I replaced my thermostat yesterday with a new 195 unit from Autozone. Turns out I had a 160 t-stat in there. It was raining and damp yesterday and my guage stayed on 170 during the whole 10 miles I drove yesterday.

Two things:
1) The intake port I installed my new temp sending unit in did not have any coolant in it when I pulled the plug (this is a Weiand hi-rise intake). I thought this was wierd, but my brother-in-law assured me that once coolant started to circulate, it would have some.
--so i'm wondering if I'm ever getting coolant there and if 170 is a 'dry' reading

2) Flex fax replacement. I'm only home on weekends, the trucks sits 5-6 days a week. What's holding me up from removing the flex fan and solid spacer is the time involved in removing the radiator. Have people had luck in removing these without removing the rad?

Working full-time and doing an MBA at night, I have little time to work on the truck so I've been farming most of the work to a local garage, which is where it is now, as they screwed up my carb. I've owned the truck one month and it's been in the shop 2 of those weeks. Labor is killing me, but if I can't do a project in 3-4 hours or less, I need to turn it over to the pros -- not enough time in the day!

Wouldn' the flex fan be less efficient than the stock fan? If my guage is correct, I can't figure out how I am over cooling.

Thanks again.
Mike

 

Do you have enuf coolant in the system? Was there anti freeze on the sender (wet)? Is the temp sender screwed into an intake passage so it is measuring air temp (yes I have seen this)?

 

Yes, there's enough coolant. When I took the plug out to put the sensor in it was bone dry. You raise a good point, it may be on an intake passage... never thought of that.

Unfortunately the truck is at the shop right now so I can't check it -- I'm having issues with backfiring through the carb when the gas is punched hard to the floor.

I checked the stock fan I got from the original owner and is a five blade. Will this work, or do I absolutely need 7 blade? I assume the 5 blade was original to the 400 that was in there before. I only want to dig into this once.

Thanks,
Mike

 

okay, I got one on this.....My 460 runs warm on the freeway, I got a good rad, shroud is in tact..etc, but I was noticing the other day, that I have these plastic panels that run over each headlight/turn signal, connecting on one side to the upper rad support piece, and the other side to the grill, with the apparent intent of preventing air from coming in the grill and going OVER the rad. it appears there are holes covering the rest of the area between the turn signal flaps, and the hood latch. Is there supposed to be plastic panels to cover this area as well? If so, my neck of the woods has nothing in the way of old fords (or old ANYTHING) in the boneyards, so salvage is not an option. Any suggestions for a durable substitute material?

 

I use rubber conveyor belting that I get at a local industrial rubber shop. You can use plastic sheet like KYDEX but I think it is too stiff. You should have enuf material to force as much air as possible thru the radiator. Heating up on the highway is usually an indicator of problems in that area. Under ~35mph the fan pulls air thru the radiator. Above that speed the vehicle motion forces air thru the radiator.

Check the condition of your radiator fins. My wife's Explorer had bent fins and the radiator was full of sand particles. It also had grass clippings and leaves between the AC condenser and the radiator. The vehicle had been in the shop several times with the PO for the AC not cooling and overheating. They didn't find the problem but I saw it right off. Check your radiator with a light.

 

not that this will help but just my experiance

I got a 302 in a Ranger and runnin 2900-3000 rpm on the interstate i run cool no fans on at all (i run electrical fans) then I bump it up and run 3200-3400 my fans struggle to keep it from over heating i've forced to slow down for my temp to drop. I think it has something to do with air flow at the higher speeds.