So I installed my new 3 row radiator tonight, and it seems to be working better. We'll see tomorrow afternoon.

Also in the mail today, I got an electric fan.

What are the steps needed to take out the old fan and spacer? Do I need to loosen the belts?

 

Yes you can remove the fan and spacer w/o loosening the belts, but it's only going to save you a couple of minutes, and may not be worth the skinned knuckles. Plus with all the belts out of the way you have more room to work with the electric fan.

It's your choice, you can loosen them at any time during the process.

You will need shorter bolts to go back in the water pump pulley, about 3/8" long with star lock washers or 1/2" long with split lock washers. Grade 5 is plenty strong enough.

Good luck!

 

I just wanted to mention that you will need to burp that new radiator to make sure there is no air trapped in the system. If it were mine, I would have a recovery tank installed if you haven't already done that, then with the rad cap on, take it out and get her up to operating temp, then bring her back to the house and wait until she cools down to see if the recovery tank is filled to the cold level. If not, then open the rad cap and start the engine and watch the bubbles pop and the rad coolant level drop. Add some more 50/50 mixture to make sure the system is totally full, to include the heater box. Then add some more to the recovery tank. Sometimes it takes a few trips down the road to get all the air out of the system, so keep an eye on that recovery tank for awhile to make sure it has enough mixture in it. Also, check your lower rad hose to make sure the coil of wire in there is still good. If that wire rusts out, the hose may collapse under pressure causing heating probs.

 

Thanks, Soaring.

I burped it last night and drove around, and I drove today. That three row cools wayyyy better than the 2 row. It looks almost twice as thick. Temp never went above 210. I'll have to consider getting that overflow tank. Do you have to use a different radiator cap?

 

No, you still use the 13 pounder. The tube that goes to the ground, now goes into the tank. The overflow tanks are very inexpensive, and save you a lot of fluid. You also know that your rad is 100% full, giving you maximum fluid to cool the engine, and you can visually check your fluid level without taking off the rad cap.

 

Thanks Soaring.

Ive got another question though. What's the difference between a vented and a non vented cap. Ive got the kind with the red pull tab on the top. I never get anything coming out of the tube unless I pull up on the tab to release pressure.

BTW: I ran the A/C all the way home today, and it only dipped above 210 for a few minutes sitting in traffic. It stayed at about 200 the rest of the way.

 

What degree of t-stat are you running??? If you install a 160*, I bet it would stay even cooler, because the water will circulate even faster, to cool better. Just my nickel.