Overheating/engine swap trouble

BrodieLarsen

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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.
 

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garrittpwl

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This is a silly thought but a place to maybe look. Is the distributor/advancer messing up and jacking the timing through the moon above a certain RPM?
 

RAU03MACH

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Timing will play a big part
You need at least a 2 or 3 core radiator
Thermostat I usually get the lower temp for summer
There are water wetter that work pretty good with antifreeze
Make sure the cooling system has no leaks period
A cap seal will over heat
Water pump check it over good make sure it rotating the right way
A lot of things can cause overheating
 

RAU03MACH

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You might even put a pusher and puller fan system
To force air through the radiator
 

ttocs

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just out of stupidity is the air deflector on the bottom of the core support still there? It is just a stupid little piece of C-shaped plastic that was held on to the bottom by some plastic pins and its not uncommon for people to leave it off. From what I understand it creates a scavenging effect that creates a low pressure behind the rad to help pull the air out/down. With out it I have heard of people having issues when they are moving, but not fast enough.
 

tvsn95

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I hate to tell ya ,,BUT you have a head gasket problem, If you revved it and it pushed water you most likely over advanced or poorly tuned and lost the gasket, It may have already been damaged before the swap. The 4 bolt head design ain't great.
Also I run only 18lb caps,, I like them,,,And the need for more radiator is normally wasted $$, I get away with stock on all my cars, they are 575- 800.HP
I have had BAD luck with 3 row alum rad's,. they all start leaking

To check the gasket put the overflow hose into a jar of water and watch for bubbles after it warmed up. Simple
 

tinnocker

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I don't understand how the top of the radiator can be cool and the engine so hot if the thermostat is opening. Try taking the thermostat completely out to see if it helps. After a head, cam and intake swap my tuner called to see if it had been having heating issues and I told him it had not. I picked it up the next day and asked him about the heating issues. He said he drilled a small hole in the thermostat. It runs ok now and the hand goes up to normal.
 
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BrodieLarsen

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I don't understand how the top of the radiator can be cool and the engine so hot if the thermostat is opening. Try taking the thermostat completely out to see if it helps. After a head, cam and intake swap my tuner called to see if it had been having heating issues and I told him it had not. I picked it up the next day and asked him about the heating issues. He said he drilled a small hole in the thermostat. It runs ok now and the hand goes up to normal.
I have pulled the thermostat completely out before, in fact that's how it is now.
 
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BrodieLarsen

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I hate to tell ya ,,BUT you have a head gasket problem, If you revved it and it pushed water you most likely over advanced or poorly tuned and lost the gasket, It may have already been damaged before the swap. The 4 bolt head design ain't great.
Also I run only 18lb caps,, I like them,,,And the need for more radiator is normally wasted $$, I get away with stock on all my cars, they are 575- 800.HP
I have had BAD luck with 3 row alum rad's,. they all start leaking

To check the gasket put the overflow hose into a jar of water and watch for bubbles after it warmed up. Simple
I guess I could try throwing gaskets at it again I have a spare set of some MLS cosmetics. I've tried it before with no change. Is it possible that maybe I'm spinning the water pump to fast for my rad cap? The cap says it 0.9 bar which I belive is 13ish psi. When this motor was in my circle track car it had a 32psi cap, I also only ran water with water wetter then. I could put a stiffer cap on it, thats something ive wanted to do for a while now anyway. Or I could try a smaller crank pully. The motor came straight off the dyno and into the car so I know the timing/jetting is good. However I'll check my timing just to be sure.
 

RAU03MACH

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It would tell you if a head gasket is leaking
I'd say try it again to see if any thing has changed
 

tinnocker

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Some Ford Winsor engines have clockwise water pumps, some counter clockwise pumps. Just a thought.
 

tvsn95

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Ya know the water pump rotation is a real possibility ,,,double check yourself...Overheating is a VERY basic thing. think yourself out first... then move to the other Extraneous things.
Funny,, the circle track usage used a VERY high cap . <<<HEMM.
Just as a stupide note. IT is possible to reverse the head gadgets on a Windsor ( or any Small ford) and cause the coolant flow to travel from the front to the back and cause overheating. this is done by following the directions on the head gaskets that say , THIS SIDE UP .
Just Saying
 
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BrodieLarsen

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Ya know the water pump rotation is a real possibility ,,,double check yourself...Overheating is a VERY basic thing. think yourself out first... then move to the other Extraneous things.
Funny,, the circle track usage used a VERY high cap . <<<HEMM.
Just as a stupide note. IT is possible to reverse the head gadgets on a Windsor ( or any Small ford) and cause the coolant flow to travel from the front to the back and cause overheating. this is done by following the directions on the head gaskets that say , THIS SIDE UP .
Just Saying
Okay let's make sure, if I have an older style timing cover with the manual fuel pump setup what way should the pump rotate?
 
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BrodieLarsen

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