I am too busy with work to work much on this, but with the slow down on this project I am taking the time to do a few more things. I get an hour or two here and there and this project is a nice break.
I will get the heads in this coming week to be refurbished. I am going to pull the engine. I got to get it refreshed and sealed-up.
I want to do a few things regarding the heat generated by stuffing a V8 in these and changing up to the Edge front. It's tight in that engine bay and I could watch the temp gauge go up when I sat in traffic last summer (with all new cooling system). I am adding more underhood heat with headers and the blower and I better have it set up for next summer.
I got adhesive backed high heat insulation to apply to the firewall and down above the exhaust as it wraps under the firewall. I will also use some to insulate around the A/C stuff close to the header and anything close on the drivers side. I hope that helps with creature comfort/cabin temps. The firewall will get cleaned and this done when the engine is out.
I am utilizing caulking, foam, foam panels, and aluminum sheet to make sure air is only drawn from outside the engine bay in front of the radiator. Ford made the effort to do this but I screwed much of it up when I swapped-on the Ranger Edge front. I got much of this done, need to complete the aluminum panel and extend the foam panels into the grill to isolate air away from the lights and engine heat.
I applied 2" aluminum tape to seal along the sides, bottom and top of the radiator/A/C condenser. This will prevent underhood air form being pulled in between the radiator/condenser. I got four electric fans mounted inside to pull with a good amount of clearance from the blower pulley and belt. Combined they pull about 3000cfm which should be about right, but the fans do not cover the recommended 2/3's of the radiator surface area. I am going to get a couple more to mount as pushers in front and set them to come on only when needed.
I am going to ventilate the hood. It's fiberglass and has channels that could be opened to the outside and draw heat out. I will drill a holes with a hole saw inside and cut-in vents to the outside. I should be able to place holes and the outside vents so water will channel away not directly through holes.
Finally, I know my cold air intake is not isolated from the engine bay and not true cold air. I want to seal a gap from installing the Edge fenders and use foam spray, foam panels and caulk to isolate the front section of the fender where it draws air in. I also need to open-up the size of the airbox intake tube and have a 4" section of tubing to reach into the fender.