I have a '60 V. It's an automatic, w/a 170. Not exactly a freeway car, being slow and it doesn't like to cruise smoothly or noiselessly after 60+ mph. I have to push it.

My question is this. Do other people who own these cars with this motor have an overheating issue? I was driving during the day on one of L.A.'s freeways; the day was slightly warm, but not bad and I wasn't going up a hill, however the engine temperature climbed up and rested on the top "Hot" mark before settling down again after I'd left the car sitting for hours.

I was told I could add a bigger fan with bigger blades for better cooling. Someone suggested a 'flex fan."

Because I enjoy keeping original, I'm wondering if the '61 A/C package came with a fan blade which was bigger, perhaps a five blade fan?

My 62 sedan 170slant /904 (not wagon) will cruise at 70+ in KS (no traffic) but the radiator will not keep up if I get much past that speed. Took 2 Trips last summer of roughly 350 miles round-trip each, had no problems as long as I kept the speed around 70.(Temp would climb if I maintained speed greater than 70) New radiator should fix this problem, not sure if a bigger cooling fan would do much .
I already have performed a system flush- ran the car while adding new water to the radiator hose for 30+ minutes (coolant clear). Also a fan shroud might help, I haven't seen one on the toads but surely something could be fabricated. Good Luck!!

A flex fan will make a lot of noise, and it's tough to find one that will fit the '60 Valiant's EXTREMELY short clearance between the rear of the radiator and the front of the engine. If you're having low-speed/stuck-in-traffic overheating issues, a fan with more blades will probably help.

The '60 Valiants came with very short rear-end gears; even most of the automatics got 3.55s (the ones that didn't got 3.23s). In combination with the miniature original-size tires, this makes for a VERY busy/noisy ride at highway speeds.

It's not clear from your post when your "overheat" indication occurred. If it was while driving at highway speeds, then your problem isn't airflow-related, but rather waterflow-related. As VDart said, the original radiator is the choke point. A good radiator shop can install a 3-row high-efficiency core in your original radiator, leaving it looking stock but working much better. Take the time to find a shop that knows how to put together the early Mopar round-tank radiators so they don't leak; it's a bit of an art.

It is normal for the temp gauge to spike high and then slowly come back down after you shut down the engine. That's because the water pump is no longer circulating coolant, so the hottest coolant rises to the top of the system (where the temp gauge sender is) and even continues to get heated up by the engine's residual heat.

A fan shroud can make a big difference in slow-speed/stuck-in-traffic situations. A simple ring-type shroud was used on '61-up A-bodies when equipped with A/C. Good luck finding one of the originals! A box-type shroud was used starting in '65 on A/C cars. These are more effective but almost equally hard to find. Perhaps a later-model plastic box shroud could be adapted.

I experienced the same problems as you for 2 years. I also live in LA. City driving was fine, but anything over 30 minutes on the freeway and I was running hot. I tried every fan combo etc... nothing helped. The 2 row stock radiator was newer and checked out fine.

Solution...

Custom 3 row High Efficiency radiator from a shop on San fernando Road in Glassell Park. Cost me $215.

I have never had a overheating issue since.

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My Swinger gets the Highlight Valet Parking spot over the German sports cars on the Sunset Strip. I love my Mopar.

Thanks you guys. Just saw your posts. To answer SSDan's question:

Was driving on the freeway between 60-65 when it started getting hot. By the time I drove down the offramp to be stuck in traffic, the car was running on the top 'hot' mark. I then drove a short ways more to my destination and shut the car off. Later that night, I started back home (when it was much cooler outside) and though I was still driving on the freeway home, the car did not overheat (I suspect because it was cooler outside).

Thanks LASwinger70 for suggesting the radiator shop and to SSD for suggesting the custom-yet stock-looking solution. Sounds good to me.

So I'm curious: has anyone out there seen a 61 or 62 valiant with the complete dealer stock A/C package? Reason I ask is because my 64 dart sedan has the A/C package, complete with the original ring shroud, AND an original five blade fan which I understand was part of the a/c package. So I'm wondering if the early valiants had the ring shroud and five blade fan as part of their package too.

Thanks for replying guys.

OK, that's almost certainly a waterflow ("insufficient radiator heat exchange") problem. At those speeds, you've got LOTS of air being rammed through the radiator by the car's forward motion; the fan's just along for the ride, so changing to a different fan or adding a shroud won't help. Higher-capacity fans and shrouds are for low-speed situations where you can't get enough airflow through the radiator.
Yep, and I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing the parts out of the car when I saw them in a yard in LA in '97 or so. And yeah, the '61-'62 Valiants and Lancers (no A/C available on the '60) did have a ring shroud and a fan with more blades.