We got the old radiator out last night and pulled the fans. I'm not sure how, but it's just leaking around the tubes.
CK5
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Mount type? The Ron Davis needs some fairly loose mounts, or else they will start leaking around the upper tubes. I would bet he mentioned that on the phone. I even had one leak with a 8" long middle upper mount and two corner lower mounts, but it was stiff rubber backing. I run some high-temp low durometer silicone backing on my mounts now.
It's one of their direct fit radiators. You can see the 3/8" aluminum pieces that go right into the stock rubber mounts.
Gotcha. I posted only because that old radiator leak could potentially be a tell tale sign of a future problem with the new rad. I've lost a few with end of tube leaks due to flex. RD at the top 2 tubes, wizard top to middle. In a few different chassis. As long as the rubber is still nice and soft, and the chassis isn't a noodle, it's the best you can do.
The old one mounted with the factory mounts as well, but it didn't have a raised rib like the new one. It's possible that it was clamping between the metal brackets rather than resting on the rubber.
It was a nice weekend in the shop working on the truck. We got the radiator in and the trans cooler plumbed and wired yesterday, today we replaced the power steering pump and installed the new PSC reservoir. We only had to remake one line so that was nice.
We also spent some time replacing the grill insert. We don't want to replace the grill itself, but the insert was falling apart so we fixed that.
That cleared out quite a few of the boxes we had waiting to install so that was nice. I'm taking Wed-Mon off this week, I'm hoping to get the headers in and at least enough of the exhaust installed that we can take it to Firebird again on the 15th. I had ordered some more nitrous jets to lean out the engine when it's spraying (it was at 10:1ish with 20% fuel being pulled, target is 12.5:1). Obviously I went with a bigger N2O jet first, I went from a .062 to a .065 and that got it down to 12.5:1, but the ECU was still pulling 18-19% fuel. I dropped the fuel from a .035 to a .034, but I haven't tested it again yet. I still have a .033 and .032 jets if that's not enough.
We need to take a nice long drive up some hills to test the new cooling, but yesterday doing 80-90 on the freeway looked promising.
We also spent some time replacing the grill insert. We don't want to replace the grill itself, but the insert was falling apart so we fixed that.
That cleared out quite a few of the boxes we had waiting to install so that was nice. I'm taking Wed-Mon off this week, I'm hoping to get the headers in and at least enough of the exhaust installed that we can take it to Firebird again on the 15th. I had ordered some more nitrous jets to lean out the engine when it's spraying (it was at 10:1ish with 20% fuel being pulled, target is 12.5:1). Obviously I went with a bigger N2O jet first, I went from a .062 to a .065 and that got it down to 12.5:1, but the ECU was still pulling 18-19% fuel. I dropped the fuel from a .035 to a .034, but I haven't tested it again yet. I still have a .033 and .032 jets if that's not enough.
We need to take a nice long drive up some hills to test the new cooling, but yesterday doing 80-90 on the freeway looked promising.
Better up the insurance with that new rad in there! 
I was actually talking about that with the wife last nightBetter up the insurance with that new rad in there!
I had some PTO to burn so we've gotten some extra time to work on the truck this weekend. I want to get the exhaust installed before the drag event this coming Friday. I started out by welding flex couplings and V-band clamp flanges to the headers.
We installed those and we swapped out the factory crossmember for one from Speedway Motors to give us clearance for the dual 3" exhaust.
With that done we started working on the X-pipe. We got that tacked together along with the mufflers.
From the muffler there are extensions that will go up under the bed and over the axle. I put v-band clamps where they go over the crossmember I built for the watt's link so that it will be removable. I managed to get those fully welded today. The long, straight section is where a second set of mufflers may end up if it's too loud. I may put in some valved mufflers like these so I can bypass them.
I'd be lying if I said all my welds looked this good. Most of the other welds got too hot, I'm still learning with the TIG.
The X-pipe is out and set up for back purging, I'll weld that up in the morning.
Once we have the x-pipe welded up, we'll put it back in the truck, tack in the extensions, tack on some exhaust hangers, remove, fully weld, and reinstall. Then we just need to make the rear exhaust exits. We're hoping to finish it up tomorrow.
We installed those and we swapped out the factory crossmember for one from Speedway Motors to give us clearance for the dual 3" exhaust.
With that done we started working on the X-pipe. We got that tacked together along with the mufflers.
From the muffler there are extensions that will go up under the bed and over the axle. I put v-band clamps where they go over the crossmember I built for the watt's link so that it will be removable. I managed to get those fully welded today. The long, straight section is where a second set of mufflers may end up if it's too loud. I may put in some valved mufflers like these so I can bypass them.
I'd be lying if I said all my welds looked this good. Most of the other welds got too hot, I'm still learning with the TIG.
The X-pipe is out and set up for back purging, I'll weld that up in the morning.
Once we have the x-pipe welded up, we'll put it back in the truck, tack in the extensions, tack on some exhaust hangers, remove, fully weld, and reinstall. Then we just need to make the rear exhaust exits. We're hoping to finish it up tomorrow.
I'm glad I had a spare argon bottle, we're burning through a lot with all the back purging. I finished welding the x-pipe this morning and got it reinstalled.
The extensions went on and got tacked in place.
We got 4 hangers tacked in place and tacked together the exhaust exits, then we pulled the exhaust back out to finish welding.
Unfortunately I'm apparently too wiped out to finish the welding. After I blew 2 holes in the first exhaust exit because I had the settings wrong on the torch, I called it for the day. Thankfully we have tomorrow off so we can finish it up then.
We did start it with the partial exhaust installed, it sounds great, but is a little loud. We'll have to see how it is once the exits are out from under the bed.
The extensions went on and got tacked in place.
We got 4 hangers tacked in place and tacked together the exhaust exits, then we pulled the exhaust back out to finish welding.
Unfortunately I'm apparently too wiped out to finish the welding. After I blew 2 holes in the first exhaust exit because I had the settings wrong on the torch, I called it for the day. Thankfully we have tomorrow off so we can finish it up then.
We did start it with the partial exhaust installed, it sounds great, but is a little loud. We'll have to see how it is once the exits are out from under the bed.
The exhaust is done! We finished welding everything up this morning and got it all reinstalled.
I'm always concerned about heat so we got some DEI wrap for the shifter cable, fuel line and one of our A/C lines that was pretty close to the passenger header.
We took it on a short drive for lunch including some freeway time. The power steering pump is whining again and I'm wondering if it's soaking up heat from the drivers side header.
We'll have to keep an eye on it. It doesn't seem like the lines are that close and when we popped the reservoir it wasn't foamy so I'm not sure why it's whining.
We're going to take it for a nice drive with some hills here in a few, I also did a little tweaking on the tune to get rid of the IAT enrichment that was making it way fat when the N2O was spraying. I still haven't seen the tranny get hot enough to turn the fans on, but we should fix that with this drive.
I'm always concerned about heat so we got some DEI wrap for the shifter cable, fuel line and one of our A/C lines that was pretty close to the passenger header.
We took it on a short drive for lunch including some freeway time. The power steering pump is whining again and I'm wondering if it's soaking up heat from the drivers side header.
We'll have to keep an eye on it. It doesn't seem like the lines are that close and when we popped the reservoir it wasn't foamy so I'm not sure why it's whining.
We're going to take it for a nice drive with some hills here in a few, I also did a little tweaking on the tune to get rid of the IAT enrichment that was making it way fat when the N2O was spraying. I still haven't seen the tranny get hot enough to turn the fans on, but we should fix that with this drive.
Just to give you a perspective, my '01 2500HD has headers and hydro-boost. I hauled a buddy's truck over Vail Pass and back to Grand Junction this summer and my PS pump was fine. He estimated the load to be about 16K since I was pulling his trailer. The temperature was 80* and up into the 90's before we were done, but the exhaust heat should have been pretty noticeable. It has also had headers for 30K miles so far.
Interesting, the pump was silent before this and now it's whining. Other than the whine everything seems fine. We just put in a new Bosch pump from Rock Auto so that should be good, not sure why it's whining. I'll just tell everyone it's a supercharger...
We just took it for a nice test drive, it's somewhat warm today for this time of year, low 80s.
First we tested the nitrous, with the IAT enrichment turned off it was able to maintain 12.5 AFR, so that's fixed. I still need to look at the logs, but it should be good.
Coolant temps with the new radiator are awesome, the fan's only turn on in stop and go or idling. Prior to this temps would climb with speed, 80+ and the fans would kick on, with this radiator higher speeds = lower temps. We were cruising at 85-90 with 185°F coolant temps, the thermostat was barely open.
Trans temps were looking OK, cruising on the highway it would settle right around 205, warmer than I wanted, but not terrible. Then we took a hill with a 45mph speed limit keeping the converter unlocked, temps climbed higher than ideal ~230°F. We stopped the truck to make sure the fans were working, turns out I wired them up wrong and they weren't on! It wasn't an easy fix so we drove it home, trans temps cooled right back down to 200ish once we got on the freeway so apparently some airflow gets up there even without the fans. It's rewired now, but we still need to take it for another test drive, I'm sure it will be fine for now.
Test run looks promising. I never saw temps higher than 165 in the pan. Apparently the line temps are higher as the temp switch turns on at 180 and of at 165. They were running when we stopped.
yeah the line temp is straight out of the torque converter, pan will always be cooler.
If your sure there is no air being introduced into the pump by the return line, add 1/2 a bottle of Motorcraft limited slip additive xl3, it will quite down any minor pump whine.
If your sure there is no air being introduced into the pump by the return line, add 1/2 a bottle of Motorcraft limited slip additive xl3, it will quite down any minor pump whine.
One of the power steering lines in my crew cab is less than an inch from the header. I put heat shield sleeve on it and it's been fine for a number of years. That heat sleeve is looking at little ratty and probably needs replaced.
Now I'm considering the next upgrade to support the new engine. A new transmission...
The RPM is starting to spike on shifts with the 700R4 so I'm assuming that's not a good sign. The big question is do I go 4L80E or T56.
The RPM is starting to spike on shifts with the 700R4 so I'm assuming that's not a good sign. The big question is do I go 4L80E or T56.
Depends on your mood.
I still like rowing gears but some prefer the auto with a computer doing the work
I've always been a manual trans guy, but I've been enjoying the auto in the shop truck.
Obviously the manual conversion would take more time, but I do have a pedal set already.
Obviously the manual conversion would take more time, but I do have a pedal set already.
T56, it will add more wtf to the truck and make people wonder what’s going on.
Also with the way the truck is aiming it would be more fun on the auto cross course.
Also comes with two extra gears for those long highway cruises.
Also with the way the truck is aiming it would be more fun on the auto cross course.
Also comes with two extra gears for those long highway cruises.
