Cooling/ Radiator help

[Stubborn3]

Hey everyone, summer is here and Bronco is running hot so I am looking into doing an aluminum radiator from the graveyard or wildhorses and may do some silicon hoses while at it. Does anyone have experience and/or advice as to how effective this switch will be. Engine is either a Cleveland or modified 351 (been too lazy to pull the starter to check the block casting) and I was wondering if anyone knows if the radiator hoses are the same as the Windsor. Any help is appreciated as running the heater in 93 degree weather gets a bit old. Thanks.

[Jesus_man]

Aluminum may not be necessary. They look nice, but may not perform as well. I haven't had much overheating trouble in quite some time, but I know there has been extensive discussions here about it. See if you can search and find the threads.

[ZOSO]

Automatic? If so get a separate trans cooler and do not run it through the radiator. Does it just run hot sitting in traffic or does it run hot going down the road?

[Stubborn3]

It's got a 4 speed. It heats up at a stand still but recently (yesterday) it didn't seem to matter even with the heater going which was no fun. It also developed vapor lock symptoms just as I pulled into work- not sure if it's related.

[Jesus_man]

Most likely your vapor lock is related to a hot engine.

[sbolt19]

On the vapor lock, make sure the lines are steel as far and as much as you can. Most vapor locking is due to rubber lines or lines run too close to exhaust manifolds/headders.

[Gunnibronco]

What kind of fan and do you have a shroud installed?

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[Stubborn3]

Thanks for the line tip... almost positive they are rubber lines. I am running a mechanical fan with a shroud and also have an aux fan on the front of the radiator to pull extra air through. Read the other night that a carb tuning / timing tune can also help. Pretty sure the radiator is old and likely has corrosion. Just figured if I'm gonna pay 200-300 bucks to have it cleaned and serviced, I'm half way to what I assumed was a better long term option. Is aluminum popular to save weight rather than cool better?? Thanks again.

[ZOSO]

Aluminum does work. For me they are just too brittle for our trucks. With how much that core support flexes I'd worry about the aluminum one cracking. A good dual or triple pass brass/copper cant be beat tho. One other thing that helps is to block off the opening between the grill and radiator/core support. It then forces all the air through the radiator when you drive. Make sure our fan is the correct depth in the shroud. And find a factory 7 blade fan if you dont have one. Flex fans usually suck and dont do a good job. Whats your base timing set at?

[RJLougee]

I would avoid the aluminum radiator in an EB, especially one that goes off-road.

Most competent radiator shops can build a very nice brass radiator, pretty reasonably priced.

I had Potts Radiator here in COS build several for me, he knows what he's doing and is very good about not letting you waste your $$. I once rolled a rig, which cut a couple of tubes in the radiator. Based on how it cooled, he recommended just tinning those tubes closed and guaranteed that if it didn't stay as cool as before he would apply that repair $$ to the cost of a new re-core. That's service!

I'm running one of their brass re-cores, with a clutch fan and a Toms shroud on my 500+ HP 408 and it cools fine. Many previous aluminum/electric fan combos did not.
HTH, Joe

[Stubborn3]

Thanks again to everyone who replied. Gonna get everything flushed and replace hoses and thermostat and get a rigid fan and see where that puts me. Learned more than I ever wanted to about aluminum and brass/copper heat dissipation... don't understand why anyone would run aluminum at this point. I know nothing about timing so I have no Idea where I'm at on that but will have the carb cleaned and properly tuned and i'll inquire about that too i suppose. Thanks again.
D

[kbank6]

Think I will placing my unused aluminum radiator for sale during my build....

[Justin]

There are loads of AL rads in EBs. I've been running a Champion in mine for a couple of years and am happy with it. Cools fine, no problems with durability. Heat dissipation depends on how the copper ones are constructed. If they're held together with lead solder, they may cool worse than aluminum since lead has very poor thermal conductivity. Aluminum radiators will be all aluminum. A well built copper rad will have the brass and copper in the tubes actually touching, which will result in a rad that will consistently outperform aluminum. There are some newer solders like CuproBraze that help as well. In a stock EB, either should work fine, with the nod going to copper for a potentially longer service life and cooling, but at a higher price. For how many miles most rigs see per year, I doubt there is much difference.

[Stubborn3]

Things seem to have normalized which is nice. Durability is a factor since it is my DD and sees about 50 miles or so a day. Thanks again for the help as always.

[Kinder]

Moneypit is running a coolant alternative, it's not water based and if I remember right is a low pressure setup or something like that. Anyway, something to check out if your overheating continues.

[PaulW]

Hey everyone, summer is here and Bronco is running hot so I am looking into doing an aluminum radiator from the graveyard or wildhorses and may do some silicon hoses while at it. Does anyone have experience and/or advice as to how effective this switch will be. Engine is either a Cleveland or modified 351 (been too lazy to pull the starter to check the block casting) and I was wondering if anyone knows if the radiator hoses are the same as the Windsor. Any help is appreciated as running the heater in 93 degree weather gets a bit old. Thanks.

====
Assuming you have a clean motor and a clean rad
Steps
1) fan - mechanical
2) Shroud
3) custom fitment of the two above. Consult with the fan guys for clearances and distance between shroud and fan.
4) still to hot after the above get a copper non AL rad and use stock mounts
5) if all else fails get an engine oil cooler.
PaulW