1939 buick...help a noob

[39CENT]

Overheating in '39s was not all that unusual. Of course the first thing is have the radiator flushed to make sure the water is flowing OK. I have a '39 here in Florida where it is now in the 90's every day. I have controlled the problem (mostly) by having the radiator re-cored and a new neck soldered on so it will accept a 7 lbs. pressure cap. This helps, but is not a total cure. Also, I have an electric fan in front of the radiator which helps, but still in heavy traffic at 90 degrees, it gets hot. By the way, my '39 is still running on 6 volts. I bought a 6 volt fan, if you would like I can look up where I bought it. One thing to remember is that these 6 volt fans will draw nearly 15 Amps when running, so you do not want to have a lot of other accessories on at the time.
Gary

I helped my 39 overheating by blocking the big air gap below the radiator and front crossmember with a piece of sheetmetal . found that when driving at highway speed it would overheat, but slowing it cooled. I blocked open the back of my hood a little on each side and found the heat went down [lotta heat came out from there]. Seems like the incoming air under the car was causing an air block,[no louvers on hood sides] slowin cooling air thru the radiator, actually causing a hi pressure area. Blocking the airgap made all the air go thru the grille and radiator not under the rad. Anyway it doesnt heat up like it used to.[more louvers inside engine compartment would help]

[Straight80]

Check your thermostat housing/bypass. There's a bypass hose that goes to the water pump, and the thermostat is on the top of it.. When you take the thermostat out, and the loosen the lower bypass clamp you then remove the 2 bolts that hold the bypass in place. It's tricky to take one bolt out from behind the water pump pulley, after remoing the bypass you should not be able to look through the bypass. If you can look straight through without any restrictions, replace it. The older bypasses had a rod with a spring, and type of disc on it. When the thermostat opens, it makes to coolant from the radiator go into the block, without the restricter the coolant just circulates through the radiator only when the thermostat opens. Causing the engine to run a lot hotter than normal. Some time late 47 or mid 48, the bypass I'm talking about was modified. It was casted to a restricted flow, and did away with the rod and disc so the coolant would in fact go into the block better. And come out through the thermostat like it should. I hope you understand what I'm talking about. If not we'll try another approach so you can understand the concept.
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[GMorse]

I bought my 6 volt fan from Fifth Ave. Garage.,
Here is their web site : fifthaveinternetgarage.com
The fan appears to be very well built, although I thought it was somewhat expensive.
Their email is fifthave@online.net
Gary