I have owned this truck for about 3 years now and I have always had a problem with overheating. I have a 7 blade fan, 3 core standard cooling rad, fan shroud, replaced the water pump a few years ago, aftermarket guage, verified proper operation with a therm. have run everything from a 195 degree thermastat, to a restrictor ring (hollow(sp) thermastat) and still have the same problem. the truck runs fine on the road in the summer it runs about 195 on the guage after it heats up and in the winter it runs about 195 with the 180 degree thermastat in it. I had a 160 in the truck in the summer but it would still run about 195 and with the 195 in it during the summer it would run about 210 , ( always rund about 15 degrees hotter than the therm is set at.) The idle right now is set at about 600 rpm and the truck will stedily heat up when it is ideling to the point that it overheats. if I rev it up to about 1100 then it will "cool" meaning that it stops climbing wherever it is at. and from what I can tell I can do that for a long while but it will still overheat on me. I have had the radiator flow tested and they said that it was fine, it has a new cap, and it is leaking water somewhere now but I can't tell where. and short of re-building the engine, I am at a loss for what is causing the problem. I know that I need a new timing chain, but other than that, everything seems pretty good.

also, does anyone know if the different engines in the fe series had different size diameter crank pullies? I want something that will get the waterpump spinning faster at low idle as well as the alternator faster. the truck doesn't see over 4500 rpm so I am not worriesd about anything there. also if there isn't one smaller in this family, is there another family that bolts up the same/ has the same offset? or do I need to get one custom.

 

There are myriad different crank pulleys, what diameter is yours?

Was the engine rebuilt before you have encountered the heating problem?

A loose timing chain will affect the timing, a possible cause for engine overheating.

 

I will have to get out there and measure the crank pully in a little while. As for the engine being rebuilt, I am not sure, as long as I have had the truck it has had a problem and I can't talk to the po cause I bought the truck as a theft recovery. from the looks of it though, I would say that it has had work done to it though, IE, the posibility of the head gaskets being on backwards is there. that is what I was thinking about the timing chain. I just don't have the time or the money right now to change it. or the tools for that mater, all of mine were stolen.

 

ok the crank pulley is 6 3/4 in and the water pump pulley is 7 in . whatever I go up in the crank pulley I have to go down in the waterpump pulley due to clearance issues. I was thinking that about a 7 in crank pulley and a 6 3/4 waterpump pulley should do the trick. but I am not sure what the rpm would change. if there is anyone good with math that could figgure that out for me. I am not sure what I want to increase it to but I don't want the alternator going at warp speed if I have to goose the engine at a stoplight or something. the engine cruises at around 3300 to 3500rpm on the highway ( driving in atlanta, will get run over if going slow) can someone tell me an equaision(sp) for this? I am going to look online to find something out but if someone knows it off the top of the head that would be great..

 

You might try an electric fan. These do much better for cooling when the truck is at idle.

Good Luck,

Tracy

 

You say "overheat" that means it blows pressure out the cap does it do this? if not its not overheating. whats the highest temp it will reach at idle? it should not hit over 215 at idle.

 

If you do an electric Fan, Make sure it pulls the amps LOL. Because not all fans are created =.

Lets say you are looking at a 16" Fan. One pulls down 9 to 10 amps of power. And the other pulls down 20 to 25 Amps. Go with the bigger one! It will pull more air in then the 9-10 amp and more likely to meet its CFM rating.
JMO

 

Man ya I'll join the overheating club!! Mine bout cooked itself the other day until i was able to get outa traffic. Mines a 390 w/ stock pump but with an impeller plate i installed, 180 stat, stock pulleys, 4 row modine, factory shroud, 19" 7 blade fan w/ clutch. It's fine on the interstate but when i pull off it climbs and climbs all the way to 220+. Thats too hot for me. I don't want to go over 190 ever if possible...just to much unnecessary heat. I had the a/c off and the heat on full blast the other day and it was able to keep it at 215...still way too hot for me or the motor. I've got an electric fan i'm gonna install in front of the factory fan as a backup but the point is that you shouldn't have to do this. My dad had a 67 fastback w/ 390 and it only had a 3 row w/o a shroud and never overheated. Ya my truck is heavier and is working a bit harder but still shouldn't be an issue. I have alot more in my cooling system than that fastback did and i still can't keep the temp down. Plus my system is about 6+ gals. I'm gonna prolly end up puttin an oil cooler on it to help but like i said... I shouldn't even be havin to make this post!

 

You may want to put a 190 or a 195 thermostat in it. It will cool your coolant a little longer in the radiator for starters.
Whats you total timing set at?????

 

well thats an interesting question as i have never plotted my timing after the 390 build. I know initial is around 8-10 and i have the vacuum advance unplugged due to detonation. I'm hoping to plot my curve here in the next month hopefully. Right now i'm putting hedmans' on her to get more out in and out quicker to keep things a bit cooler but mostly for the power obviously. Thermostat isn't going to make any difference in my case. The thermostat just controls the temp, and if mine is wide open and still not cooling, that means theres a problem w/ the cooling system itself. Way back when, i was never told about this so i thought installing a 160 would fix my deal but nope, no fix.

 

Clutch fan? I have seen them bad an would rather run a standard fan. Fan mounted backwards will screw up cooling and have you had the radiator cleaned. I had this problem on my old 1968 F250 with a 390 and it was a bad (broken) shroud, clutch was shot and the radiator was dirty. The thing never overheated at highway speed, only at idle.

 

Clutch fan is new and fan is on correctly. Now just b/c the clutch is new doesn't mean it's good but the bearings are tight and it's got some spin resistance. Whether or not it's lockin up at idle i dunno. I had the top tank taken off the rad to be cleaned so it checks out good and flows great. No trash between condensor and rad or in front. Everything is spotless and tight. When it used to overheat as a 360, I had it bored and hot tanked and felt sure that was gonna cure it being that there was trash in the cooling passages between cylinders from being 30 years old. Didn't even touch it. It does cool a little bit better than when it was a 360 but nothin to write home about. I would just dump that cooling solution in there but i don't know what long term affects it has if any and i want to def have heat in the winter which I'm not sure I can with that stuff. Well i know it will eventually heat up with that stuff but i want heat within 10 min's, not 30.

 

May need to go to a smaller pulley on the pump. You might have a BIG pulley on it and may not know it! FE's came with a few different sizes of water pump pulleys.

 

Ever heard of radiator sprayers? It would be easy to hook one up. Just use a w/shield washer bottle/pump and a remote switch. Route the hose to the front of the radiator. Activate the switch, water sprays on radiator core.


The original radiator cap was 13 lbs. Ford recommended that on older vehicles, either a 4 or 7 lb cap be used. All Ford radiator caps came with or without release handles.


FE Crank pulleys listed in the 1964/72 Ford truck parts catalog.
single sheave
C5TZ-6A312-A = 6 5/8"
C1AZ-6A312-D = 6 19/32"
C8AZ-6A312-E = 6 25/32"
------------------------------
double sheave
C1AZ-6A312-C = 5 61/64"
C8AZ-6A312-C = 6 21/32"
------------------------------
triple sheave
C8AZ-6A312-C = 6 21/32"
C8AZ-6A312-B = 7 5/32"
C9TZ-6A312-A = 7 5/16"

There are dozens more, since the pulleys also fit all the FE equipped cars from 1960 thru 1971.

 

radiator sprayers is not quit a cure for the problem that he faces. You have to cover all the basics. And then go from there. JMO