Captain Morgan
Registered Member
Wow, that's a nice rad. I've been thinking about getting one for my burb but I don't know if I want to spend the money on it. How much bigger than stock is that?
CK5
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'90 K5 "Project Sanity" Sold 7/5/2018
- Thread starter tRustyK5
- Start date
It's actually a little smaller than stock. About 1" less width on the core and about 1" less height. But the core is much thicker and the fins are denser. It's supposed to cool about as good as an equivalent sized 5 row copper/brass. The stock rad was a 3 row.
Making progress on the exhaust now.
With the hedman elites the pipes are a straight shot past the T-case and over the cross member. I did get rid of the column shift and install a B&M uni-matic detent shifter though. I didn't feel the urge to bend/cut/splice the exhaust around the factory column shift linkage, especially when it was so worn and sloppy anyways.
A shot of the balance tube, and the clever pieces Flowmaster makes for the balance tube.
I gave it all a coat of VHT flame proof paint which I've had good luck with in the past. We'll see how it does in a city with a real winter, on plain carbon tube. All my elbows, balance tube and muff's are aluminized, but the length of tube I got is plain. Hopefully it lasts a few years.
I gotta say. for a tired TBI 350 it sounds nasty so far. A bit loud yet, but I haven't built the tailpipes yet.
With the hedman elites the pipes are a straight shot past the T-case and over the cross member. I did get rid of the column shift and install a B&M uni-matic detent shifter though. I didn't feel the urge to bend/cut/splice the exhaust around the factory column shift linkage, especially when it was so worn and sloppy anyways.
A shot of the balance tube, and the clever pieces Flowmaster makes for the balance tube.
I gave it all a coat of VHT flame proof paint which I've had good luck with in the past. We'll see how it does in a city with a real winter, on plain carbon tube. All my elbows, balance tube and muff's are aluminized, but the length of tube I got is plain. Hopefully it lasts a few years.
I gotta say. for a tired TBI 350 it sounds nasty so far. A bit loud yet, but I haven't built the tailpipes yet.
Looks good on the floor, so how does it look on the truck.
Looks good!
Sounded good on the phone last night too!!
Sounded good on the phone last night too!!
454Sub
5/8 ton status
Just a quick thought, my eyes are a 65yr olds eyes, in a 25yr old body, and i refuse to buy glasses and i cant wear contacts, but that looks like an old 1 wire O2, im sure you know this, but that far down in the exhaust its not going to warm up, and stay warm except under extended periods of decent throttle, maybe convert over to a heated one? Just thinking out loud... I fought over issues with my BB for a year before i figured that out, thanks to this site, lol, and it really made a difference for mine.
The O2 sensor is about 6" farther away from the exhaust ports than it was with manifolds. I guess we'll see if it goes into closed loop or not, and cross that bridge if needed.
I'll get some under truck pic's later.
I'll get some under truck pic's later.
454Sub
5/8 ton status
Ahh you should be ok, I forget some have emissions laws, they just took ours off the books a few years ago thank god. No inspections of any kind. Love it. And mine had long tubes, so my O2 was at the collector, which is what I thought that was
Well, those are the collectors, but the Hedman Elites are shorter than traditional long tube headers. I don't have to pass emissions testing, but I'd still like it to go into closed loop as it should once it warms up.
Well, I got a few good hours on it today. I ran it yesterday til it warmed up, and then some. With the fans not finished being wired up I kinda hoped the rad itself would be able to do the job all by itself. I watched the temp climb to 210 and shut it down. As soon as I did I had coolant puke out past the cap...
Once it cooled down I had a better look at the cap and saw that one of the rubber gaskets had disintegrated. My idle speed was ridiculous too, ~1400 rpm the whole time.
So, this morning I picked up a new rad cap, and a throttle body gasket as I suspected the old one was allowing extra air in artificially bumping my idle speed.
I topped up the rad, added the new cap, swapped the throttle body gasket and got busy on the fans. When Zimmer was here he spent a little while running wires and stuff for my fans but didn't have time to finish. I was left with connecting the power wires, some wire routing, and wiring in the temp sensor and switch.
The temp switch uses a thermocouple inserted into the upper part of the rad core near the tank. The switch itself is fully adjustable with a temp range of 32F to 248F. The dial is 270 degrees rotation.
My first attempt with the fans was key on/engine off and the switch set to 32 F so they'd be on for sure. Nothing...
Everything is wired exactly as per diagram. check the fuses and one is crispy. Dammit, I must have shorted something installing the power leads. I put a new fuse in and it's all good. Try again, still no fans. I double check all the grounds, no fans yet. I install a toggle switch in place of the temp switch...no fans. Finally I unplug the wires from the fans and check for power there, and find it's all good there. Plug it back in and try again and I get one of the two fans. I have a closer look at the second fan plug and see the ground wire pushed in beside the spade. They're down low and hard to see, I guess when Dave plugged them in it appeared correct and felt correct but both grounds missed the spades.
Finally i get both fans working. So I fired the old bitch up to let it warm up. I ballparked the rotary dial on the temp switch to approx 195F on and waited. Sure enough the fans come on very close to 195 and stayed on for about 30 seconds dropping the temp to about 170 or so before shutting off. They move a damn decent amount of air. About 3 minutes later they come on again for 30 seconds and this repeats itself a half dozen times before I shut it down. Idle speed is down to 1000 initial and drops to about 850 on my tach.
I was pretty happy for about 3 minutes...then I noticed some wierdness near the T-stat housing. I had found a perfect Tee at home depot so I had a place for my heater hose. It was plastic, and apparently doesn't like heat much unlike some plastics. It started to deform and collapse where the clamps were. Tomorrow I'll be picking up a 3/4" barbed steel piece and making my own Tee out of steel. That'll be the last thing I need to do under the hood anyways. Then it'll be onto tailpipes for the exhaust.
No pics, nothing very visual about today's progress.
Once it cooled down I had a better look at the cap and saw that one of the rubber gaskets had disintegrated. My idle speed was ridiculous too, ~1400 rpm the whole time.
So, this morning I picked up a new rad cap, and a throttle body gasket as I suspected the old one was allowing extra air in artificially bumping my idle speed.
I topped up the rad, added the new cap, swapped the throttle body gasket and got busy on the fans. When Zimmer was here he spent a little while running wires and stuff for my fans but didn't have time to finish. I was left with connecting the power wires, some wire routing, and wiring in the temp sensor and switch.
The temp switch uses a thermocouple inserted into the upper part of the rad core near the tank. The switch itself is fully adjustable with a temp range of 32F to 248F. The dial is 270 degrees rotation.
My first attempt with the fans was key on/engine off and the switch set to 32 F so they'd be on for sure. Nothing...
Everything is wired exactly as per diagram. check the fuses and one is crispy. Dammit, I must have shorted something installing the power leads. I put a new fuse in and it's all good. Try again, still no fans. I double check all the grounds, no fans yet. I install a toggle switch in place of the temp switch...no fans. Finally I unplug the wires from the fans and check for power there, and find it's all good there. Plug it back in and try again and I get one of the two fans. I have a closer look at the second fan plug and see the ground wire pushed in beside the spade. They're down low and hard to see, I guess when Dave plugged them in it appeared correct and felt correct but both grounds missed the spades.Finally i get both fans working. So I fired the old bitch up to let it warm up. I ballparked the rotary dial on the temp switch to approx 195F on and waited. Sure enough the fans come on very close to 195 and stayed on for about 30 seconds dropping the temp to about 170 or so before shutting off. They move a damn decent amount of air. About 3 minutes later they come on again for 30 seconds and this repeats itself a half dozen times before I shut it down. Idle speed is down to 1000 initial and drops to about 850 on my tach.
I was pretty happy for about 3 minutes...then I noticed some wierdness near the T-stat housing. I had found a perfect Tee at home depot so I had a place for my heater hose. It was plastic, and apparently doesn't like heat much unlike some plastics. It started to deform and collapse where the clamps were. Tomorrow I'll be picking up a 3/4" barbed steel piece and making my own Tee out of steel. That'll be the last thing I need to do under the hood anyways. Then it'll be onto tailpipes for the exhaust.
No pics, nothing very visual about today's progress.
andyblack
Registered Loser
I've had those plastic T fittings disintegrate and cause leaks before, but it usually takes a couple of years, not a few minutes. It must have gotten pretty hot...
I've found that brass is the way to go if you can find a fitting that's the size you need.
I've found that brass is the way to go if you can find a fitting that's the size you need.
It never got over 210. It's just the wrong kinda plastic for that application I guess. It was still warm when I removed it, maybe 95 F and I could distort it by hand still.
I picked up a 1 1/2" pipe nipple and a fitting that had a 3/4" barbed section on it that fit my needs. I shortened the nipple and gave it about a 20 degree angle, then welded the 3/4" barbed fitting onto one side. It's not the sexiest thing I've ever worked on, but it was a part I needed and couldn't find to buy. I did snap a few pics...
Clears under the shock hoop brace bar much better now...
Need to pick up another jug of antifreeze tomorrow, then run it up to temp again to double check for any leaks.
Clears under the shock hoop brace bar much better now...
Need to pick up another jug of antifreeze tomorrow, then run it up to temp again to double check for any leaks.
Well that one shouldn`t melt.
You got time to get some more done to it this weekend?
You got time to get some more done to it this weekend?
Yep, heading out in a few to get onto the rest of the exhaust. Ball joints after that, and probably 4"x3" tube rockers.
So you not going to weld in the factory rockers...good plan.
I have one side welded in, factory rocker that is...but I know box tube is just gonna be much more durable on all fronts.
OK, got one tailpipe done, the second I have figured out. I decided to go outboard of the frame as 3" won't fit in a more traditional location. Some pic's...
I went with BB-Q satin black for the stealth look. I'm not big on chrome tips or overly visible exhaust.
Best shot I can get of the rest without running it up a ramp or putting it on a hoist...
I'll try for some vid once the second tailpipe is done. Iyt already sounds real good to me.
I went with BB-Q satin black for the stealth look. I'm not big on chrome tips or overly visible exhaust.
Best shot I can get of the rest without running it up a ramp or putting it on a hoist...
I'll try for some vid once the second tailpipe is done. Iyt already sounds real good to me.
I like!
OK, short video of the truck running. Hedman el;ites, 3" dual exhaust with Flowmaster super 44's and no cats. The whistling you can hear is the power steering pump bearings...
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