in our squarebody truck. It ended up being a combination of many things but mainly by an internal vacuum leak due to missing internal seals and bushings within an aftermarket carb, making it run too lean, causing it to overheat and to diesel on shutdown also stall while warming up. Additionally, we had a poor flow rate in the thermostat. We actually had to boil the thermostat in water, get it up to temp, and found out it wasn’t opening all the way. Check the block temp just under the thermostat to see if the temp is significantly different. Lastly, we had to get the valves adjusted because they weren’t closing all the way, causing low power output and contributing to overheating. Let me know if any of this advice helps? One more thing. Check the harmonic balancer to see if they stuck the original hemi balancer back on or if it is even the right balancer in general. Had that happen on a vehicle rebuild once, which led to the timing being way off.

  9. I had a similar issue with an Olds 455 with a very similar cooling set up. You have no original fan shroud to direct air and a big front end, so I would suggest adding a push fan to the front of the radiator. Also, make sure your current fans are turning on correctly and their heat probes are working / in an appropriate place.

  10. I would look into a holley sniper EFI setup with a standalone ECU. That would make it behave and run like a lot newer car and make it far easier to tune. I remember JR did that setup on his grandpas old f series and it was a night and day difference

  11. Aren’t those holes in the shroud going to potentially hurt cooling performance while sitting? You should get some of those rubber flaps put in that close at idle and open while you’re moving. That said, with the shroud basically butted up against the core, it might not matter much. Edit: I see like 100 other people made the same comment, oh well.

    1. Yeah man I thought the same thing, I can’t believe that dude called the fan shroud a “radiator block off plate”

    2. I commented the same thing, the holes will make it worse

      The shroud is to ensure all the fan airflow comes through the radiator. Now the airflow is going to be sucking in through those holes and out through the fan bypassing the radiator entirely 🤦‍♂

    3. Are the fans even working? Because of the holes, the fans if they work, won’t be pulling air through the radiator….

  12. Replace the thermostat. Thoroughly flush the cooling system with Blue Devil coolant flush. Install a third fan in front of the radiator to draw cool air. Put a timing light on it see if engine is on-time and advances correctly…there are many things you can do before rewiring the whole thing !

    1. I agree with your statement, but wouldn’t it make sense for the rewire instead of when it goes to auction,the possible buyers being turned off by the rats nest in the glovebox and the other wiring issues that seem to be done by a 9year old

  13. Honestly Tyler if your going to rewire it get a haltech, they have amazing customer service and it’s soooo easy to work with!

  14. Heres my suggestion, make sure the lower radiator hose isnt collapsing when driving. A strong radiator pump will do that to an old hose or one without a metal internal spring.

    1. Exact thing happens to my small block ford it sucks the hose flat 😂 fixed now but it would get pretty hot but fan and radiator were super efficient so always cooled down

  15. I know you’re having a lot of problems with this car, but I have confidence that when your finished it will be an Awsome street machine.

  16. GOD I wish I could live in a nice quiet culdesac where randomly once a week with no warning I get to look out my window and see my neighbor honking his horn and doing donuts in the snow in a Superbird right in front of my house and climbing all over it like a madman. I hope his neighbors appreciate what they have. All that free entertainment and then everything just goes back to normal for the rest of the week. What a fun neighbor to have.

    1. I think you are likely overestimating his bourgeoise neighbors love for hot rods….. Most in that fancy neighborhood probably hate him. I’d love to have him as a neighbor, however! Did he make all his dough on YouTube, or did he do something else prior? Or family money? Honestly don’t know.

    2. I wished I lived in a culdesac also. I am hating my neighborhood more and more as the years go by and code enforcement are cunts.

    3. @ROBIN SAGE he’s had his neighbors in his videos with their own cars so I think they’re ok with it. Plus he filmed this during the day. Most of them probably weren’t even home.

  17. That ending was awesome Tyler!
    No word of a lie, that car suits you more than any other in recent years Hoovie, you should try and keep it for as long as possible man.
    Super jelly too on top of it all…got to drive one 3 times and your video just brings back all those good memories!

  18. As a retired Chrysler engineer I recall the class I had at work from the cooling system engineers. Of course the cars had engine driven fans. Important things were the radiator is sealed to the closure panel. If not the hot air can recirculate back to the front of the radiator. Also the hood should be sealed to the closure panel for the same reason. Probably the most important is the fan shroud which should fit tightly to the radiator. The fan blade needs to fit close to its opening so the air cannot spill off the blades and circulate back to the front of the blades effectively not pulling air through the radiator but recirculating it.

    1. they also need a different fan shroud. a flat plate is a no go, as it only allows air to be sucked through right at the fan. the shroud needs to seal to the radiator, but also be spaced/angled enough to allow the fan to draw air from the entire radiator.

    2. Wow…I was mentioning this in my comment too! I’ve restored six Suprbirds over the years, four hemi versions. When I say restore, I mean factory stock, numbers match, judged level restore…..no custom. We spend a lot of time with the factory style radiator seal kits for these. When you get them right, THEY WORK! Especially the Hemi versions of these cars because the Hemi has better heads.

    3. @Larry Drozd I remember them specifically mentioning old muscle cars and why you would see them overheating in traffic. The owners had removed fan shrouds and installed fiberglass fans and such. The little details are important.

Leave a Reply to Neil Brown Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *