Thermo Fan

[Marishka]

could be 2 ,or 3 core, i think ull find that the radiator hose fittings will be on the wrong sides for ur red 6cyl
u can maybe get some longer flex hoses but it might be a bit bodgey

[Worzel]

First in best dressed.
Almost new 3 core sitting next to the V8 ex ice cream  bedford van in centre road wreckers springvale (victoria). Mounting brackets need a little work

[westy12]

gday jock  i think mine was a 2 core from a 253 from something, maybe torana? i thought it would do the job but on a really hot day coming into adelaide it was boiling! def. suss out the commodore radiators alex got one for 100 i think... might have to make a mount. take it easy. luke

[Rothu]

I've seen a Bedford that had a snub nosed water pump. it just had the pulley wheel bolted on for the belt with no fan "cupping" (that big cup to extend the fan to radiator).
this gave considerable room for him to easily mount 2x10 inch thermo fans.
Which is what I'll definitely be doing! No more damn over heating!
You can get the shorter water pump/pulley wheel from Bursons.
Hope this helps!

[aka5000]

yeah i actually paid 35 bucks on ebay for the commodore 3 core cross flow, twas pretty much brand new, chucked on 2x 8'' thermo fans, solved all my cooling issues.
alex

[BusyKiwi]

I learnt something really interesting the other day (I love learning new stuff).

This guy who races off road in a V8 cruiser had an over heating problem, ended up with 3 thermo fans and it still heated up. The solution was 1 three armed fan. (the arms are the arms that hold the motor in the middle of the fan)

He told me a formula that was a bit to complex for my little brain to remember, to work out how much resistance all the plastic arms produce, he doesn't suggest cutting some out like drag racers do as the center becomes very unstable.

He just got one large fan (was steel one) and no more over heating

A fan surround also does wonders

[Rothu]

Another friend with a Bedford had tried lots of thing to cure the overheating problem.
He finally used a Toyota Landcruiser radiator which is the same width, but much longer. He has no thermo fans, but replaced the stupid steel four blade fan for an plastic 8 blade fan. He used a high temp thermometer in the radiator cap and changed the resistors until he got a perfect reading on the temp gauge.
He has not had an overheating problem since, even driving and towing a fully laden box trailer to Mildura in 45 degree heat!

We both agree that the real problem is how much steel sits in front of the radiator blocking over 40% of the air getting to it. The standard bedford radiator just isn't big enough to get enough air to it.

[Rothu]

Ok, has anyone else done anything like this?

Once you've taken out the radiator, you'll see a steel plate with 2 oblong holes that is in front of the radiator and directly in line of the fan. This plate is 120mm high. The standard radiator is 340mm high. This means that plate is obscuring just over 1/3 of the air intake.  This is ridiculous! At high speeds, you are only trying to cool down 2/3 of the water.
I reckon this plate is absolutely the MAIN cause of overheating problems.

I cut out a section of that plate 80mmx570mm, leaving 20mm top and bottom. This does not alter any structural points.

I've put in a commodore 3 core cross flow radiator which just fits in at 670mm width, with an 8 blade plastic fan.
No more overheating!

[ben]

that sounds like the go!!

[Clance]

Hi Guys, Been a while!! My Bedhome has a commodare horizontal core radiator & a Mercedes Benz viscous fan cooloing the 350 Chev! Drove the old girl hard from Tassie to Mackay and didn't over heat once!! I did found that a common problem is air locks in the cooling system eg pour in x amount of water, think it's full but its not! pump the hoses like a outboard motor fuel primer bulb and the water dissapears into the system!! keep adding water and pumping the hoses until no more will go in then the system is full!! you can also get a radiator pressure fill system from Repco or Bursons which will bleed the system as you fill it!! no more air locks causing over heating!!!
Well it worked in my case!!
Cheers
Clance