One more thing to check... insufficient ignition advance can make it run hot. Make sure the distributor vacuum advance line didn't get knocked off.

 

1968 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Ford Pickup Truck 4 Row Alum Radiator | eBay

Click the link above
nice price 4 Row.

 

I dunno what the stock fan flows on the dents by the clutch fan on the superduties is said to flow like 8000cfm. I'd agree that electric fans never cool as well as a cluctch fan and shroud, especially on a street engine. Thats been my experience as well. Those electric fans may even be blocking air flow if they are mounted in front of the radiator... though I doubt it would be enough to make a difference. The above posted who mentioned timing advance is correct... retarded timing can severely overheat an engine that ran great and cool the day before. An engine running lean can also have higher cylinder temps which can lead to higher coolant temps as well.

 

I checked base timing. Truck has been running so well, I did not think to check advance. But, I will give it a look see tomorrow. Good thinking Blue and White, thanks.
Because of the engine swap that will occur, I think it would be unwise to spend money on a radiator that won't work well with the swap. Aluminum Griffin is in the works.

Base timing is at 10btdc. Factory is 8 on the 360 with a 2bbl. I have been through the carb a dozen times. It's very well in order since the delete of my rusty fuel tank behind the seat has been replaced with a saddle tank. I still have the shroud. The post where I mentioned it started overheating, one of the things I did was switch to the electric fans after the fact. The factory fan was no where near 8,000 cfm. The fans are pullers mounted behind the radiator, and are the same width as the radiator towards the top. At the very least, at idle the truck should not overheat like it is. I am borrowing an infrared thermometer tomorrow to investigate further what the cores in the radiator are doing.

 

A 545 Radiator (Rad for a super camper special 545 is the part number) will cool just fine, and bolt right in.

Stock


Not Stock




I have had zero cooling problems with these radiators.

 

That's a nice looking rad. 4 core?

I am going to play with the ignition timing. The only thing present on the truck that would be considered perfomance based would be a set of headers. Not sure the specs. It's hot here now. What is a safe static timing on the 360 with the low compression ratio?

 

Did you say that you had replaced the thermostat? I think you did. Are you sure it is working and not stuck shut or possibly in upside down? Hey, it happens, we all have done something like that. Try removing the t-stat and see what happens. Some engines will flow to fast with it out and overheat, but I don't ever remember that being the case on an FE.

I just hate to see you buy a new radiator just to find out it was something else.
Just trying to cover everything else first.

 

New thermostat. Coil of the thermostat always goes towards the block. I went down from a 195 stock to a 180. Watching the temp gauge you can see it plateau at 180 and stabilize for a while while it lets fresh coolant in. Then when the hot water sits in the radiator and lets hot back in it starts climbing up until I shut it down. With the upper hose remove you can actually witness the thermostat doing it's job. I did this while flushing. I hate throwing money and parts in place of diagnosis. I'm a Diagnostic Diesel Tech for CAT by trade. Parts get expensive and jobs get lost doing that. haha Checking with an infrared thermometer and playing with timing tomorrow after work before I plunge into a new radiator. Griffin has some universal rads that will work nice for around $185 through Summitracing.com.

 

No it's a three core. But it is a huge 3 core. I had cooling problems until I used this radiator.

 

Update: Used an accurate laser infrared thermometer. Radiator has about 30% of front cores clogged on passenger side. Some in the rear on that side as well. No idea what the inside row of cores are like. But, knowing that I am safe to bet on the radiator. I ordered a Griffin that I will fab mounts and a shroud for, and that will be going in my truck on Wednesday after work with a temp setup, and then mounts and shroud made on Thursday at the shop when I can drive it to work. I'll try and get pictures of the setup.

 

Be sure to back flush out your system. Probably lots of the same **ap in the heater core & block. Without flushing the first place it will head with increased flow is into the new radiator!

.

 

I forward and reverse flushed the block and heater core. Being me, I am doing it again though. I am also going to pull the top off the radiator and investigate. When I replaced the freeze plug I noticed rust, but nothing that looked bad for an almost 40 year old engine.

 

for anyone interested, i noticed JBG has an extra cooling 3 core... thats not the huge super cooling one, but its a nice radiator, and anyway its on clearance for like $120 which is super cheap for a nice copper/brass radiator. They also have really nice ABS plastic shrouds for like $70. I am definitely going to be ordering me one of those shrouds by the end of my build. My stock fiber plastic crap was falling apart.

 

Hey King, where'd you buy your radiator at?

 

Back flushed heater core. Nothing but a slight discolor in the water sample I put into a water bottle to see. Removes the thermostat and flushed water through to block. Couldn't see anything there. Found new hoses to fit the Griffin rad. Temporarily installed the new radiator. Free mounts came with the order of the radiator, but were shipped separately and are coming tomorrow I hope. Test drove the truck with heavy acceleration on the highway, took the exit and returned on the highway while experimenting with the fans off and on. At highway speed with fans off the truck still maintained 180 degrees. Overheating problems are a thing of the past. Happy to get this out of the way. Moving the weekend of the 5th, using truck to carry my motorcycle and tow a trailer up a mountain on a 4 hour drive. That will be the real test. Thanks for the help guys.