I am installing a 351w in my bronco and wanted to know if I will have a problem cooling and if so, what the cheapest route would be. The engine is rebuilt and heads re-worked. I plan on using my shroud and radiator.
Watcha think????

 

You're on the right track by using a fan shroud. If it were mine, I would spend the money on an aluminum, stacked core radiator (what the Bronco places are offering). They are well worth the cost. I've seen them cure chronic overheating Windsors and drop temperatures up to 40 deg on most everything. If you can't afford the aluminum, my second choice would be an upgrade to a 4 core. You can use the stock radiator, but it is insufficient for the 351 IMO.

You also want to use a name brand, new, not rebuilt water pump. And a good quality thermostat in the 190-195 deg range.
Are you using an automatic or a manual transmission? If you have an auto, don't forget about cooling it as well. Using a large external cooler will take some of the heat away from the radiator. Any heat that the transmission makes will transfer to the engine and cause problems that can be hard to pinpoint. So keeping your transmission cool, will ultimately help your engine cooling.

Jason

 

Your the man rockcrawler.
It may be a while before I can afford a new radiator, but I will keep that in mind. The engine has receintly been built from the groung up; flat top pistons, cam, bord .30 over and all that good stuff and as I have figured out, it ain't cheep! I just need to keep it cool for now. She will be a parking lot princess, so I how she will stay cool. What about taping the intake? I don't know if I want to do that, does it help that much?

 

I have a suspension lift but bo body lift, will I have trouble putting it under the hood???

 

Are you talking about this mod:

Cooling a 351W

posted by Quinn (aka Venom )

I just finished this one. The way I did it was based on what several other people told me to do and some pictures I had seen on the net. It's really quite simple.

Parts List (all 1/2" pipe thread)

* 2 ea 2" nipples
* 1 ea elbow
* 2 ea tees
* 6 ea barbed hose ends (fits 5/8" heater hose perfectly)
* 6 ea hose clamps

Cost was $65 including the $20 1/2" pipe tap. I used all brass fittings. I thought the prices seemed high, but after comparing with McMasterr-Carr, I found that it was within $5 of their price for all the stuff I got. The one that added up was the 6 ea barbed fittings at about $4 each. You could probably get tees and elbows with those things already installed and do it a bit cheaper. I didn't really take the time to shop around for the best approach. I just grabbed a bunch of stuff that would do the job and it did.

I drilled and tapped (1/2" tapered pipe thread) the 2 holes in the back of the intake manifold above the water ports in the head. On my Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, there are 2 small round areas that indicate the spots to drill. I centered the drill bit and drilled bigger and bigger holes until I had a 0.700" hole. In the driver side hole, I installed 1 of the nipples then the elbow. In the hole on the passenger side, I put the other nipple and then a tee. In the open end of the elbow and the 2 open ends of the tee, I put in 3 of the barbed fittings. I routed a short section of heater hose between the 2 sides of the manifold. The other tee (and other 3 barbed ends) got spliced into the heater hose connected to the water pump, not the one to the intake.

The 2" nipples raised everything just tall enough to clear the valve covers. They were also low enough to clear the air cleaner and throttle linkage and stuff. I lucked out on that one. I just guessed at the plumbing store. I don't know how it will work, but from everything I've heard, it should do pretty well. The number I've heard is a 20 degree reduction. If that's true, I should be fine. We'll see.

There are some pics on the Edelbrock site which should help clear up what's going on. If you go here, then look at the differences between the 289-302's vs the 351W, you should be able to see what the deal is. The back of the manifolds (firewall side) are on the right side of the pic. I have a Performer RPM which shows 2 flat bosses near the last sets of bolt holes on the right. Some of the other 351W manifolds have a passage in the manifold which is very clear in the pics. They are already tapped and have a passageway so you don't need to run a cross hose. Looking closer at the 289/302 manifolds, it *does* appear that they need this extra cooling as well. A couple of them have a similar passage and a couple have untapped raised bosses. So maybe I was a bit hasty in saying that this mod didn't apply to 302's. Looks like it might.

Jason

 

Your hood clearance depends on what accessories you use on top of your W. I had a MSD Distributor. On top of the engine was an Edelbrock Performer 351W intake, 1" spacer (NEEDED) and my Edelbrock 1406 carb. On top of the carb was a 2"x18" (I believe) air cleaner. I had to install a 3" BL to clear my hood. However, I've seen some creative ways to mod the hood to clear the taller EFI truck intake manifolds. So, anything is possible.

As for cooling, I cut my inner fenders out to clear my JBA Short Tube headers. Amazingly enough, that plus the addition of an aluminum radiator kept my Bronco @ 185°/190°.

My Bronco was also bored .040 over.

Good luck...

 

I Have a '69 351W that used to run hot. I replaced the stock rad with a 4 core Aluminum. Much better, but still hot in traffic. I found that going to NAPA and getting a 160 deg. thermostat did the trick!. The Bronco heater is sufficient with a 160 also...

Bronco Bruce

Here's the Bronco...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=18399

 

what if you ditch the mech fan for a HO elec fan? would that be able to keep the 351 calm?

-cutts-

 

Hi,

I forgot to mention, I have the mechanical fan, AND a electric in front of the rad pushing air when I need it... The 160 thermo really worked...The 190 was running 195 highway- 210-220 in hot weather traffic. Now with the 160, 175 on highway- 195-200 hot weather traffic. Not to mention more power from a cooler engine!

Bruce....Yes i'm running a shroud...

 

hey bruce, what kind of elec fan you running? flex-lite? j-yard gem from some import?

-cutts-

 

Flexilite.

I have hood pins...so no hood latch mechanism in front of Rad to interfere...

Bruce

 

got any pics of your setup? i am about to cram a taurus fan b/t the rad and motor to do away with the mech fan. already unbolted all the hood latch stuff out so i am gonna have to go with hood pins as well

-cutts-

 

Running a very low thermostat, like a 160 deg, can actually cause the engine to run too hot even though the gauge shows a cooler temperature. A low temp thermostat opens too early and doesn't allow the water to properly remove the heat from the cylinders and the heads. So while the gauge and the water temp in the manifold may read great, the engine itself is too hot.

I run a 195 deg thermostat in my trail rig. It runs 190-195 no matter what the conditions. Whether it is slow speed crawling, running on the dunes, highway, traffic, in 100+ deg weather or way below freezing. This is a EFI 5.0, stock core radiator, original fan with no shroud and a big winch in front of the radiator.

Jason