Will an engine oil cooler stop my overheating problem?

[355V8S10Tahoe]

I'm almost done with my resent project V8 S10, it's an 87 long bed standard cab with a 355 SBC followed by a TH700R4. The engine was bored .030 over and has flat top Kieth Black sylvolite pistons, reworked 305 heads with 194 intakes and some porting (not the small chamber heads), screw in studs, stinger roller rockers, Crane springs, lifters and cam (272in/284ex 454/480 lift), Edelbrock performer RPM manifold, 600 cfm Edelbrock performer carb... I'm using the accessory brackets from a 4.3 V6 with an L98 Corvette water pump and the 4.3 radiator... I'm not using the trans oil cooler in the rad, instead I have mounted a plate style cooler from a Ford ranger in front of the condenser and rad on the drivers side, I have the dual 12" Flex-A-Lite no.220 fans mounted behind the rad and a 10" helper fan mounted in front on the passenger side and connected to a relay controlled by the A/C clutch wiring and a thermostat bulb sensing the temp at the liquid line... I have a 180 thermostat, a 185 main cooling fan switch in the manifold by the water outlet and a 50/50 coolant mix... I got it running on the 5th of August but it's running to hot, the fan seems to come on around 185 before the thermostat opens, and that's around 230, then it drops down under 210 and then it will go back up around 220 as I drive around, it's not been on a highway yet...



Do I need to get another thermostat? Or another Idea I had was to add an oil cooler with a fan at an angle just behind the bumper, under the radiator support pulling air from the grill area above, would that take enough heat load off the radiator and get me in the ball park?



I forgot to mention my heater hoses are hooked up but I have a 1/4" hole restricter in the water outlet hose barb to slow the flow and the radiator bypass effect, should I make it smaller or try it with the 3/8" restricter hole it had to begin with? The ignition timing at Idle was at 8 degrees and I took it down to 6 degrees if that helps also...



Here is a try at showing a picture or two...



http://s10v8.com/members/355V8S10Tahoe/My877V8S103.JPG



http://s10v8.com/members/355V8S10Tahoe/EngineBay2.JPG



http://s10v8.com/members/355V8S10Tahoe/AccClearance1.JPG



http://s10v8.com/members/355V8S10Tahoe/Heater&AirCond.Hoses.JPG



http://s10v8.com/members/355V8S10Tahoe/My87V8S101.JPG



Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on this... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif

[Melonhead]

On 2007-08-15 02:21, 355V8S10Tahoe wrote:

I'm using the accessory brackets from a 4.3 V6 with an L98 Corvette water pump and the 4.3 radiator...

Do you still have the water pump from the 4.3? That would be a wise choice to try that first. The L98 Corvette water pump is a standard rotation pump, you are driving it backward. The fake vortec 4.3 engines up to 96 ran a reverse flow and reverse rotation water pump. If the old water pump is not available buy one for like an 93 4.3. Hope this helps and world for you. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

[spacecadet]

On 2007-08-15 02:21, 355V8S10Tahoe wrote:



I have a 180 thermostat, a 185 main cooling fan switch in the manifold by the water outlet and a 50/50 coolant mix... but it's running to hot, the fan seems to come on around 185 before the thermostat opens, and that's around 230, then it drops down under 210 and then it will go back up around 220





A 180 tstat might not open excatly at 180, I have seen them be 'off' 5-8 degress before. However if its open at 230 than there is a problem.I would check the temp at the t-stat wth an infered thermometer to make sure the temp you are quateing is accuarte.

1st I would do like Melonhead said, and check the water pump. Then, Assuming all is accurarte I would change the tstat again.

[carkiller]

air in the system will also make a thermostat open late. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[grim_reaper888]

my wifes blazer had a small hole in the top of the heater core. it wouldnt leak but air was getting in and it would always overhet. changed the heater core out and it runs fine now. just a though

[355V8S10Tahoe]

Thanks for the help so far, first of all I can't agree with melonhead about the water pump, I checked out the L98 water pump rotation looking at a belt routing diagram in a manual and it was a reverse rotation short pump, I needed the short pump to clear my fans... I got the L98 pump pulley off Ebay and it is a flat pulley for a serpentine belt system, the pulley has the same bolt pattern as the reverse rotation pumps like the 4.3 pump whitch I had on it in the beginning but pulled it due to clearance problems... I resently talked to a mechanic friend of mine and he said when he installs thermostats he always drills a 1/4" hole in them to let steam out from under the stat, I'm going to change out the stat today and try it, I may also try removing the restrictor in the heater hose and see what happens or put a smaller one in... I will let you know what happens...



I sure wish I could figure out how to show a picture on this forum... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif

[Melonhead]

355V8S10Tahoe, If the L98 water pump was a reverse rotation, I stand corrected. Lots of people get confused including me with all the different combos. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

[carkiller]

On 2007-08-16 09:29, 355V8S10Tahoe wrote:

I resently talked to a mechanic friend of mine and he said when he installs thermostats he always drills a 1/4" hole in them to let steam out from under the stat, I'm going to change out the stat today and try it,



steam = air http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[hollieandgreg]

the radiator cap lets pressure build to raise the boiling point of your coolant. if there is air in there it will compress instead of letting the cap work, plus the thermostat won't open uless its submerged. you've got to run the truck with the cap off until the the bubbles stop coming, preferably with a bleed funnel attached. you will see the thermostat open and it will take coolant. the cold coolant from the radiator hits the bottom of the thermostat and it will close again. top it off. you will see it open a second time and it will probably take more. top it off again. usually after the second time it opens it will stay, unless its a huge system like a cummins, which take a damn hour to bleed. once the air is mostly out the coolant level will start to rise from heat expansion. hold the throttle partially open and the coolant will go down. top it off and immediately cap it. make sure your overflow bottle is a hair over because there will always be some trapped air. good luck.

[355V8S10Tahoe]

Well here is an update, I changed out the tstat with a new Delco 180 and drilled a 1/4" hole in it, refilled it about the same way as what hollieandgreg said but it still runs to hot. The thermostat did act much better though, you could feel the upper hose start to warm up due to the hole drilled in the tstat then when it got just under the 210 mark the fans came on and the hose turned real hot, but after that it just keeps rising till it's around 230 or so... When the truck is cold I can fire it up and run around the block a couple times and make a pass or two down my street and it's time to park it... I guess I'm going to give up on having the A/C with a V8, I wonder if anybody has ever been able to get enough cooling and retain A/C with a V8 S10 conversion? Now I'm thinking on removing the condenser coil in front of the radiator in an attempt to get more air flow through the radiator, these Flex-A-Lite dual 12's just don't cut it, the fans are just too restricted to move any decent air flow with a radiator, condenser and tranny cooler in front of it...

I Don't have a coul hood but I do have the inner fender flaps removed so heat can get out... I never got any replies on this thread for what I was mainly interested in= Question: What about a good engine oil cooler, a plate style aluminum core cooler with a thermo switch controlled fan on it? Wouldn't that help this overheat problem go away????



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Maybe I will just start over from the block forward... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif

[ZR1BLAZER]

no i dont think an oil cooler with a fan will make that much of a differance. and yes i have had a my A/C working and blowing cold in an 86 blazer with a 327 v8 200-4r trans and a 4.56 posi rear. and temps still stayed around 180-195

[355V8S10Tahoe]

On 2007-08-18 20:29, ZR1BLAZER wrote:

no i dont think an oil cooler with a fan will make that much of a differance. and yes i have had a my A/C working and blowing cold in an 86 blazer with a 327 v8 200-4r trans and a 4.56 posi rear. and temps still stayed around 180-195





What cooling system are you using? Water pump, thermo, fans, rad &amp; position, etc...

[ZR1BLAZER]

motor in all the way back position. rad. and condesor sitting in the stock position. used 92 4.3 v6 heavy duty radiator stock 92 condesor stock 92 A/C lines cheap autozone Tstat (180) two 9 1/2" spail fans on the front of the rad. wired to two 30 amp relays and straight to the key. two 10" autozone fans on the condesor between the condensor and grill. also wired to 2 30 amp relays and straight to the key. also using a used stock 4.3 water pump.

[spacecadet]

Sorry you did ask if an engine cooler would help cool down the engine.



The answer is Yes. BUT... not enough.



The oil cooler, in ths case, is a "Band-Aide" for another problem.... cooling system issue.



Since you already fixed the tstat and bled the air out. I believe the AC condensor isn't the culprit. Its the E-fans not pulling enough air.



The e-fans aren't enough for all the cooling needed.

There are many factors in a cooling system that works efficiently. Fan, shrowd, valance panels. For any fan to pull the max air it needs a propely fitted shrowd. There should be @ 1" all the way around the blade tips centered in the shroud. The blade must be mounted with 50% of the blade in the shorud and the other 50% out of the shrowd. As for a valance, many of the s10 and montes have a chunck of plastic mounted on the bottom of the rad support. Its usually broken or mssing. It is there to funnel the air up to the rad behind the bumper. It also causes a vortex of air behind it which helps suck the air that the fan blades just pulled through the rad.





Just a bit of extra info that might be helpfull.



Space.

[bratass]

Anything that gets rid of excess heat is a good thing so yes use an oil cooler.Try putting a couple of washers between hood and hinge to allow an air gap in back http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif