I put a 351W bored .030. in my 92 LX. It has Trick Flow R series intake, 30# injectors, 75mm TB competition cams hyd roller cam, roller rockers etc., etc.
It also has underdrive pulleys, edelbrock water pump and a Ford Racing Parts radiator and Flex-a-lite 175 electric fan. Everything is brand new.
My problem: The car runs nice and cool down the highway, even with the A/C on, but get into traffic and the car will overheat rapidly, even with the A/C off it just keeps climbing past 230 deg... Thermostat is definitely not the problem.

Are the underdrive pulleys hurting coolant flow and causing this?
Is the radiator inadequate for the 425 HP engine?
Do I need to pull more air through the radiator?
All of the above?

I have a BeCool radiator on the way, but I wonder if it will fix my problem. My first impression was that the Ford Racing radiator was crap, but after thinking about the underdrive pulleys...I'm second guessing my decision to replace the radiator.

Any experienced help out there?

 

Hey there. Not sure how to contact people on the forum. I was just wondering if we could chat on your swap. I want to do the exact swap. 351W in my '93 LX. You can e-mail me at velvet_leopard01@yahoo.com or IM me at velvet_leopard01 on Yahoo. As for your overheating problem. I have had lots of 5.0/5.8 engine overheat on me. It turns out in all my problems that either the water was flowing too slowly through the system or that my transmission was overheating the radiator. I was using auto trannies. I would guess your radiator and/or fan was too small for the job. I have never heard of underdrive pulleys causing too much of a problem with cooling, unless the system was not meant for the engine in question.

 

You most likely need more air. Your underdrive probably didn't change the WP ratio very much (the ones I've looked reduce it no more than 8%), and you should be fine with the better flow of the Edelbrock pump.

The Be Cool will probably make a difference as well, but probably not enough.

What is you coolant/water ratio? You should be in the 50/50 neighborhood to keep the boiling point up.

What radiator cap are you running? A little more pressure will help with heat transfer. Be wary of going too high with rubber hoses and heater cores.

A little Water Wetter (or similar) could help, too.

 

Thanks for the reply. I think my cap is 13PSI. I got the Be Cool radiator yesterday and will hopefully get it installed this long weekend. I kinda figured the air could be a problem also since the car stays cool at highway speed/moving. it's in traffic i have the problem. i'll try the new radiator and hope for the best. If it doesn't fix it, I'll look for way to move more air through the radiator.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Oh, one other thing...the mix is 50/50. I use water wetter in my race car and i'll try it in this car too. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Do you have a shroud? If you do, is the fan 1/2 in it and 1/2 out? That will make a big difference.

 

get a higher presure thermostat... it wont stop heating but it will stop boil over.... second, get an external electric fan to aid in the cooling... third, loose them fukin underdrive pullies, an finally, consider your radiator... is it aluminum? is it 4 core or large 2 core? this should take of your probs...