parade speed blues

[Robert Davidson]

With the engine rebuild the IH runs a whole lot better but still doesn't like driving slow in parades.
The alternator doesn't charge enough to keep the battery up with all the lights on, the engine temp goes way up and oil pressure bottoms out when creeping along at idle speed.
I've considered adding an electric rad fan to help keep it cool but that doesn't assist with the oil pressure and the charging.
Any suggestions?

 

[Mike Stevens]

IH suggestions

One suggestion is to open the heater valve to let the heater core help in cooling the engine. That extra quart of coolant will help get rid of the heat but you will be mighty warm in the cab. If opening the valve does not seem to work turn the heater on low and then step it up as needed. You might also try a thermostat that is 10 degrees cooler than the one presently in the engine. For the battery you might want to try a dual battery set up. Run the IH on the original battery and the accessories on the second battery. You will have to have a splitter in place to run the charge for the batteries. Like the ones on a camper tow vehicle where you charge the tow car and the camper battery at the same time. The splitter will/should only charge the low battery as needed.
I will leave the oil to the real experts. I know there are pumps out there that can be added to circulate your oil before you start your engine. One of those may work to keep you from going to zero while running slow. You would have to make sure it did not pump the pan dry while trying to keep the pressure up. Another thing to try is an auxillary oil gauge. See what it reads when the factory gauge says you are running on zero.
Now the floor is open to the experts and anyone else with an opinion.
Mike

 

[John ED Renstrom]

a number of things. what are you running for OIL. a good fleet service 15-40 may be what you need but the heat will do that in to. before you add a whole lot go to a decent fan on the truck. if yours is a clutch fan is it working. if not a flex fan will add a lot. but then again is the cooling system up to snuff. is the thermostat working properly. it may be only opening half the way. as for The alternator first try a smaller pulley on it that will let it spin faster at slower RPM. but there is no way you can keep up with a larger number of lights with only a 65 amp alternator. if all else fails put in a aluminum radiator and your troubles will go away

 

[Paul Steinberg]

On the mechanical side of things, check the timing and retard it slightly for parade work. Also, check to see if the water pump is working properly. Some people install a high volume water pump, and that adds to the problem, since the coolent doesn't have sufficient time in the radiator to remove the heat. Also, is the radiator clogged and is it a 3 or more tube core. The more tubes, the better the cooling. Does the readiator have a fan shroud that makes sure that all the cooling air is drawn through the radiator, and not pulling air from the sides. I would use a 160 degree thermostat so the engine comes up to temperature, but it stays open. They also now make a more modern thermostat that has a larger opening to allow more coolent to flow through it. You might also be able to find a smaller water pump pulley that will give you more fan RPM's.

 

[Kenn Evans II]

I have had good luck with the addition of an electric fan, but if you have a draw more than the alternater can put out you are still going to need to change the pully or look around for a higher amp alternator. On my 73 Lincoln I was able to shoe in a 105 amp alternator and I spliced into the wire harness a gm plug next to my fomoco plug and the accomodation was acceptable. I was able to run a 105 amp alternator off of a 75 GMC truck with the 454 cid. If you remove the manual fan and add an electric fan you might gain upto 3 mpg. The fan and shroud I used is off of a 2008 Nissan Maxima, I wired the primary fan to a relay mounted on the fenderwell and to a temp sending unit on the thermostat housing and for the aux fan I ran to a relay and hooked it up to a toggle switch and a lead over to the a/c compressor clutch so when I tun on the a/c both fans come on or if i need more air moving I can turn on the toggle and have both fans running.

 

[Kenn Evans II]

I forgot to add I run castrol 20-50 high mileage oil and find with a Wix filter over purelator oil filter I get about 3-5 psi higher oil pressure. I have all manual gages to see what my engine is doing. I hope this might help.

 

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

I to ran into a little over heating problem as well during our towns 4th of July parade (actually held on the 3rd) this year. Normally the 73 M-M's temp gauge runs any where between 190 and 220 degrees depending on the out side temp and how much stop n go traffic I'm driving in. But during the parade, with the outside temp that day at 95 degrees with the heat index at about 100+ degrees moving only less than 5 mph it climbed close to 250 degrees but never over boiled, stalled or anything, although the brakes started to get a bit spongy due to the engine starting to loose vacuum at the booster. So I'm thinking if I keep doing parades an electric cooling fan may be in order for me as well.

 

[Steve Lichtman]

Our vehicles weren't really built for parade use. We tried different thermostats and an electric fan in our '60 Buick, and it would still overheat in parades. Nothing seemed to work. The solution that worked was not to take it to any more parades.

I don't want to "rain on your parade", but you might consider doing fewer parades or only short ones in more moderate weather.

 

[Douglas Smith]

For the electricity part you can have an alternator guy rebuild your alternator to give you more power at lower RPMs as well as a higher amperage at higher RPMs. Look into some car stereo / tuner places for that kinda thing. ($200-400 from what I remember in car stereo)

The electric fans are the way to go as well as a good battery or two (optima maybe?)

As for the oil pressure is it within specs at idle? I would try lower weight oil or synthetic as well.

 

[Mike Stevens]

IH oil pressure

One of the owners manuals for my IHs said that it was normal for the oil gauge to read low at idle. So long as the gauge moved up when you started driving all was suppose to be OK. I installed another gauge on a T right at the oil pressure sending unit. Then I could look at the pressure at idle. Not while in a parade of course. When the dash gauge read almost zero the added gauge would read 10-12 psi.
On the addition of electric fans even a small one will help with the heat/temperature problem. I did however get docked 2points in Albany for it. I expected to get nicked for the electric fan. But it did the job it was put on the car to do. In 2011 I will remove the fan when I get to the meet.
Also check the trans temperature. An old Ford used to flash the hot light on me. I installed a trans cooler and the problem was gone. A transmission guy told me my in radiator cooler was not enough for the loads I was hauling with the Ford. The trans was heating the radiator. Added cooler = problem solved.
You may have to try a few of the suggestions to get what you want.
Mike

 

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

Here we have been talking about adding cooling fans and the such to our cars. I put a cooling fan on the 73 M-M combo a month or so back and after the installation was complete with the coach setting in the driveway with an outside temp of about 95 degrees with engine at idle and in drive with foot on brake pedal for about 10 minutes the temp gauge was reading about a little over 230 degrees. At idle with foot on brake and fan turned on the temp dropped to right around 200 to 190 degrees. At normal driving the temp gauge reads anywhere from 190 to about 210 depending on traffic and speed etc with outside temps in the 80's. The installed thermostat is a high flow brass 190 degree unit. The fan I used was a transmission cooler fan from a 1993 Superior Cadillac limo. All wiring a switches are hidden on installation. I'd rather be knocked two or three points at a show that have to put $3K under a hood again! Photos show how the installation turned out.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

modifier!!!

 

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

modifier!!!

Now I'm just waiting on the decision from the PCS excommunication committee now!

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Now I'm just waiting on the decision from the PCS excommunication committee now!

I believe that the proper term is "execution" committee. :3_7_11v: What are you doing tomorrow morning at 3 AM? That is the time we like to schedule executions, since it doesn't interfere with other things...