401 overheating advice needed

[401ton]

Well I ordered some stainless steel louvered vents (cheap) and a 3000 cfm puller fan ($100 Summit) a couple days ago.

Yesterday it was 85 degrees here. I was driving across town and it was over 210 getting my destination. It was probably 75 or so on the way back and temp gauge dropped to 195.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out after I install the vents and then the fan.

[Dusty]

update

[401ton]

Finally took it out for a good test on Saturday. It was 97 degrees here! Most of the time I could get around at 220 degrees. Fist time I made a few bigger throttle passes it got right up to 240 again.

I figure I did help it out, because it was hotter than the previous 90 degree day.

Air coming out of louvers wasn't all that hot.

Monday did a little checking on a Spal 3,000 cfm fan to replace other 1,625 pusher. Another $200 plus shipping and no garrantees.
I read a Spal FAQ that although you can change the direction of a fan by swapping wires, Spal says it works better to just have it designed that way from the start. I swapped the current Zirgo to make it a puller. Hmmm?

Looked at Flex a Lite fan built for CJ's. They are dual 11" fans, but don't look like they would fit the Be Cool radiator.

Spoke with Extreme Radiators yesterday. He said although he thought his 4 core copper brass was a better choice, (which I curently agree for repair purposes, price and surface area) that both the Be Cool rad that I have and his should cool it to 190-200. He said my problem was air flow.
His downflow models for CJ's have approximately 380 square inches of surface area. I figured my Be Cool aluminum has about 324 square inches or about 17% less. The Be Cool has a little less because of the side tanks. Then I got to thinking about the corners my 16" fan schroud don't cover. I think I may losing up to another 100 square inches of surface area for the fans to blow and pull though! Hell, no wonder it doesn't cool.

Current plan now is to make a very good fan shroud to mount the puller on. This will probably only cost $10-20 and may fix the problem. If that doesn't work, I'm going to a junk yard for the Taurus, Lincoln and similiar high output factory fan and make the Zirgo back into a pusher.

Here's pictures of my stainless steel louvered marine vents:

[Dusty]

you've got a similar setup to me for front suspension. how does yours handle on the road. believe my axles are narrower than yours... did you use a sway bar? is yours a little soft in situations on the road like braking and accel?

nice rig.

it isnt possible for you to trim the rad support and move the rad even further forward is it? i moved my engine up a hair and forward (using the m.o.r.e. motor mounts and redrilling one hole in the mount and using the forward 4 holes in the frame out of the 6 there. i had to trim out the rad support to move my rad forward to clear my clutch and fan. still no shroud. that will be next.

running a 195 thermostat right now for FI purposes but may have to drop down on a built 401

[401ton]

[quote="Dusty"]you've got a similar setup to me for front suspension. how does yours handle on the road. believe my axles are narrower than yours... did you use a sway bar? is yours a little soft in situations on the road like braking and accel?

nice rig.

it isnt possible for you to trim the rad support and move the rad even further forward is it? i moved my engine up a hair and forward (using the m.o.r.e. motor mounts and redrilling one hole in the mount and using the forward 4 holes in the frame out of the 6 there. i had to trim out the rad support to move my rad forward to clear my clutch and fan. still no shroud. that will be next.

running a 195 thermostat right now for FI purposes but may have to drop down on a built 401[/quote)




Front suspension is an upper wishbone/lower links (true 3 link) with no sway bar or track bar. It handles very good. It leans a little on corners, but not too much because I have the springs attached top and bottom. During braking it doesn't dive too much, probably because I have anti dive built in to the suspension geometry. Acceleration it is also good.
My front axle was cut to be 63" wide WMS to WMS. I do have 3" backspacing is all though. I'm at 82 1/2" outside of front tires and 83 1/2" outside of rears.


Thanks


Moving the radiator forward for fan room isn't the problem. After I postioned the engine lower in the frame to keep center of gravity down and just barely have room for the Atlas even with trimming the floor, the fan would just stick way too low below the radiator and too close to wishbone.

I have had a 180 degree thermostat for 9 years even with the Howell TBI. My 401 is warm anyway so figured I would try to help the cooling.