Keeping my 454 cool...

Any advice would be much appreciated...I just bought a 1972 Monte with a 454 and Stealth EFI. The cooling fan is belt powered. I am wondering if I should go for a secondary fan on the front of the radiator or swap out the original fan with an electric. I am not used to the heat a 454 puts out and I don't like seeing that temp hitting 200 in traffic.

The best setup would be a thermostatic clutch fan (OEM style) with an intact radiator/fan shroud. That setup moves a LOT of air. It's not like it will rob a lot of power from the Mk IV.

On the other side, 200°F is not that hot, especially for an EFI system. Most factory thermostats were at 195° when EFI came about. As long as the cooling system can keep it under 225° it should be fine. Factory settings for secondary cooling fans are usually around 230°.

All good stuff by Blue.

Holy crap...I had no idea 200 degrees was normal. Well now this is the temp that I see on the Stealth screen. The old school guage is always 20 degrees higher. That was one of my questions- can I go ahead and remove the old aftermarket guages (temp, oil pressure) and just rely on the Stealth? You could be really making my day here...thanks so much for the help!

Common for the OEM temp sensor that drives the dash gauge to be in the cylinder head--which then reads 10--20 degrees hotter than the coolant temperature at the thermostat due to heat load picked-up from the exhaust.

ALSO common for aftermarket replacement temp sensors to be inaccurately calibrated.

ALSO common for the OEM dash gauges to not be all that accurate.

If this was my vehicle, I'd make sure the dash gauges were in the best practical working condition, and then leave it the hell alone. Either use your EFI control screen to view more-accurate data, or just learn what's normal for your engine and recalibrate your mind to compensate. For fook's sake, don't vandalize the dash to remove OEM gauges--but removing inaccurate aftermarket gauges is fair game.

"I" would install better aftermarket gauges.

Common for the OEM temp sensor that drives the dash gauge to be in the cylinder head--which then reads 10--20 degrees hotter than the coolant temperature at the thermostat due to heat load picked-up from the exhaust.

ALSO common for aftermarket replacement temp sensors to be inaccurately calibrated.

ALSO common for the OEM dash gauges to not be all that accurate.

If this was my vehicle, I'd make sure the dash gauges were in the best practical working condition, and then leave it the hell alone. Either use your EFI control screen to view more-accurate data, or just learn what's normal for your engine and recalibrate your mind to compensate. For fook's sake, don't vandalize the dash to remove OEM gauges--but removing inaccurate aftermarket gauges is fair game.

"I" would install better aftermarket gauges.

Thanks for the words! I would never even drill a hole in the dash (I am though getting ready to replace the clock with a perfect matching tach). I was just wondering if the EFI screen can replace the aftermarket guages that are mounted underneath the dash. Amazingly, there is no stock temperature guage..just a temp light.