Hi guys. I have an 86' toyota 4runner 4x4 that I swapped a 302 into about 4yrs ago. I don't really know the history of the engine or what's been previously been done to it, but it runs good and has been my dependable dd for the last 3yrs. Last February, it became very obvious that it was in need of a new timing chain set, and was parked until last week when I finally changed it. I also decided to upgrade the radiator. I went with an aluminum CFR Performance universal ford radiator, with a component matched aluminum shroud and 14" electric fan. Before that I was using a used factory toyota 3.0 V6 radiator. The toyota radiator usually ran at about 190° at normal driving speeds, but would start creeping up if I was just puttin around on old logging roads or in low range, I'd have to turn on my dual 10" electric fans. But now with the new CFR radiator it runs alot hotter, like between 200 and 220° and climbs to 240 (heat soak) when I shut it off. I have all new radiator hoses, and a 180° thermostat (haven't changed the thermostat it's the same one I had from before swapping radiators). I'm wondering if I could have air trapped in the system somewhere ... other than it running hotter than what I'm used to, it seems to run fine, hasn't boiled over yet, I guess to start I could test my current thermostat and make sure it works, besides that any ideas or suggestions on what to check? What do you guys consider the normal operating temp? The weather has been in the high 90's-100s° here for the past couple weeks, the other day I drove it to work and like I mentioned it ran between 200 and 220°...then on the way home that night (11pm) it was probably 30° cooler outside, my temp ran between 180 to 200°...if I ran the electric fan it would stay closer to 180. Anyway any help or incite would be appreciated, I know you guys like pics so here's a few...thanks!

58.photobucket.com/user/rustED71/media/4Runner/20150704_165945_zps4nmexirb.jpg.html][/URL]





CFR ULTRACOOL ALUMINUM RADIATOR - FORD/STREET/STRIP (24" x 16-1/2")

 

Take that shroud off and drill a bunch of 1/2" holes in it to let the air flow with the electric fan shut off. Temps you mention are fine as long as the coolant isn't boiling.

 

A guy just posted the same problem with his F150 in the OBS forum and it was trapped air. Do a search on how he bled his system.

 

Thanks for the response. I thought about removing the shroud to see if it improved airflow with the electric fan off. My old radiator setup didnt have a shroud, and had dual 10" puller fans that only pulled air through the middle portion of the radiator, but i never had to run the fans when driving around at normal at speeds, (usually 35 mph on up) only when puttin' around, also the relay would kick them on when I shut the truck off until it cooled down below 190° then it would shut them back off. Maybe I will try removing the shroud first and see if it helps, I'm a little hesitant to drill holes in the shroud (it cost $80) but will if it helps.

Thanks, it took me awhile to find that thread, I had to Google OBS, didn't know what it stood for (Old Body Style) lol. Sounds like he drained the coolant, removed the thermostat and filled the engine with coolant through the thermostat housing, trying to eliminate any chance of air getting trapped in the system. I might give that a try. Yesterday I let the engine run with the radiator cap off until I was sure the thermostat had opened, then let it run a little longer. Watching the coolant level, it would make a "glugging" sound every so often , and seemed like air was coming up to the surface. I'm going to drive it to work today and see if that made a difference, if not, I'll give the other method a shot.
Thanks guys for your input!

 

I hear you about the shroud. I built one like it for the fan on my 77 Comet but used thicker aluminum. After running it awhile I figured it needed more airflow at high way speeds with the fan off, so took it off and using a tape measure, marked the locations for 1/2" holes spaced about 1-1/2" apart with some 3/8" holes spaced between those. It works great now at highway speeds with the fan off, even in summer it'll cool it down once you get up to speed. 55-70 mph. Using a tape measure and center punch, it looks fine, not something crappy with holes.

 

Thanks baddad, I will probably go that route. I am leaving on vacation next Monday for 2 weeks, and have alot to do to get ready for the trip, but I will post an update once I get back and have a chance to work on it again.

 

By the way, Nice job on the Truck. Nice to see someone doing something different with a Ford motor. What's in the 302 ? How hard was it to adapt it to the 4WD chassis ?

 

Thanks for the compliments! Looking at your signature, it sounds like you have a bunch of sweet rides!

I don't know what's been done to the engine, I picked it up used, it was already in an 85' toyota pickup, and I swapped it into my 4runner, along with the the front straight axel, since my 4runner was originally IFS. The 302 runs great and has plenty of power, even running 35" tires with the stock 4.10 gears.

It wasnt too hard to put in, just needed some motor mounts, bellhousing adapter, throwout bearing and pilot bushing, and a slave cylinder (from North West Offroad...NWOR) to adapt to the toyota 5speed. It uses a ford 164 tooth flywheel, and ford starter as well. It saved me alot of money buying the 85' toyota truck and parting it out, since it had everything I needed already, i sold everything else.
I'm still running the toyota alternator, I need to upgrade, to a higher output one. I also built a custom bracket to adapt the toyota power steering pump to bolt up to the 302, that way if I upgrade to hydrolic assisted steering, the aftermarket steering pump will bolt right up.
Here's a pic of it when it was stock when I first bought it. I paid $1100 for it, it originally had a 22re 4 cylinder with a blown headgasket.


Here's a pic of the 85' that originally had the 302...I picked it up for $1700

 

I'm curious to know how well the Toyota transmission holds up to the 302. Wit V8 Ranger swaps, that's a big no-no adapting the V8 to the 4 and 6 cylinder transmissions. Then you run into problems with the input shaft lengths from transmisions to transmissions. Last thing you want is the input shaft unsupported at the front end by it not reaching into the rear of the crank. Been-there, done that with Ford bellhousing differences in a big block Stang and Toploader 4 speeds. The Toploaders are bullet proof in everyway, except when this happens. And the big bell fits OK ? What did you use for headers ? Or does it have manifolds ? Once again, you did a great job, considering all the problems you encountered with the swap. I know how that goes after doing a V8 swap in my old 89 Ranger.

 

Lol..my transmission is the week link. I have a G52 model that came behind the 22r's out of 85'. In 86' when the went to EFI, they started using the W56 which is stronger and probably hold up just fine. But the ultimate would be a R151F that came behind the 22ret (turbo motors) they are supposed to be really stout, the only problem is they are hard to find, they only made them for a couple years, alot of the turbo powered toyotas came with automatics. The V6 powered trucks and 4runners came with a R150 trans that's supposed to be comparable to the R151f, but would require a different bellhousing adapter than the one I currently have. I could also go with a Ford auto and get a Tcase adapter from advanced adapter to mate up to my toyota tcase. They used to make and adapter to adapt a T5 to toyota tcase too, but not anymore. I've read that a AX15 that came I jeep cherokee's can also be used and are internally pretty much the same as a R151f, but again, I would need a different adapter. So far my "weak" G52 is holding up, almost going on 4yrs, with no issues. Once it starts giving me problems, or if and when I go to dual cases, I'll probably just find a good used W56, they can be had for $200- 300 range.

I haven't heard of any problems with the input shafts being unsupported. I do know that NWOR's kit utilizes a bronze pilot bushing instead of a bearing, again, so far no problems with it. My biggest problem was finding the right throwout bearing, I bought a new one from NWOR, but couldn't seem to get the clutch pedal adjusted right, it would work, but made a squealing noise with the pedal released, I ended up using a stock ford throwout bearing and made the slave cylinder push rod length adjustable (using a coupler nut) so I could get the pedal throw dialed in just right.

The bellhousing fits, but its tight. I have about a 3/4" to 1" gap between it and the firewall. NWOR suggests using a body lift which I did not do. I found out the hard way to put in all the bellhousing bolts before installing the trans, as there is not enough room to slide them in once the trans is in place. I also found out afterwards that running a body lift might help keep engine temps down since I would have more airflow coming in from the front and more airspace around the trans tunnel for hot air to escape, this could be contributing to my temp gauge running hotter than what seems normal (to me, lol). For exhaust, I'm running stock manifolds that exit straight out, not the the ones that dump downwards. There are headers out there for this swap, but they're expensive, and I've heard of fitment issues.

Hey baddad, I'd like to see a pic of your Ranger, sounds like a sweet ride!

A update as of last night. Notice when I got home my electric fan won't come on. The bolts on my water pump pulley are rubbing on the fan housing. When I installed it I had about 3/8" of clearance. Thanks to the funky universal mounting bracket I bought, it allowed a little bit of movement on the poly bushing cradles that hold the radiator in place, so it slowly moved forward until it made contact. It might just be a burned out fuse, I haven't Checked yet, I'll update when I figure it out.

 

I have pics of the Ranger, on Photobucket.com (baddad457) and in my old computer. I sold the Ranger a few years ago. Owned it for almost 20 years with a V8 in it half that time with 5 different engine builds, from a stock 88 Crown Vic 5.0 to a 3x2 carbed 400+ HP 331. (the 331 is still at it after 11 years in my 77 Comet) Nothing wrong with a bronze pilot bushing, the input and the crank turn at pretty much the same speed. The factory used them for years. Probably have been better off with a 157 tooth bell in that truck with it's 1" smaller diameter flywheel and smaller clutch and pressure plate. If your truck's transmission's lasted that long, it may be OK for awhile. Only time you'll stress it is in hard pulls with sudden applications of torque. For headers, try looking at Hedman's #88400 shortys for the older Fairlane/Falcon, these fit the V8 Ranger, better than their shorty's for the Ranger swap (p/n 88500)

 

One other thing to check that has not been mentioned is your radiator cap. If it is not holding the right pressure then the temps will run hotter. Pressure and temperature are directly related. That is an easy fix and by keeping more pressure then the temp won't go as high. I think that is right, but the math is swimming in my head right now - lol

 

Pressure has noting to do with the temperature of the engine per se. The higher the pressure (regulated by the radiator cap), the higher the boiling point of the coolant is. Once the coolant boils, it looses it's capacity to remove the heat from the engine and transfer it to the radiator. The pressure itself has no bearing on how hot the engine will normally run.

 

You are 100% correct. Thanks for clarifying. It changes the boiling point with more pressure. I knew there was a relationship there...just couldn't quite remember it.

 

Regarding the radiator cap, I bought a new one at the same time I bought the radiator (also from CFR Performance) it's rated at 16psi. My question is, when I got back from my vacation, I went to take the cap off to check the coolant level, when I loosened the cap it started spraying out coolant, like it was still under pressure. The 4runner had been sitting all week without being driven, I've never had that happen to me before with the old radiator.


An update on my electric fan, I'm pretty sure I shorted out the windings in the motor. I pulled the shroud and fan, spinning the fan by hand I could definately feel a rough spot when turning it. Here's a pic, you can see where my water pump pulley bolts were rubbing on the housing.


So I was thinking of installing my old dual 10" fans setup on this radiator since the 14" fan motor is shot, it was looking like alot of work to adapt it, then I got the idea of trying to swap motors. I lucked out, the 10" motor bolted right up to the 14" fan housing, and I was able to install the 14" fan blade on the 10" motor without any problems. I hooked it up to the battery, and it seems to run fine with the bigger fan blade, I don't know what kind of cfm it's pushing, but it's worth a try. The 10" motor is alot thinner, I gained almost 2" of clearance. I'm thinking of drilling holes in the shroud like baddad suggested since I already have it off.
Here's a pic of the 10" motor installed with the 14" fan, you can see how much lower profile the motor housing is in the pic.