Guys with tbi 350's (1 Viewer)

[zornff]

I just finished my crate 350 tbi conversion and was wondering what the typical operating temps should be. I installed a custom Griffen dual 1 1/2" core aluminum radiator with 2700 cfm electric fan and am running temps in the 195-210 range, sometimes a bit more on long grades, but cools down quickly back to the above range. It just seems a bit warm to me, but i'm new to the 350 game.
Thoughts ?

Mike

 

[mminter1973]

Mine runs warm too. The cam is so small on the tbi motor that you dont have enough overlap to bleed cylinder pressure which causes the high temps. I have tried 160, 180 thermostats mechanical fan, electric fans, 4 flue steel radiator, aluminum radiators etc... I just live with it. Wait until you get it in the woods and start hammering on it!! 220 is the lowest i see when wheeling pretty hard.

 

[woody]

mine sits around 200 all the time...then you forget to turn on the electric fans, or your alternator quits charging so you turn them off and attempt a drive back to camp...and it climbs to 280 or so, with steam rolling out, boiling the radiator dry....

done that 3x or more, engine had 280,000 miles on it when installed a few years ago and runs as good as ever still

 

[PPFJ60]

195-210 is a good normal temp range with higher temps when working it hard. Trying to use a lower thermostat does not lower the upper end temperature.

I hooked up an engine monitor to mine while I was driving and the coolent temperature was reading 10 deg cooler than the temperature gage I have installed.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Mine bounces off the thermostat. I had a 160º in there and had to bump it up because it was running too cool in the summer. I have a larger than stock camshaft, though.

 

[TURNMEOVER]

mine stays in the 180 220 ball park all the time.

new 4 core cruiser radiator, stock fan and a good shroud

summit temp gauge and a cap gauge from summit.

 

[lcwizard]

I had a tbi 350 in my FJ40 ( now being transplanted to my 60 ) . It never ran hotter than the thermostat
value. I had the bearings in the water pump go out while camping at the start of "Hole in The Rock"
trail. I disconnected the fan belt and drove out to Blanding ( Utah ) , about 65 miles, It never got above
205 degrees.. It may not make the HP of the newer motors but I'll always pick it to run my trucks when reliability counts

 

['74 UA FJ]

I had a tbi 350 in my FJ40 ( now being transplanted to my 60 ) . It never ran hotter than the thermostat
value. I had the bearings in the water pump go out while camping at the start of "Hole in The Rock"
trail. I disconnected the fan belt and drove out to Blanding ( Utah ) , about 65 miles, It never got above
205 degrees.. It may not make the HP of the newer motors but I'll always pick it to run my trucks when reliability counts

If you ran 65 miles without a water pump and the gauge never got over 205, then your gauge is not accurate.

 

[leftarmtan]

210 is not hot.mine runs right around 195-200.I believe the correct thermostat is 195 so I would say your in normal operating range.

 

[Elbert]

you might want to try the dual electric fans from a ford v-6 contour. Allthought I have a 5.7 vortec...it runs about the same temp wise. Currenlty I'm just running mechanical fan controller thats bascially either on or off. The fans have no problem pulling temps down to below 180F. I have a ron davis radiator. IN the winter mine will generally run right around 180F (thermostat temp) and summer it's 190F or so.

I have noticed that on long hill climbs the temp will get up to 210 or so. I need to re-wire my fans as I know one of the ford connectors is loose for some reason and one of the fans is slow to come on at times.

If you don't get over 210 pulling long grades then I think you are reasonablly ok.

 

[88chevota]

Mine runs at 180-190 pretty much all the time. I can't remember the last time it got above 210. I think I run a 185 stat year around. I am using the radiator from the K5 blazer it came from, the fan shroud and the mechanical fan. Works great!

You will get more air pull from a mechanical fan than an electric.

I tried electric for a while. I think that's when it went above 210.
I thought I would feel a difference in power. Didn't notice anything.

Overall your temps seem fine. mine just may run slightly cooler.

 

[lehiguy]

The stock fan on a clutch will pull substantially more air through the radiator than any electric setup ever dreamed. But you have to have a working fan clutch and a fan shroud to direct the radiator's heat onto the clutch to make it engage. The electric fan motors are no match for your 350's crank pulley.

 

[Isotel]

Mike, ive only got the stock guage, but it comes up to temp and sits at the "Normal" line. ive got a 195 stat, and a new Radiator Barn 4 Core with a For Taurus 2 Speed fan.

Durring the heat of the summer, and on some of the Canyon trails i will run it on High speed, but normaly low speed is enough to cool it!


I agree that a Mechanical fan will pull more air, and is alot more fool proof.

but the taurus fan moves quite a bit of air, and has a nicely fit shroud, so no air is wasted.

 

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

I have a 1983 fj60 that I,am installing a 1988 tbi motor. The motor needs to be rebuilt and I,am thinking about vortec cam and roller lifters. Has anybody used these setup. This has to pass California smog.

 

[zornff]

Mike, ive only got the stock guage, but it comes up to temp and sits at the "Normal" line. ive got a 195 stat, and a new Radiator Barn 4 Core with a For Taurus 2 Speed fan.

Durring the heat of the summer, and on some of the Canyon trails i will run it on High speed, but normaly low speed is enough to cool it!


I agree that a Mechanical fan will pull more air, and is alot more fool proof.

but the taurus fan moves quite a bit of air, and has a nicely fit shroud, so no air is wasted.

Thanks Trevor.
I charged up the a/c and drove it in the heat of the day to Durango for a test drive. It stayed around 210 most of the time, but up grades it went to around 235-240, but went back down to around 210. I have 2 speed fan and it is wired to stay on high all the time.
This just seems to dang hot and is pissing me off.
This motor did not come with a stock clutch fan set up, but i might have to start looking for one.

 

['74 UA FJ]

I have a 1983 fj60 that I,am installing a 1988 tbi motor. The motor needs to be rebuilt and I,am thinking about vortec cam and roller lifters. Has anybody used these setup. This has to pass California smog.

What's a vortec cam?

Thanks Trevor.
I charged up the a/c and drove it in the heat of the day to Durango for a test drive. It stayed around 210 most of the time, but up grades it went to around 235-240, but went back down to around 210. I have 2 speed fan and it is wired to stay on high all the time.
This just seems to dang hot and is pissing me off.
This motor did not come with a stock clutch fan set up, but i might have to start looking for one.

210 is fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[lehiguy]

I have a 1983 fj60 that I,am installing a 1988 tbi motor. The motor needs to be rebuilt and I,am thinking about vortec cam and roller lifters. Has anybody used these setup. This has to pass California smog.

Doing anything in your state is touchy. I have a Comp Cams LT1 cam in my motor, along with Vortec heads and an Edelbrock intake. The stock TBI hardware is fairly limiting, the heads being perhaps the worst part of it. The cam is pretty lame too, but lame like all the other lame components so they play nice together. Some improvement can likely be had with a cam swap, but for serious poop you need more than that. Take a look at www.tbichips.com for some ideas. Brian there is terrific, he burned the chips for my setup which after last winter's rebuild, has got to be 350 horses if anything, (desktop dyno says even more, but I'm being realistic) just runs crazy strong all with a large TBI setup.

 

[Elbert]

Thanks Trevor.
I charged up the a/c and drove it in the heat of the day to Durango for a test drive. It stayed around 210 most of the time, but up grades it went to around 235-240, but went back down to around 210. I have 2 speed fan and it is wired to stay on high all the time.
This just seems to dang hot and is pissing me off.
This motor did not come with a stock clutch fan set up, but i might have to start looking for one.

I don't think your fan has engough @$$ to cool right. For electric fans... Ford dual fan setup from V-6 Contour, Lincolin Mark VIII fan setup, SPAL fan setup, HD GM Fan Clutch with FLEX-A-Lite 6 blade Fan Clutch fan (diff sizes and rotations to make it work) .

Anything north of 220 is to hot.

 

[BenMara]

Do you think the stock FZJ 80 radiator is enough to cool a stock LQ9?

 

[Elbert]

there are people who have swapped V-8's into 60s and 80s who have said they run the stock radiator. I would want a 4 core radiator to test this theory.