See, we've had this conversation before. But you seem to have forgotten that I originally set my car up to run colder. I ran it like that for awhile (literally years), and I ran several timing and carburation calibrations during that time. The problem was always the same, the car was a DOG when it was actually cold outside. It would sputter and spit, and lag on the throttle until it was all the way at the very top of the temperature range I was trying to maintain (below 190°). I had no issues maintaining the colder temperatures with my cooling set up at all. And the colder coolant temperatures did not allow me to run more overall timing, I run the same max overall timing now. When it was hot out the car did great.
I went around with timing and carburation, working different timing curves and even entirely different carburetors and distributors, changed out the mechanical flex fan I had been running for my current electric fan set up so I could better control the coolant temperature range. Then I did the logical thing- the car ran great at 190°, and like it was cold and still warming at 180° or below. So I raised the temperature on my electric fans cut in and cut out, because with the electric fan controller I run that takes 30 seconds and costs nothing. Car ran better, still had no overheating issues, and was all around easier to drive. And that was all the time, not just when it was cold out. So I went back into the timing and carburetor and with a little more tuning the car runs great.
Sorry, but your advice is completely rooted in your drag racing background. Drag racers are the only ones that say running your car at 160° is best. And for the drag strip that's fine, for a max hp dyno pull that's fine, heck for a nice weekend afternoon cruise to the park that's fine. At 5am when it's 27° out for the morning commute it's just not what you want. Tried it, worked hard to make it work, discovered it was bad advice, moved on and tuned a better running car.
I did do it your way. And I'm not going to claim my engine is tuned perfectly or even built perfectly for how I use it, I already know it isn't. But I do know that it runs and performs better tuned the way it is now then it ever did tuned to run cold like you say should be best.
Right, which is exactly why I said your dirt track example was irrelevant for every other application and pretty much every car discussed on this board. Everything I said is true of my car, and for most cars on this board that see any amount of street time. Idle and low RPM is the challenging time to cool street cars, while anything at speed is typically managed without the fan as long as the radiator and water pump are working properly.
Electric fans work great on these cars. They work great on modern cars, heck an 807 hp Challenger Hellcat runs a single electric fan. But like anything, they have to be set up properly. If you want an electric fan to work properly for your application you have to make sure it's capable of pulling enough CFM, that your electric system can provide it continuously with the large amperage it will need to move that amount of air, and that you're controlling it in a way that can turn the fan on/off reliably when it needs to be. There are a lot of really expensive aftermarket electric fans out there that don't move half the air that's required for most applications with these cars.
I'm just tired of all the guys here that say electric fans are junk and they don't work. They're like anything else. Set them up wrong and they won't work. You can't just slap one on, run a couple of 14 gauge wires to it with a 70 amp alternator and expect success. Pretty much every case I've read on this board where someone says their electric fan set up didn't work was the install. Too small a fan, not enough amperage, undersized wiring, cheesy switching, etc.
