Overheating/engine swap trouble

RAU03MACH · Apr 28, 2022

Try the compression test once more

Buffalo5Spd · Apr 28, 2022

Did you try replacing the radiator hoses? I’ve heard of collapsing hoses cutting off coolant flow.

Makoto · May 1, 2022

i hope your motor is okay becausue now you mgith be fighting a head gasket issue on top of the following problems:\

1. the fact that your radiator is cool and your engine is overheating should immediately tell you that hot water isn't getting to your radiator.
2. it doesn't matter that it looks like the water is flowing because obviously you aren't transferring heat out of the engine
3. this could easily be your thermostat
4. your expansion tank is wrong. it should have ONE connection to it from the radiator (the small line) but instead you're flowing water through it. seal up those two big holes and just run that small line to your radiator while putting all the stock hoses back.

if you do all that and your head gaskets are okay your engine will be fine. your radiator should be too hot to touch pretty quickly.

chrisp427 · Jul 31, 2022

BrodieLarsen said:
Hello my name is Brodie I'm new here and am looking for some advice to fix my overheating issues. This will be a long post since I've been fighting this issue for about a year now. I have a 94 originally V6/AODE car that I have swapped a carburated 347 stroker that makes 475hp and 450lb ft at the crank along with a AOD that has the one peice input shaft kit that I can use a C6 style converter with along with a transgo shift kit. The converter is a 9inch~4500 stall along with a swapping the 7.5" rear end to an 8.8" with 3.73 gears however they will soon be 4.56s. I also have a champion 2 core that is slightly thicker than stock but is advertised as a direct replacement radiator that I am using the stock electric fan setup on. For a trans cooler I run through the radiator and then into an external cooler and back to the trans, I have never seen my trans Temps get over 190 even after a 45 minute cruise. Back when this car still had the V6 I had the radiator start leaking and that is when I put the champion one in. After that my water Temps were rarely over 185. Even in the 115 degree heat. Once I swapped in the 347 and AOD I started having heat issues. This motor and accessories setup has been proven in an old circle track car. I could run 50 laps on a 3/8 mile oval and not get over 200 degrees. However as soon as I got the car running and driving I went for a cruise and everything was working perfectly with water temps at 190 until I Reved it over about 5000 rpm and it pushed a ton of water out and spiked the gauge to almost 260. After pulling over and letting it cool down for 20-30mins I headed back home and it was fine again sitting steady at 190. And every time I drove it the same thing would happen cruise it and it would sit happily at 190, give it any rpm and it would meltdown. I've tried everything. I know it wasn't headgaskets, I've changed them twice. Just to be sure and done multiple chemical test to make sure there were no combustion gasses in the coolant. I've tried 160,180 and cut out thermostats with no change. I've tried jetting, timing, even put 110vp in it to make sure it wasn't detonation. The weirdest thing to me is that when it does meltdown I can put my hand on the radiator and it will be cool to the touch my guess is 60-70 degrees. However the cylinder head will measure 240+ with a temp gun. Ive tried running it without the radiator cap on and it looks like there's plenty of water flow. I've recently put an expansion tank in between my upper radiator hose to make sure I'm getting all the air out of the system. Which only seemed to slow down the meltdown. At this point I'm seriously thinking about switching to methanol. I'm out of ideas and need serious help, I'll post some pictures and videos in the attachments if I can. Thanks In advance for any advice and for reading this far.

I’m experiencing the same issues. I have a 94GT with a new dart block that after running for 30 minutes starts to heat up. I originally had a 160 t-stat in but it would heat up pretty quick so I put a 192 in. It will run for a while but heats up to 230 degrees then I shut it off to let it cool. Looking in the radiator I don’t really see any flow and once it heats up the fluid starts to gush out. It has a serpentine belt setup so the wp spins opposite (reverse) of the crank. But I’m confused, because when I pulled the pump and looked at the blades they are facing the standard rotation direction. Is this correct? The pump is a

BrodieLarsen said:
Hello my name is Brodie I'm new here and am looking for some advice to fix my overheating issues. This will be a long post since I've been fighting this issue for about a year now. I have a 94 originally V6/AODE car that I have swapped a carburated 347 stroker that makes 475hp and 450lb ft at the crank along with a AOD that has the one peice input shaft kit that I can use a C6 style converter with along with a transgo shift kit. The converter is a 9inch~4500 stall along with a swapping the 7.5" rear end to an 8.8" with 3.73 gears however they will soon be 4.56s. I also have a champion 2 core that is slightly thicker than stock but is advertised as a direct replacement radiator that I am using the stock electric fan setup on. For a trans cooler I run through the radiator and then into an external cooler and back to the trans, I have never seen my trans Temps get over 190 even after a 45 minute cruise. Back when this car still had the V6 I had the radiator start leaking and that is when I put the champion one in. After that my water Temps were rarely over 185. Even in the 115 degree heat. Once I swapped in the 347 and AOD I started having heat issues. This motor and accessories setup has been proven in an old circle track car. I could run 50 laps on a 3/8 mile oval and not get over 200 degrees. However as soon as I got the car running and driving I went for a cruise and everything was working perfectly with water temps at 190 until I Reved it over about 5000 rpm and it pushed a ton of water out and spiked the gauge to almost 260. After pulling over and letting it cool down for 20-30mins I headed back home and it was fine again sitting steady at 190. And every time I drove it the same thing would happen cruise it and it would sit happily at 190, give it any rpm and it would meltdown. I've tried everything. I know it wasn't headgaskets, I've changed them twice. Just to be sure and done multiple chemical test to make sure there were no combustion gasses in the coolant. I've tried 160,180 and cut out thermostats with no change. I've tried jetting, timing, even put 110vp in it to make sure it wasn't detonation. The weirdest thing to me is that when it does meltdown I can put my hand on the radiator and it will be cool to the touch my guess is 60-70 degrees. However the cylinder head will measure 240+ with a temp gun. Ive tried running it without the radiator cap on and it looks like there's plenty of water flow. I've recently put an expansion tank in between my upper radiator hose to make sure I'm getting all the air out of the system. Which only seemed to slow down the meltdown. At this point I'm seriously thinking about switching to methanol. I'm out of ideas and need serious help, I'll post some pictures and videos in the attachments if I can. Thanks In advance for any advice and for reading this far.

I’m experiencing the same issues. I have a 94GT with a new dart block that after running for 30 minutes starts to heat up. I originally had a 160 t-stat in but it would heat up pretty quick so I put a 192 in. It will run for a while but heats up to 230 degrees then I shut it off to let it cool. Looking in the radiator I don’t really see any flow and once it heats up the fluid starts to gush out. It has a serpentine belt setup so the wp spins opposite (reverse) of the crank. But I’m confused, because when I pulled the pump and looked at the blades they are facing the standard rotation direction. Is this correct? The pump is a GMB-1920P. I may sound stupid but it just seems like the blades should be different. Car has never seen the road since I put the new motor in. Everything on the car is brand new so I’m scratching my head. My builder is telling me the water pump impeller sounds like it is incorrect. I ordered a EMP Stewart from summit and it looks the same as the GMB I have. I’m lost! I was going to try the 1/16 hole in the t-stat trick and see if that helps.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! I am soooooooo ready to put this thing on the street!
I will try ANYTHING at this point to get it right.

94GT
Engine Block
Dart Iron Eagle Sportsman
#31355235
Pistons- Wiseco ProTru pt-090A3
Reverse Dome 351 Ford ratios based on .020 deck
Bore-4.155 compression-9.7.1 to 10.2.1
Eagle ESP crankshaft, forged H beam rods, Arp high grade fasteners
Professional products 10,000 rpm harmonic balancer
Canton racing products 6 quart oil pan and windage tray
Melling high volume oil pump
Nornda Automotive timing chain and gears
Comp camshaft and Roller lifters
GSR pushrods
Intake valve lift-.569
Exhaust valve lift-.574
Duration .006 Tappet Lift 286 open, close 290
.050 INT: 6 BTDC. 50 ABDC
EXH: 52. BBDC 8. ATDC
Intake. Exhaust
Lobe lift .3560. 240
Lobe Separation 112.0 intake centerline
AFR Renegade 220 series heads
1.72 Scorpion roller rockers
Fast EFI 2.0 Fuel management system

tvsn95 · Jul 31, 2022

in the for what its worth dept.
your stock rad should handle the 347 NO PROBLEM.
But if you installed the Windsor head gaskets backwards on one side it WILL do what you are describing.
When looking at the gaskets they have top stamped on them,,,BUT you must put the water flow holes in the gaskets AT THE REAR of the block. If there were NO info printed on the gaskets then you would arrange them in this way . No exceptions
this is an old school mistake,,, So think about what you did first.
also, IF you have a head gasket leaking ( due to detonation ) then you will need to start over.
A leaky head gasket WILL blow the coolant out and look like an overheat problem. Also remember something REALLY simple. run an 18lb cap and old caps DO get weak.
Good luck

chrisp427 · Aug 4, 2022

tvsn95 said:
in the for what its worth dept.
your stock rad should handle the 347 NO PROBLEM.
But if you installed the Windsor head gaskets backwards on one side it WILL do what you are describing.
When looking at the gaskets they have top stamped on them,,,BUT you must put the water flow holes in the gaskets AT THE REAR of the block. If there were NO info printed on the gaskets then you would arrange them in this way . No exceptions
this is an old school mistake,,, So think about what you did first.
also, IF you have a head gasket leaking ( due to detonation ) then you will need to start over.
A leaky head gasket WILL blow the coolant out and look like an overheat problem. Also remember something REALLY simple. run an 18lb cap and old caps DO get weak.
Good luck

Good information thanks. Is there a way to check the head gasket placement without removing the heads? This engine was professionally built at a engine shop I would think they wouldn’t make that mistake but anything is possible. I’ll try the 18lb cap. It also has a SVE radiator I think I bought from LMR. I think it’s a three core.

Randall Garner · Oct 30, 2022

If all these troubleshooting actions are still a no go on fixing the overheating, as your heads heat up things expand. And you may have a valve seat or guide issue. Or you may have a cracked cylinder. I had this issue in a 393w only found it after heating the block in a furnace and then pressurizing the block. Did you change the pulleys on the engine. During the swap.

Randall Garner · Oct 30, 2022

One thing I've noticed with any stroker ford with any kind of compression is heat, the aftermarket fans tend not to have great air flow, I run a 95 cobra R 351 radiator fan over 3000 cfm. And my engine holds 160 all day long. I can hot lap it and only time I see over 160 is directly after shutdown ,

chrisp427 · Nov 8, 2022

Randall Garner said:
One thing I've noticed with any stroker ford with any kind of compression is heat, the aftermarket fans tend not to have great air flow, I run a 95 cobra R 351 radiator fan over 3000 cfm. And my engine holds 160 all day long. I can hot lap it and only time I see over 160 is directly after shutdown ,

What fan are you running?