Installing Radiator IN FRONT of the Support!

Ok, Happy Father's Day!

Finally found a couple hours to proceed with the upgraded radiator installation.
The Old James Duff copper/brass wasn't doing the job for a supercharged V8 and getting this beast cooled has been as hard as any other upgrade I've attempted and that includes putting the 5.0 in the truck to begin with!

A little background. My Ranger is the original 'Boss Ranger' built with the support of Summit Racing and featured in the now defunct Sport Truck Magazine. Through the years it has undergone various modifications by myself and in my garage using common tools. The truck only has 12,000 miles on it since new.

By far the most difficult to date was the installation of a Vortech Supercharger. I've modified the Vortech brackets in order to fit the Ranger frame as they are of Fox Mustang parentage and the Mustang has a uni-body with a lot more room!

One of my goals has been to retain complete driver comfort and that includes the often deleted air conditioner. This has turned into a major endeavor! The truck just will not stay under 240F!

Fluids have always been Amsoil 20W50 and Evans Waterless Coolant. The best of the best. Still overheats!

Most of my modifications have been trial and error and looking back I should have been satisfied with just the 5.0! But as we all know power is addictive!....and VERY expensive!

So now I'm trying to get an adequate cooling system.

The only thing missing from this shot is the supercharger idler pulley. Had to go to get the radiator out.



The Taurus fan will be where the old radiator was and it just clears the pulleys!


The Griffin Radiator is just a little smaller than the James Duff unit. However the James Duff had the filler neck in the wrong location so it had to go.


Turn me loose with my Makita Sawsall...


Still some trimming to do..




And of course let us not forget the AC condenser..




Looking pretty good!! Have to do some final trimming and grinding. A little flat back paint on the edges, etc. Plans are to use the stock hood latch and it appears at this stage to be possible. The lower radiator hose will be addressed as the position puts the radiator inlet slightly above the old unit and interferes with the serpentine belt, but the upper will fit without modification.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more progress!

So is the fan going to be on the rad or have a shroud that will fit it? If not, it may not do you any good no matter what you do here.

Me, Im going with an exploder 5.0 rad but Im going to be using the same fan as you.

Good luck, will be keeping an eye on this.

Got a good suggestion for ya. I talked about this in another thread, but rather than hunt it down, I'll just say it again. Take either another radiator or obtain a second heater core and place whichever you chose where the spare tire is normally mounted. If you are using that space, then mount a heater core near the frame by the rear bumper. Take the heater core outlet located on the firewall and run it to the new rad/heater core in the back, and run the return line to the block. Rubber hose can be used unless you want to spring for the pipe. An electric fan is not necessary on the rear rad/heater core. What you are mainly doing is increasing your coolant capacity by at least 5 gallons. Make sure you use the output of your factory heater core and not the input. While using the input will have the same effect, it will reduce its efficiency on heating the cab in the colder days


SVT

yeah, if that shroud isn't right up against the radiator, that is for sure one of the factors with the truck overheating...

correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't the condenser also give off heat? one would think that if you are having overheating issues, you shouldn't put anything that gives off heat in front of the rad...

additionally, if you really wanted to, you could actually double up the rads... being that your depth isn't as constrained now right? i would take your black rad, plug the rad cap hole, cut off the upper rad hose inlet and re route that, put the lower rad hose from the black rad, into the lower right side tank of the aluminum rad... then you would have the coolant flow through the aluminum one normally, but out the front, into the second one, and have the coolant run through that and out through the left side, piping a new outlet somewhere that you can run the hose back to the lower right side of the engine bay... possibly the outlet coming straight down... fairly sure it won't overheat then... just make sure that your coolant flows from block, to rear rad, then front rad...

I've researched various cooling solutions thoroughly and have considered another heater core mounted somewhere as turning on the heater motor full blast does indeed lower the temp by a good 20F!

The Taurus fan will be sealed to the inner core support and the radiator sealed to the outer. The fan in the pict is just sitting there slightly out of line and a couple inches away from the support. The gap you see will not be there when finished.

being that your depth isn't as constrained now right?

Click to expand...

The problem always has been that with the James Duff radiator mounted behind the radiator support there is no room for an adequate fan. The Taurus 2 speed fan is damn near the same depth as the James Duff AND the cheapo fan that this is designed to replace.

I'm stuck with the longer FOX FEAD because of the supercharger brackets.

Again, one of my goals is to keep the AC completely operative so the condenser has to be integrated into my plans and that means positioning it in front of the radiator.

Something I have not discussed...


That is a NASCAR oil cooler that holds 2 quarts of coolant. It can barely be seen in one of the pics in my first post. It is teed into the heater hoses and uses a limousine heater valve that has an electric switch that opens when vacuum is applied. The switch is triggered by the Mr. Gasket fan controller. It is mounted under the radiator.

Another thing is that this motor is pushing 450HP. However there is another mod in the works....


That's a 347 pushing 585HP on a safe tune

But until I get adequate cooling it just sits on the stand.

Plans are to convert the NASCAR oil cooler back to cooling oil if this radiator/fan combo works out.

The new Griffin radiator is rated up to 600HP...The James Duff Ranger V8 Radiator is for sale...

Pretty blurry, but this is after the initial trimming was done.

yeah, i know what you mean about the fan deal... i was more meaning now that the header is cut out and you are going towards the front of the truck... though looking again, your grill has to be damn close to the condenser, based off of where the bumper mounts are in that one pic

Nice upper intake on that 347. Those are rare to see nowadays. I'm running the same one on the Stang.



Sent while I should be doing something else

--weezl-- said:

yeah, i know what you mean about the fan deal... i was more meaning now that the header is cut out and you are going towards the front of the truck... though looking again, your grill has to be damn close to the condenser, based off of where the bumper mounts are in that one pic

Click to expand...

Yep, gonna be close. I plan on some silicone insulation strips between everything that might be meta to metal contact and that will add some size. By my measurement the grill will just fit and still have to make a hole in it for the radiator cap.

Nice upper intake on that 347. Those are rare to see nowadays. I'm running the same one on the Stang.

Click to expand...

The Down's Racing Intake is indeed rare and one of the better intakes for forced induction....that's a T-trim on it.

--weezl-- said:

additionally, if you really wanted to, you could actually double up the rads... being that your depth isn't as constrained now right? i would take your black rad, plug the rad cap hole, cut off the upper rad hose inlet and re route that, put the lower rad hose from the black rad, into the lower right side tank of the aluminum rad... then you would have the coolant flow through the aluminum one normally, but out the front, into the second one, and have the coolant run through that and out through the left side, piping a new outlet somewhere that you can run the hose back to the lower right side of the engine bay... possibly the outlet coming straight down... fairly sure it won't overheat then... just make sure that your coolant flows from block, to rear rad, then front rad...

Click to expand...

What about airflow? Would you need a pusher in front in addition to a puller in the rear? Would there be room for this while retaining the AC?

Slipknotyk said:

What about airflow? Would you need a pusher in front in addition to a puller in the rear? Would there be room for this while retaining the AC?

Click to expand...

You nailed the problem! Air flow!

Up until now, after SC install, the radiator had a 14" puller on the driver's side away from the SC assembly and a 10" pusher on the passenger side. IMHO the pusher hindered airflow and not enough motor on the 14" fan.

I'm going for overkill!

Taurus fan, Volvo relays and BMW sender.....


And I've had my 4 wonderful grand kids all weekend so no progress....stay tuned!

Since your a street truck, you could mount a second radiator with a second Taurus fan where the spare tire goes, with triple the capacity(if not more) and double the high speed fans, its sure to keep that boosted motor Kool


SVT

RangerSVT said:

Since your a street truck, you could mount a second radiator with a second Taurus fan where the spare tire goes, with triple the capacity(if not more) and double the high speed fans, its sure to keep that boosted motor Kool


SVT

Click to expand...

That's a good suggestion except that my Flowmaster 40's already occupy that space....and the sound humbles even the most diehard 5L Mustang fan and I attribute the sound to the mufflers being rear mounted.

What about mounting an xj rad outside the frame just past the rear axle? There's a good bit of room to hide a rad on each side of the right size...

SVT

Just checked they measure about 31 by 10-11 inches...

SVT

i would imagine one good e fan should pull enough air through 2 rads and a condenser...

if they are mounted as close together as possible, and either as far forward or as far back as possible, you should be able to get one on one side...

i can't imagine your motor is THAT much bigger, and farther forward than mine is. and with mine right now, i've got the super thick belt driven fan, on a longish shaft, and a stock width rad, and condenser, behind the header panel, i could easily fit an additional rad or two between the panel and grill, and that's without cutting a hole...

i'm personally a fan of puller fans, i don't think pusher fans LOOK good, no one wants to look in through your grill and see a fan, but an aluminum rad, on the other hand...

just make sure that if you do stack the rads, the coolant goes into the rear rad first, then the front one

as it is, you CAN fit a rad behind the panel, can't you?

maybe mount one behind, mount a fan, with a custom shroud, so it works as a pusher for the rear rad, and a puller for the front, inside the header panel, and another one infront of the header panel, then the condenser infront of that... should be enough room

ideally with a dual rad, you want new air for the rear rad, so a puller on the back, and a pusher on the front, with as much room between and nothing blocking up down and side to side air flow between, would be optimum, but i don't think you have the space for that...

keep in mind that the oil cooler will help dramatically also... it would be interesting to find out what the temperature of the water going through your lower rad hose was, as say, your upper rad hose had a temperature of 250, so hot, and your lower had a temp of.... 125* so it's half the temperature... this to me would mean that the water jackets in the block are to blame, and not the temperature of the water re-entering the engine... however if you were to cool the oil, it allows the oil to work as coolant also, essentially doubling where the heat can be disappated out of the block through...

the heat transfer from block to coolant, is efficient enough that your water temp is 250, and the heat transfer in the rad is enough to drop that down to 125, which means that your water system is working as hard as it can... it's a matter of heat that cannot get into the water jackets... make sense?

after typing all that out, i retract my double rad thought... though again, it depends on the temp of the water going back into the block... keep in mind if it's cold enough, you will crack the block... i would put the new bigger rad on, and switch the oil cooler back to an oil cooler, and see where you stand

essentially, i think the engineering inside the block is to blame for your heating issue

what you would need to find out, is what the temperature of the lower rad hose is, when it is over heating, and how that compares to a stock vehicle, under normal temperatures