Shran
Junk Collector
TRS Forum Moderator
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V8 Engine Swap
Solid Axle Swap
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2008
- Messages
- 8,637
- Reaction score
- 4,703
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Rapid City SD
- Engine Type
- V8
- Engine Size
- 5.0
The application I found a 180 degree stat helpful for was low speed rock crawling. My 302 will sit and idle all day long at 195 with a 195 stat, it doesn't necessarily overheat nor does it use coolant but if you really start working it hard without the air flow you'd normally get on the road, the temp will slowly creep up to 210, 220, 230, etc...so I had to stop and let it idle and cool off for a bit. I rarely have to do that now and it usually idles at 180-185 degrees. Coolant flows through the radiator more often because the thermostat is open for longer periods of time thus it prevents a lot of those temperature increases. It sucks in the winter though, 1st gen heaters are pretty pathetic to begin with and it's pretty much non existent with the thermostat swap!
I don't think the casting sand issue is as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. I currently have two 2.9 powered trucks with well over 200k on the original heads! Plus a dozen others with countless miles on them that didn't fail... EVERY. single. cracked. 2.9 head I've seen can be directly related to another failed component or severe lack of maintenance.
Who here is aware that the Ford 351M/400 heads were "notorious" for cracks and failure too? I know a couple people who were/are really deeply invested into building those engines going back to when they were new. I had a 400 with cracked heads at one point and found that it was pretty common but for the same reasons as our 2.9/4.0s: lack of maintenance was the single biggest cause. Certain Jeep 4.0 engines suffered from that too although they have a stellar reputation overall. Some engines are just simply more sensitive to excessive heat.
I don't think the casting sand issue is as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. I currently have two 2.9 powered trucks with well over 200k on the original heads! Plus a dozen others with countless miles on them that didn't fail... EVERY. single. cracked. 2.9 head I've seen can be directly related to another failed component or severe lack of maintenance.
Who here is aware that the Ford 351M/400 heads were "notorious" for cracks and failure too? I know a couple people who were/are really deeply invested into building those engines going back to when they were new. I had a 400 with cracked heads at one point and found that it was pretty common but for the same reasons as our 2.9/4.0s: lack of maintenance was the single biggest cause. Certain Jeep 4.0 engines suffered from that too although they have a stellar reputation overall. Some engines are just simply more sensitive to excessive heat.