The cooling system in my '89 is tired. Very tired. Original radiator, electric fan (that just failed, causing the radiator to bubble over), old hoses, etc. I flushed the system and changed the coolant twice this past summer and it was still coming out brownish. Had the upper intake off and cleaned all the gunk I found inside the cooling ports in the heads. There was a lot of crap in there. So much so that I'm surprised I had much flow at all. I cleaned it out, flushed it, and kept trying fixes but I still had problems. And when it bubbled over (once in traffic), she was at 230* F, the heat swelled the hoses and they burst. (I was freaked out. I have aluminum AFR 165's on the car.)
So I'm thinking it's time to put some money into reliable cooling.
A friend of mine who has an '88 GT (for show/parade duty, minor track time) has an aluminum radiator (2 core I believe) and a Flex-a-lite fan just bolted to his water pump, no clutch. Gives him cheap and reliable cooling (the motor isn't too hi-po, just a built 302) and he loves it. Since my electric fan quit, rather than doing another electric, I'm considering this. What's involved? Anybody running a set up like that? Any downsides besides the added rotating weight on the front of the engine?
Also, I know that a copper radiator performs better than an aluminum alternative, but my budget is limited. The car is just a summer daily driver that gets roughly 3,000 miles a year. What I want is a system I can rely on to keep things cool. I'm done with all these headaches of wondering whether or not I can actually make it where I'm going without the threat of overheating. Trying to get it to last longer in this form before she get's transformed into a race car (once I get out of school).
So if you had ~ $500 to spend (I already have a new set of Motorcraft radiator hoses), what radiator/fan set up would you go with?
Just spitballin' here, the car's stored until March.
So I'm thinking it's time to put some money into reliable cooling.
A friend of mine who has an '88 GT (for show/parade duty, minor track time) has an aluminum radiator (2 core I believe) and a Flex-a-lite fan just bolted to his water pump, no clutch. Gives him cheap and reliable cooling (the motor isn't too hi-po, just a built 302) and he loves it. Since my electric fan quit, rather than doing another electric, I'm considering this. What's involved? Anybody running a set up like that? Any downsides besides the added rotating weight on the front of the engine?
Also, I know that a copper radiator performs better than an aluminum alternative, but my budget is limited. The car is just a summer daily driver that gets roughly 3,000 miles a year. What I want is a system I can rely on to keep things cool. I'm done with all these headaches of wondering whether or not I can actually make it where I'm going without the threat of overheating. Trying to get it to last longer in this form before she get's transformed into a race car (once I get out of school).
So if you had ~ $500 to spend (I already have a new set of Motorcraft radiator hoses), what radiator/fan set up would you go with?
Just spitballin' here, the car's stored until March.
