raditor and fan question

[jkinga1c]

i just put a 5.0 in my ranger. everything turned out good except it wants to overheat. i put a new cap and thermostat in it. i put a 160 degree thermostat in it hoping it would keep it colder. it will creep up slowly its been up to 215 when i shut it off.at highway speeds (60-65) it runs at 2,000 rpm and still wants to slowly rise at that speed. i put a griffin 2 core aluminium radiator 24x16x3 (summit part number GRI-1-26201-X) with an electric flexalite fan that pulls 1,250 cfm. is my radiater big enough? i dont think its the fan because it wont cool itself even at 60 mph. any help or info on what kind of radiater and fan others use.

 

[v-8power]

I would stick with a 180 deg. thermostat. The lower temp therm. wont keep your engine as cool as you would think. If they are open all the time then they don't build the pressure needed to cool your engine. Just my .02 though.

 

[macdaddy31516]

like v-8 power said, go with a 180 thermo.and that fan is not moving enough air, go with something bigger.

 

[baddad457]

I run the Griffin 25.5 X 17.5 with a 160* T-Stat. 215* is not hot. It's normal. With a 180 T-Stat it runs twenty degrees hotter. In winter mine normally runs about 180*, in summer, it runs 200-230.It's been up to 250 a few times. Been that way for 7 years now. Ain't hurt the motor. Just make sure you've got a coolant/water mix that will handle the temps without boiling. That 1250 cfm fan won't be enough. I've got twin 10 or 12 inchers on mine.

 

[D'cheat]

215 is well within the normal range of a 302. when you crest 230, then you start thinking about bigger fans.
You may want to flush out the coolant system. Run a few bottles of cooling system cleaner, then get a flush kit and see all the rusty black gunk that flows out

 

[rangerslim]

One common mistake that is sometimes overlooked is the placement of your radiator. One thing to remember is to make sure that the highest point on the radiator should be taller than the highest point on the motor or else you could be prone to develop an air pocket somewhere in the engine.

Also, make sure nothing is blocking air flow to the radiator at highway speeds....I moved some thin pieces of metal and picked up almost 10 degrees...

 

[mudnsnow]

On my Ranger i've put a 4.0L cherokee radiator. But you will have to modify the radiator support to fit it in place. For the fan i run the stock mechanical 5.0 Fan (only the upper half of the fan is behind the radiator, i will install electric fan later) and it keep cool.

 

[superdave1984]

Do you have a shroud on there? Also, how quickly does it get hot? You may be running it really lean too. Did you build the motor yourself?

 

[Bob Ayers]

What are you running for coolant? It should be 50% distilled water, 50% antifreeze.

 

[Madmartigan]

Major Overheat Problems still

I just got my Ranger back from my father.

He did the 302 conversion himself using a 1976 Mustang II 302 that someone else had rebuilt.

Anyway, he always has had overheat problems with this set-up, I am not sure what radiator he used but it is much larger than the original one that was in the stock 3.0L.

I have always thought that he had too big a carb (Holly 650 Double pumper) for the motor, but my brother (the gearhead) says no. We have played around with the jet sizes and even put in a different diafram, all to no avail.

I will have to check to see if the height of the radiator is correct or not, but, I also wanted to know if switching to an electronic water pump and fan would also help?

Thanks,

 

[baddad457]

Unless that 302 was vastly improved over what is was stock (115-120 hp) you're right, that 650 DP carb is too big. I've run one on a 250-300 horse 302 and it was too big then. Made a world of diffference stepping down to a 600 vacuum sec carb. What range are the temps running?

 

[Madmartigan]

Not sure on temp range as still only has the stock water temp gage...also, not sure of hp as it was someone elses build, I only know that it is not stock...the guy was using it as a race engine for a stock car (Dirt Tracker).
My brother thinks it maybe a timing advance problem possibly. Still has the stock distributer.
I can see that I need to do alot more investigating on this, including getting it dyno'd.