fe pulleys whats best

[wrench87]

I took my 445fe for a ride on a 2 lane road at 50mph temp is 85 degrees celcius,highway is the same, around town with stop and go it can go to 100 to 105 degrees celcius. I have a 7.5 crank pulley and a 6 inch water pump pulley and a 2 11/16 alt pulley. I also have the ron davis radiator, 180 t stat'nd a edelbeock waterpump what is the best set up for pulleys and fe's
1to1 , underdriven , or overdriven?.

[FWB]

Originally Posted by wrench87

I took my 445fe for a ride on a 2 lane road at 50mph temp is 85 degrees celcius,highway is the same, around town with stop and go it can go to 100 to 105 degrees celcius. I have a 7.5 crank pulley and a 6 inch water pump pulley and a 2 11/16 alt pulley. I also have the ron davis radiator, 180 t stat'nd a edelbeock waterpump what is the best set up for pulleys and fe's
1to1 , underdriven , or overdriven?.

i had a march pulley on my waterpump, it ran a bit hot so i went back to a 7" factory pulley, it made a difference

[kgs365]

up...looks less blingy ...stays cool...and its inexpensive

[undy]

All March seems to sell is under-drive garbage... Not real "cool" for our over-heat challenged FEs. OEM all the way!

Try to slightly over-drive water pump. Your FE will like you for it...

[SoTxButler]

Originally Posted by undy

All March seems to sell is under-drive garbage... Not real "cool" for our over-heat challenged FEs. OEM all the way!

Try to slightly over-drive water pump. Your FE will like you for it...

Very true. The FE runs cooler with at least a 7" pulley.

[Bobcat]

Guys ... not trying to contradict anyone , but I`ve been running the March under drive pulleys on my Ponds 482 since it went it went in the cars years ago and have no overheating problems . Street , down in SC in the Summer , I`ll get to 190 to 195 in traffic and then back to 185 or less once I get to 40 mph . On the track this past Memorial weekend at VIR , I saw 185 on track temps with an ambient of low to mid 90`s . I asked Robert what pulleys to run when I got the engine from him and he gave me the March part numbers .
I also realize every engine setup is different ... just passing on what I have .
BTW , he told me to not hook up the bypass from the water pump to the intake manifold . Don`t know what else he has done to the cooling system , but it works !

[fordracing65]

Kirkham pullies, billet, look great, work great.

[wrench87]

Well right now i have a 7.5 crank pulley and a 6 inch waterpump pulley so I am overdriving the pump?. Does any one know what size the Kirkham pulleys are?.

[tboneheller]

I have a March set-up for street rods that overdrives the water pump. Seems to work good.

[wrench87]

I have the edelbrock waterpump how much more does this flow over a stock fe pump?. I am wondering if i slow it down 1 to 1 or slightly under drive it if the coolant would spend more time in the radiator to cool it down.
any opinions?

[SoTxButler]

Yep, more time in the radiator extracts more heat ..and therefore a cooler coolant into the engine.

[MaSnaka]

I would verify the temps your gauge is giving you before going too far. That is if you haven't already.

John

[wrench87]

I am going to get one of the adjustable probe like fan thermostats so I can adjust the temp the fans come on and off. I noticed on the kirkham site they no longer list the pulleys but i thught they were one to one?

I took the car out yesterday put some more miles on it it runs great, i just have to watch the temp guage and turn on the fans in stop in go traffic until i can get a automatic set up installed.

[undy]

Originally Posted by wrench87

I have the edelbrock waterpump how much more does this flow over a stock fe pump?. I am wondering if i slow it down 1 to 1 or slightly under drive it if the coolant would spend more time in the radiator to cool it down.
any opinions?

A common wives' tail that seems to continue with internet parroting... Slow down your waterpump and see what happens.

The Edelbrock pump's output increase is minimal.

[Barnsnake]

Something to think about......
If the coolant is slowed down so it spends more time in the radiator cooling off, it also spends more time in the engine heating up.

A radiator can extract a given amount of calories (or BTUs if you prefer) per minute, assuming a constant differential between the coolant and ambient air temperatures, and a constant air flow through the radiator. Changing the velocity of the coolant through the radiator will not change the amount of heat extracted.

A very slow coolant velocity would result in cooler radiator exit temperatures, but very high coolant temperatures exiting the engine. The slow flow also keeps the coolant in the very hot cylinder head areas for a longer time, creating the risk of steam pockets.

A higher coolant velocity keeps the engine temperatures more consistent, front-to-back and top-to-bottom. A higher velocity is increasingly superior right up to the point where pump cavitation occurs, or extreme turbulence disrupts the flow. Such problems would only manifest themselves at high engine RPM.

In short.... If the engine is overheatng at low speed, reducing the coolant flow will make it worse, if anything.

As noted above, the first thing to determine is the actual temperature of the coolant exiting the engine. Don't beat your brains out trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. An infrared thermometer reading a non-glossy area near the thermostat and temperature sender is a pretty good test. Assuming there is no air in the system and the coolant exiting the engine is well above the thermostat temperature, you need more air through the radiator, or more radiator.

[MaSnaka]

The automatic fan switch is good. I originally had a manual switch which worked great as long as I remembered to flip it on. There were times where I wasn't behind the wheel, or the mechanic was testing, or my son learning to drive with the clutch. Whats that smell? Oops, I always knew right away what it was. I now have the auto with the sensor taped into one of the intake manifold ports and the fan comes on automatically. I still have the overide switch so I can turn the fan on manually, and I have a light on my dash that tells me when the fan is running. Piece of mind is priceless.

John

[bulletbrown]

March is very aware of the FE problems with the underdrive pulleys, I talked with the engineering team and I removed the crank pulley from March and had a 7.25 made to match the original 428 pulley . After chasing the over heating problem " new larger radiator, bigger fan ect. the pulley made the big differance . I also looked at the original temperture of the 428 1966 engine thermostat . I now run a 165 not a 198 . I do not believe the old blocks should run the hot thermostat . Thats my 2 cents

[wrench87]

Bulletbrown, what size waterpump pulley are you running?