overheating

[Lttrbox]

Mine currently is about 1.25 inches. My home built schroud covers most of the gap youve got there to the side though. Basically I built the schroud to cover up one half of the fan blades. Looks to me that maybe a spacer is in order to reduce the depth of that side space.

 

[chuck]

The fans I sell were ment to assist in cooling not to be the primary air flow. I don't think they make an ele. fan that will fit in a EB and move enough air to keep it cool. That depends on how hot it get where you drive. Where I drive the ambient is over 100 way too often. Even the 2300 CFMs aren't enough. I see way too many 302s shut down to cool off around 230 while I am idling at 185 with my 351 on the trail.
I didn't just wake up one day and decide that my radiator would be the best fix. I have been around the block on this a few times. I have tried water wetter, a 4 core rad. and had a 5 core radiator built. A bunch of diff. fans. Shrouds. Pulley sizes. Opening the eng. bay. Lifting the rear of the hood so hot air could get out. Ele. fans only and man. fans. and some other things that didn't help at all. In the end I found that the more air to rad. metal contect and the more water to radiator metal contect you have the better off you are. All of the things above and the 11 things I posted before helped but if you don't move enough air you can't keep it cool. When it is HOT the 2300 cfm is not enough.
I looked at the ZIRGO fan and may try it. 3300 should be enough if that fan will really move that much air. The only problem I can see is that it is 3.25" thick. Anyway that is my .02

 

[74bronc]

I looked at the ZIRGO fan and may try it. 3300 should be enough if that fan will really move that much air. The only problem I can see is that it is 3.25" thick. Anyway that is my .02 [/B]

3.25" thick is too thick to fit centered on my radiator but I might be able to offset it a little like I did with my el cheapo fan. I have never seen those kind of CFM claims on a 16" fan. i might end up just getting a smaller zirgo and using it as an aux pusher.

 

[md_lucky_13]

I didn't just wake up one day and decide that my radiator would be the best fix. I have been around the block on this a few times. I have tried water wetter, a 4 core rad. and had a 5 core radiator built. A bunch of diff. fans. Shrouds. Pulley sizes. Opening the eng. bay. Lifting the rear of the hood so hot air could get out. Ele. fans only and man. fans. and some other things that didn't help at all. In the end I found that the more air to rad. metal contect and the more water to radiator metal contect you have the better off you are.

I didn't mean to offend or insult you Chuck. I am sure you probably could teach me more then a thing or two about cooling. My point was to simply show that none of the Bronco parts houses really offer a fan (other then the spal) that could adiquatly cool a V8 setup. Even with the spal, you are not covering a large enough surface area: you NEED a shroud to go with it. I hope you did not take offense to what I posted.


Back to the cooling:

If you are considering buying more then 1 electric fan, I doubt you will be able to make anything above a 12" fan work. This is what I cam up with using 2 12" fans.. I don't know, maybe you could run 2 12" fans and 2 10" fans.. Might want to invest in a new alternator (or 2?).

Those zirgo fans have huge promise. I can't remember the numbers on the 12" fans, but it was like 2000cfm or something... It was just incredible. I'm certain that if you were pulling over 3500cfm, you would not over-heat.

Here is a picture of my 2 12" setup, to give you an idea of the space constraints you are working with.

 

[72Sport]

I saw an electric fan at a local swap meet with an offset motor. They took a Spal fan and mounted the motor near the outside edge of the fan and drove the fan with a belt, pat pend. The name of the company was www.Mattsonsradiator.com. They are in Orange County, (Dizzyland area) CA. They don't show it on their website so you will have to call them for price etc.

I am not recommending it. I just thought it was interesting.

When comparing electric fan output make sure the air movement is rated the same. Some companies rate their fans in 'free air' and others rate them with a small amount of static pressure. It like comparing two cars, one going down hill with a tail wind and the other running of flat ground pulling a Bronco. The retailers don't have this information. Some manufacturers show this info on their websites. Just thought I would mention it. Good luck.

Something to do: Next time you are near a car lot take a look under the hood of a Cad with a Northstar V-8. How does the hot air get out of the engine compartment. Why don't they all just melt down when they are stuck in traffic.

 

[chuck]

I didn't mean to offend or insult you Chuck.
You have not offended me. If we all had the same opinion we would not have anything to talk about. I am always looking for a better way to skin a cat.
When I look at a problem I try to think outside of the box. Sometimes that works and sometimes not.
Anyway, about cooling, My first thoughts are Why? Why do some EBs overheat and some not? Like my EB, when I bought it it had a tired 351 in it and did not over heat. I built a 302 and it over heated so I started changing things and trying diff. things. At one point I put a plate under the front from the bumper back to the crossmember and the eng. temp dropped 15 degrees. The plate was for a winch. When I removed the plate the temp went back up. Why? Better air flow? Backpressure from air hitting the front diff and deflecting up? Whatever, it helped. But other EBs stay cool without the plate, why? I could go on and on about the things I tried but to make a long story short I ended up having a 5 core radiator built for that 302 and the only change was that it took a little longer to overheat. Then I built a 300+ hp 351 that overheated with the same radiator. I then had a new design 3 core radiator built and for the last 6 years have not had a heating problems. When people call me for a radiator I suggest they check the 11 things posted above before they buy a new radiator. I do not recall anyone ever saying they still have a overheating problem after fixing the 11 things and installing a good new radiator. Many times people do not end up needing a new radiator. My copper radiator is not the only radiator that will cool a EB. But if mine will not cool any EB there is something else wrong with the EB. Did you all know that I now sell the Ron Davis radiators? Not because I think they cool better than my copper radiators but because I believe they will do a great job and people want them and I believe they are the best of all the aluminum radiators.

 

[Bronco Ben]

I am always looking for a better way to skin a cat.

I like this quote, and use it often! I mean heck there are different ways to do things and some or better for some and some are better for others, but it dang sure nice to have the different options isnt it!
Bronco Ben

 

[HotWheels]

I will ask this once. I am at the stage of installing my fan and radiator in my engine build. I have a 7-blade fan and the Ron Davis radiator with auto cooler. I am thinking of placing a tranny cooler w/fan on the passenger inner fender also. Is there anyhting else I should be looking for besides those 11 things during this build?

v/r

Mick

 

[chuck]

That should do it.

 

[67EB_in_619]

I still need some feedback on my fan to radiator clearance issue... see pic a few posts back.... thanks to all for the pointers.

 

[chuck]

Sorry, min. 1" of clearance between the fan and the radiator more if possible but the fan should be about 1/2 into the shroud

 

[74bronc]

I still need some feedback on my fan to radiator clearance issue... see pic a few posts back.... thanks to all for the pointers.

I looked at it and it looks like the fan should be further into the shroud. However, I don't think this is going to solve your problems of hot running at higher speeds. That clutch fan shouldn't be doing much at those speeds anyway. The other thing is that I don't know how you are going to space that fan out any further. It is screwed onto the waterpump with a big nut, right?

You may have already said this, but did it get any better when you changed to straight water? I plan to do that this weekend.

 

[Bugs]

C4 Cooling?

I will ask this once. I am at the stage of installing my fan and radiator in my engine build. I have a 7-blade fan and the Ron Davis radiator with auto cooler. I am thinking of placing a tranny cooler w/fan on the passenger inner fender also. Is there anyhting else I should be looking for besides those 11 things during this build?

v/r

Mick

My 5.0 W/auto creeps up to around 210 while cruising down the hiway, I am sure that is because I do not have my fan shroud on yet. BUT before I install the shroud I am putting in a transmission cooler with fan, I have located it behind the front bumper to a couple of plate I installed, The radiator hose location is a little tuff. I have one of Todd Z. pre-bent lower tubes but have not installed it and may not be able too. I am still looking for a couple 90 deg -6 an fittings then I will run the tranny fluid thru the cooler first and then thru the radiator. I'm not sure how much this will help the cooling issue but I will sone find out! Oh and I will also have the 180 deg switch inline to a power source and switch.
Bugs

 

[Bugs]

another

From the front!

 

[Bugs]

Another

And the front side .

 

[md_lucky_13]

Why do some EBs overheat and some not?

You know, it is interesting that you should mention this...

I had a 1970 bronco with a 351w, 3-core radiator, c-4 auto with cooler inside of it. The thing never over-heated. I could crawl around all day and not have any problems.

Well, I hit some black ice and rolled that bronco. Being the scavanger I am, I took everything from that and built my current bronco. Rather then change everything over, I basically swapped a 66 body onto a 1970 frame.. That way I had all of my suspension stuff, engine, tranny.. etc. I spent the next few years re-building it.

I finnally got it all back together and bought a 4-core radiator.. (can't remember the vender). Exact same engine, exact same tranny, basically exactly the same except for the new body (plus an extra core radiator). The damn thing over-heating CONSTANTLY. I built a shroud (otherone didn't have one), I ran more water, I put a new mechanical fan, and finnally I raided a Subaru GL and got an electric fan for between my grill and radiator. Finnally, after all that, I started to run cool. It wasn't 3 weeks after that I broke my motor mounts and sent it through the radiator. Talk about bummed.

With my current setup, I have not had any over-heating problems yet. I will keep up with it all summer, and I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Right now I am running about 75% anti-freeze, because the bronco sits for long periods of time. I can put more water in it, put some water wetter, etc. If all else fails, I build my fan brackets with the intention of building able to build a shroud over them, if needed:

fans

Since I built them to go over and out, then down, it should be easy to build a shroud that forces more air into the fan itself. I am still hoping that they cover enough surface area where this will not be needed, but only time will tell. With temperatures already on the rise, and locals telling me that it gets into the high 90s low 100s very often in the summer, we shall soon find out!

 

[67EB_in_619]

I looked at it and it looks like the fan should be further into the shroud. However, I don't think this is going to solve your problems of hot running at higher speeds. That clutch fan shouldn't be doing much at those speeds anyway. The other thing is that I don't know how you are going to space that fan out any further. It is screwed onto the waterpump with a big nut, right?

Right... the fan itself screws onto the waterpump.. I would need to move the radiator closer or get some kind of spacer... or build the shroud up a little more (fiberglass?) to cover more of the fan.. kind of extend it.

You may have already said this, but did it get any better when you changed to straight water? I plan to do that this weekend.

It did help... It doenst get as hot.. but still gets up to 210.. and I just dont like that . I have about 10% coolant for lubing the pump and a bottle of water wetter type stuff from Kragen .. I would be fine with a solid 195-205... just 210 seems too much... not a lot of room for error ya know? Plus I havent really had the chance to drive it up a long hill at speed..

 

[md_lucky_13]

I would need to move the radiator closer or get some kind of spacer... or build the shroud up a little more (fiberglass?) to cover more of the fan.. kind of extend it.

http://store.summitracing.com/product.asp?d=5&s=308&p=592&searchtype=ecat

There are several fan spacers that you could probably use. It might be easier to extend the fan shroud a little bit, and that way you would not have to worry about taking out the radiator with your fan.

If you want to see a monster shroud, look at any Chevy 1500 pickup with a 4.3 V6. I don't see any problem extending a shroud after seeing those creations.

 

[HotWheels]

Re: Another

And the front side .

Dude, thanx for the pics!! You said you had the tranny cooler before the rad? What I am doing is having it AFTER the rad to avoid heat transferrence. Since the Tranny can take less heat than the engine...simplistic explanation but too many of the very knowlegible people I've run into have it this way also. Can this be adding to your heat problem?

 

[Unregistered]

I have had a problem with my 67 EB with overheating too. I have a 71 351W that is 60 over with a mild cam, flow cooler water pump, 4 core radiator and a seperate tranny cooler on the passenger fender well. Before I had it rebuilt it would never get above 190F, since I have it rebuilt I can drive it all day on the road but once I stop and let it idle it climbs to 200-210 in a heartbeat. It has a smaller water pump pulley, fan shroud that is fit properly but only overheats after it has been driven for a while. I messed with the timing and that seems to not have made a difference. The cap has been changed and the thermostat has been changed a few times. I now have a 160F thermostat in it thinking that it might make a difference so far it has not. Any suggestions?