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Engine Cooling & Performance Water Pump?

Blown

Elite Explorer
Joined
December 6, 2007
Messages
1,074
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829
City, State
Montrose, CO
Year, Model & Trim Level
2000 X-Edge
I found this in a search for a performance water pump and am going to try it:
(I bought from Summit Racing)
I bought new and installed the older thicker radiator when I rebuilt, run a 180 degree thermostat and I am running 6 electric fans. That is what I was able to fit after the supercharger install which required removal of the stock fan. I got 4 fans set-up as pullers and they cover over 80% of the radiator and I have two pushers that cover about 3/5's of the front of the radiator. I likely need to take the time to modify the radiator mounting to move it away from the engine and get a better fan set-up.

My rig has gotten hot during the hottest summer days sitting in traffic and the temp rises when climbing these little hills in Colorado...............................I turn off the A/C, crank the heater and watch the temp settle back down (nice to crank heat on a hot summer day). It has not boiled over and has not gotten to damaging temps as I have datalogged it. Here's a couple of pics of what I got.
img_2515.jpg


img_2516.jpg


I think I can eliminate the need for a larger radiator as many run these successfully with performance mods. I am wondering if the higher volume and pressure of this performance water pump would do my overheat issue some good? I really do not know if it needs more coolant flow, more fan, or both? I suppose it is getting plenty of air flow when climbing a highway at 55-60mph and will still heat-up on a hot summer afternoon.

I might as well get this pump and modify the radiator mounting to be able to fit a better fan(s). I need to pull the radiator to get any room to work on the pump anyway.................What say ye?
 
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Hood vents will do wonders! I've found out w/ my Fox Mustang on our
hot and humid stop and goes on Dallas bumper to bumper commutes!
Take off your hood next time and see if it over heats as that is a cheap test.

The downside of hood vents is the heat is now packed against the base of the windscreen.
Remember cowl hood scoops? At speed, the hot air is sucked up in the heater a/c system.
 






Yup, good stuff, thanks for the response. This has a fiberglass ranger Edge hood.
Here is what I have done to the hood, ventilated it, made fender vents, and painted it primer grey as it used to be black......I thought about drilling holes in the cowl part of the hood but didn't want the heat getting in the HVAC.
5.0-charged-closer.jpg


I drilled-out the supports which act as ducting to the vents on each side of the hood.
hood.jpg


holie-hood.jpg
 
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Nice work! Thoughtful and well done.

Drive safe.
 






The Flowkooler High Flow pump #1666 is a quality part from what I recall others posting about it for the 302.

I would think the over heating would more be from lack of airflow, or the thermostat being too high, or a minor thing, the air deflectors all removed. Betting you have the T'stat fine and the cap holding good pressure, I would aim at the fans and air deflectors. Have you got all of those still in place around the radiator? Those keep air from going around it, forcing it through, the very bottom large one especially.

I think five fan is not necessary, two of good size behind with high flow ratings, should be enough. The Contour fan is one many people like, and I have been watching the later MKC fan, which is also a dual fan and on the long side.
 






Four fans is what would fit around the supercharger pulleys and belt. They are set-up as pullers, have good flow numbers, and the total CFM was over what I read was required. Yet, I added two pushers to the front of the rad. for 6 total as it would heat-up on hot day above 95 or climbing and hot.....It's got better but still not good.

Yup, I had a few things to clean-up with the Ranger Edge grill. I do have the plastic pieces in place and added more to direct the airflow into the radiator from the grill and to keep the engine/radiator heat away from the engine air intake. I also used aluminum tape to seal the AC condenser to the radiator to keep air from flowing out between it and the radiator.

I did all that and still............I am wondering about the water pump.......................I saw a post where a guy said the fins came off his pump!

Here's pics of sealing around the grill/radiator in addition to the stock plastic stuff:

rad-air1.jpg


rad-air4.jpg

I covered the top, over the grill to keep the engine heat from being sucked back through:

img_2655.jpg
 
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Here is what I did...

Also I added a "Tripminder" from a Crownvic too.

The fan controller was a Dakota Digital w/ 70A relays.
 






You probably already thought of this, but is having fans in front of and behind the radiator maybe blocking air flow instead of adding? It seems to me like you might have reached the point of diminishing returns, the point where more air flow won't change anything, with the four puller fans. Maybe fab up a shroud for those fans and remove the pushers and try that?

My engine is not nearly the beast you have, but I noticed lower overall temps when I blocked the gaps in the OEM fan shroud, forcing the air to go through the radiator instead of around it.
20191205_120434.jpg


20191205_161255.jpg
 






That is excellent air control there, both trucks above.

It sounds like a real issue with heating, either the WP impellers disintegrating, or air blockage. The coolant should easily stay under 190 or even lower if you have a fan setting under 180 etc. The supercharger will add some heat when into significant boost, but it shouldn't be bad unless the timing or tune was way off(I don't think it is). Keep at it, something is up there, hopefully it will be the next thing you check.
 






Thanks for the good ideas gents!

I swallowed the spider to catch the fly...................4 little fans that cover most of the radiator, but there is no room for a proper shroud so there are spaces between the fans that do not have air pulled through, I added the front pushers and it did cool it more, I added a 200amp alt to drive all the fans and the belt/pulley shrieks at high rpm and WOT, and it still does get hot on the hottest days...............................

I can likely run Ford Contour fans off of the EECV, but I need to move the radiator forward to fit them................................I remembered that it did overheat before the rebuild/supercharger, I used the same water pump as it was relatively new. I thought it was overheating for other reasons....................I hope it is the water pump, but I will also work on a better fan set-up install before next summer.
 






I have been looking at electric fans, but most will not fit because I have a thick all aluminum 3 core radiator.
 






I made a better lower air shield for the bottom of the radiator. The stock set-up left a gap and more holes with the Ranger Edge front and bull bar I added. I bent the ends up to overlap the side pieces between the grill and radiator and it covers from the bull bar fairing back to the rear of the radiator with no gaps. It was likely missing some of the airflow through the bull bar fairing, not now.

lower-air-thing.jpg


I bought and added Redline Water Wetter.

I have not had a chance to test yet for improvement though it looked like it was reading lower on the way to work today. The real test is a hot afternoon and climbing west out of Denver. I did see that I do have enough room to replace the water pump without removing the radiator and the fans..............I'll get to it soon.
 
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Cooler temps, 69 today, and I worked on the house last weekend. I am not in a hurry to do the water pump and I haven't been able to test the "Water Wetter" as it has not been that warm..................................................I probably won't have a chance to get to it for a few weeks.
 






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