@rusty ol ranger ,
When I first learned that the Ford 2.9l was vulnerable to heat I spoke with my mechanical mentor. I asked what could I do beyond a solid functioning cooling system to have a little extra insurance.
He suggested adding an engine oil cooler. I went to the library, then dug into my stack of truck magazines, Ford Motorsport and Racer Walsh catalogs...even the reasources I had for dirt bikes.
It turned out that using a remote oil filter adapter was the first step. After the filter, to ensure sufficient oil supply at start up a thrmernal valve which sent 90% of the fluid strait back to the engine and 10% to the oil cooler; at 195° that valve had opened fully allowing 90% of the fluid to flow through the cooler with only 10% going strait back.
This made me feel extra comfortable ditching the crank fan/clutch. It took quit a bit more for the temperature indicators to move from their normal positions, once up to temp.
Because it seems to work so well, I have used them in all my engines. It even adds oil capacity to the system (depending on how far away the filter, valve and cooler are).
I mounted the filter forward insude the passenger side frame rail, the valve just forward if it and the cooler out in front behind the grill. This set up gave the engine just under an extra quart of lubricating potential.