Stock FJ40 radiator & SBC

[eelson]

I was looking at how the fan on the SBC lines up with the stock FJ40 radiator, and I started to wonder if things might work better if the radiator was lowered a bit. The reason is, the fan seems to hang down a little bit past the rad, so it's not even close to being centered. Has anyone actually lowered the rad brackets to get the fan more centered? Would the engine stay cooler if I did? Just checking before I jump right in and started cutting and welding.

Thanks.

 

[theo]

Mine looks the same. I thought about it, but I was at the end of the swap and didn't want ANOTHER fabrication job. Mine cools fine until the mercury goes over about 90F. I intend to build a custom shroud, which I'm sure will prevent overheating altogether. Even if I lowered the radiator I would still want a shroud and it would still have to be custom. .02

 

[nspctr1]

It is off a little, I have heard of some people having a custom shroud made to force the air thru , I personally have a hi flo water pump but my rig is not a daily driver either.

 

[Plowboy]

A word of caution on lowering the radiator. Moving the radiator down may cause problems with Saginaw front mount power steering and the astro van conversion. The radiator will be in the way for the steering shaft on a front conversion and it will be in the way for the box on an astro van conversion. I had a custom built radiator installed in my 40 twenty yrs ago. It had a full tank on the bottom and dropped down between the frame rails. It is also 8 inches taller than stock. Truck never goes over 160* no matter how hot it is outside. But can't convert to any of the saginaw power steering conversion. Had to go with PU Power

 

[Rice]

While I opted for an aluminum radiator the issue of centering things up was the same. As Theo and others mentioned the real issue of pulling air becomes a job for the shroud. If done right it won't matter if the radiator is high or low, the fan will be pulling through it regardless. It can be a pain to spend that much time putting together the right shroud but the payoff is never having to worry about heat. It was nice to get past the days of keeping one eye on the road and one eye on the guage and having to worry about how many stop lights turn red on a hot August day.

 

[eelson]

Ahh, thanks, good advice. It does make me a little nervous though seeing that bottom rad hose so close to the fan.

 

[big mike]

You could also try putting a spacer behind the fan. A local radiator shop put one in for me for pretty cheap, seems to help quite a bit. My radiator is also lowered down about an inch. Hope this helps some.

Big Mike

 

[TonkaC]

Be carefull when getting the fan real close to the radiator with spacers if you go through deep water at all. The heavy mass of water will force the blades forward and they will slice up a radiator real quick.

P.S. most autoparts stores have the fan spacers for around $5 if I remembers.