351W Explorer HD Radiator?

[BronKitis]

That would be awesome man!

 

[bobbywalter]

well, my current radiator goes from behind one headlight to the other. i notched the rails for that one....or hacked and slashed may be a better description. i was getting heat creep with the diesel loaded up with the radiator that easily cooled my sbf when doing initial first drive test after the 6.5 swap.. instead of chancing it i just used the donor 1 ton van radiator for expediency and i am a cheap fawker.

when i was doing some repair work i made some pics for a different topic, but the radiator is on my bronco hood so that should give you a sense of scale...the frame pockets are what holds it..

but before the diesel swap the sbf was the powerplant of choice.

wide open throttle in a climb or bog, no heatup issues even with 44's. but this thing is obviously liberated by comparison to the typical install. minimally, radiator screen from summit is the best way to protect it, but i just left it naked and bold. my tranny cooler is under the bed generally speaking.

this super duty cooling brass and copper radiator by the numbers, should out cool anything. and it would if it was never exposed to dirt in any way. this was due to the off set rows of fins which made it the best possible cooling solution by the numbers. but it was impossible to clean it correctly for a truck that goes off road in hood deep in mud on occasions.

drag racing 1000 hp mustangs is sissy shit compared to 250-350 hp abused off road. that abuse i suspect caused an inner chamber issue on my heads that caused aeration/cavitation further hindering cooling.

which lead to this experiment. radiator wide open to eliminate the tight confines of the rbv engine bay as the culprit as i was having heat creep issues on the freeway. that is a cobra "r" 351 radiator which cools just fine a 351 mustang with a real sealed up engine compartment and very restricted airflow by comparison.

for the vast majority of 302 or 351, hell any smallblock swaps, living within the confines of the factory core support is pretty easy to do sub 300 hp. and for the first 15-20 years of working with this platform i was only frustrated on certain applications with higher power numbers and usually 4x4, because everyone wants it to be stock looking. but stock looking is patently retarded because, just like a a4ld needs to be addressed for 400hp.....the front airflow area needs to exceed that adequate for a 2.9 or even the venerable 4.0. i know its hard to believe, but 3-4-500 hp v8 engines make a little bit more heat then stock 4.0 engines and require 2 or 3 more square inches of flow area and radiator surface.


to me its not the way to go leaving the stock style radiators in the stock location..why paint yourself into that box when adding so much more engine???

my main personal truck in these old pictures was heavily laden and beat to death for the vast majority of its life, and still gets worked to this day. but swaps i had worked on from 86-87 to 95 taught me a few things i incorporated since day 1 on this particular rig.

in the mid 90's when i put the first v8 in it, reworked copper v8 dakota radiators were my preference due to field repair-ability and availability in the junkyards....i had bad experiences with the tp and aa stuff that was deemed for proper swaps back then. but opening up the core support and mounting the radiator in concert with the engine and chassis along with a 3 in body lift maximizes cooling potential and seems the proper way to go in my eyes.


the early bronco suffers the same issues when adding hp, but its much easier to fit larger radiators in rangers then early broncos.


i know theres no close ups of these but maybe i can get something of the current stuff with the fat bastard diesel radiator.

 

[RangerSVT]

Confirmed. The 2 speed taurus fan will run as a pusher. Instead of having a power for low and a separate power for high, and a common ground, for a pusher you will have a common power and a ground for low and a separate ground for high...

SVT

 

[bobbywalter]

what style? some run backwards, but not for long. others run backwards with no issues.

 

[RangerSVT]

Single fan from the 3.8's. Didn't test how long it would run, but then again, you could just mount it backwards in front of the rad, and with a shroud built, it would become a pusher...
SVT

 

[merch]

I initialy had heat issues during my breakin peeiod on my motor,timing was the culprit there. I got a summit radiator and sank it under the core support and forward 3" from the origial mounting points and used a 16" fan

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Elutheros]

Here is an example of cutting the core support. I have a 3" BL and my FEAD is from an Explorer. I'm using a stock Explorer fan and the shroud from a 4.0 with the 4.0 HD radiator. Will be running sub-300HP, so I hope it will keep its cool here in Texas.

First I cut out the bottom of the core support:

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Then I built a bracket to hold the rubber donuts for the radiator and welded it to the frame rails:

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With the radiator pushed all the way forward under the core support I could still remove the cap.

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While fitting the shroud for the fan I decided to move the radiator back and built spacers for the upper mounts so it sits here:

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As you can see there is a good 2" of forward movement available. I also have a Volvo electric fan you saw in a previous photo and if this doesn't work, I may go that route.

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