im wondering if i get a 16" fan that has about 2500cfm motor will be enough to cool my 70 nova with almost stock 350 with 600 carb on it

i have no issues with my '64. my radiator is a 380325 Summit "universal" unit, the Derale #16217 fan and a custom "RICH66" shroud.

fan: http://www.derale.com/index.html
shroud: http://home.earthlink.net/~2drcdan/id1.html

thank you

your radiator should be fine so long as you have a fan shroud and the stock mechanical fan should work just fine

Like everything, the answer is . . . it depends. ;)
What's your "small block" like? My small block is a 355 with a high rise intake and a 750 double pumper, 1.7 roller rockers, .530 lift on the cam, Hookers and 3" Flowmasters - dyno'd out at 435 horsies. She ran real hot, until I put an end to the madness with a Northern BBC aluminum radiator, with shroud, and 2 SPAL 11" fans, on with the ignition. Overkill maybe, but she stays steady cool at 190 now. See my pic-355 SBC 3 on my sig's photobucket site.

what kind of rad are you running?

stock on for a 79 nova with a v8....its a few in. longer then the stock one for mine

If you are worried about cooling a mechanical fan moves three to four times the amount of air that an electric fan does (because the blades have more surface area and it is driven with a bigger motor). If your car runs hot above 35 mph then fans are not an issue, you need more cooling capacity by way of a bigger radiator. Look to a big block radiator which is one core thicker and two inches wider than the small block radiator. Better yet consider an aluminum radiator with even more surface area and less air resistance to the air flow, and it will support up to 24 psi pressure for a higher boiling point of your coolant (brass radiators shouldn't go past 16 psi).

Big Dave

one more question...my radiator is about 4 more inches longer then the stock one...should i cut my radiator support to make more airflow or keep it like it is?

run it as-is for now, might be just fine as it is. are you running any kind of shroud with the fan set up ?

i have a 16" fan that im gonna build a shroud out of sheet metal that will pull air from every inch of the radiator through the fan

that will be perfect and should cool it just fine :thumbsup: