Cooling upgrades

[Mikey von]

I will be rebuilding soon after a blown head gasket and vapor lock damage. Before going down, I started experience overheating problems (twice).

I plan on putting a banks turbo, timing gears, girdle kit, head studs, by-pass oil filter, high flow oil pump, and maybe a fluidampr (if I have the coin). I live in the mtns and pull passes all the time. I occasional tow and plan on more towing. I would like to stay with the v-belt system (i think).

I plan on getting the high flow water pump from peninsular diesel and running the 195 degree thermostat.

Is there anything else I can do?

Should I stick with my current radiator?

Go with aftermarket oil cooler?

What else can be done?

Does the serp kit with cooling upgrades get me anything more than a high flow standard rotation pump?

 

[fallout232]

Blown Headgasket and Vapor lock go hand in hand with over heating. When the cooling system starts loosing pressure (and water) the system doesnt operate like its supposed to (Water/coolant under pressure has an increased boiling point) allowing it to shed more heat. V belt vs. serpentine is pretty much a wash. The 97+ cooling mods (serpentine) came with a dual thermostat housing. The benefits are negligble the argument was that the increased output water pump required more flow due to the increased pressure. The military evidently did not think so as the 2001 6.5 block I have out of a Humvee and the 1998 block with the high output water pump had a single thermostat housing. Your biggest benefit of going standard rotation would be the ability to use a duramax fan blade/clutch fan. I got one off ebay awhile back for 45.00 shipped to my door. This thing is massive and moves lots of air.

As to your other questions, an aftermarket oil cooler could help you. Especially if you are turboing the motor as the engine oil is going to have an increased heat load to get rid of from the turbo charger. Moving this to its own cooler would take some heat load off the radiator and may be beneficial to you. I would check the condition of your radiator and see if its corroded on the inside. If it is clogged up you it may be cheaper to get a new one than have yours cleaned. If I was to get a new one I would get a 4 core for a big block of the same year model (has the transmission cooler inside radiator but no oil cooler) and a Big aftermarket oil cooler and call it good. Check the condition of your fan clutch as well. If it has fluid leakage it is probably bad, It should be pretty noticeable when it does kick on (sounds like a roaring) coming from under the hood

Remember if you go serpentine you have to change out all your accessories as none of them swap over. You can leave the vacuum pump in the valley and they sell a pulley for the vaccuum pump delete. You will spend 5-600.00 on accessories and brackets unless you find a good deal on one in a junk yard.

 

[Wrench]

Definitely the #1 cooling upgrade is the Duramax fan/clutch, which requires the serp. w/p. Make sure your fan shroud fits correctly. I would stick with a 6.2 or 6.5 rad as well, big block rads are smaller by far and present adapting challenges. The difference is between light duty and heavy duty diesels. If you don't have one already, try to find a rad, fan shroud, and brackets from a 80's one ton diesel. '93 up HD diesels will also have an independent oil cooler that you can rob, it's a reasonably beefy unit as well.

If you really want serious cooling capacity, go to a GOOD radiator shop and ask about options for an upgraded core on your stock one ton diesel rad. You won't find anything aftermarket that's more effective or simpler long term.

I've converted several 6.2's to serpentine. The accessories are easy as they are all the same as gasser trucks of the same years, so junkyard rules Only potentially tough one is the hydro P/S pump, which only come on the one ton gassers.

You don't need a vacuum delete pulley, the bracketry is all the same. Just buy a serpentine belt for the '93 VIN "F" diesel truck, i.e. a one ton or 2500HD, which don't use vacuum at all, and unbolt the vacuum pump. The belt is just shorter. 'Course, if you find a '92 or '93 8-lug truck to pull everything from, you're good to go.

The delete pulley is for A/C if you don't have it/don't want to run it. Usually just easier to run the compressor and pinch off the lines-short term anyway.

 

[Blazooki]

if you keep the compressor you can use it as a air pump for onboard air...which is what I did..then you dont have to use the delete pully and you can actually have it do something besides take up space.