Giving credit for Staying Cool...
 

As a lot of the veterans to this site know there was a time last year after I put a "newly built" 428 CJ in my car that I had severe over heating problems. From my initial start up I had trouble with heat. I spent hundreds of dollars trying to make a poorly built engine run cool enough to drive. Everyone here had some very good suggestions and I tried them all. But, the bottom line was that my engine was never going to be right for several reasons (mis-matched parts and a general dis-regard for tolerances).

NOW THE GOOD NEWS. After the above engine ate up all the bearings and lifters I started over. I bought a good 428 CJ block from one of our local Ford guys and gave it to Carbone's machine shop to build for me. All new parts were used except for the rods and crank. A great deal of care was taken by Steve and Kent in the line boring, decking, surfacing, balancing, etc. The engine went together beautifully. The first fire was sweet music the way it rumbled with an attitude.

Over the last four or five weeks I have driven the engine in excess of 800 miles including almost 200 miles under race conditions. After each oil change I would examine my oil and the contents of my System One filter. Nothing more than normal wear have been observed. I even went as far as having my oil examined by a chemist to let me know how much foreign material was found in my oil ...negligable.

Over the last two weeks we have had several days in the mid to upper 90's and I have been at numerous LONG stop lights and my temp gauge never creaped above 200 degrees and usually it stays at 195 degrees (I have a 195 degree thermostat). Even when racing my temp never exceeded 200 degrees and my oil pressure at idle is about 40 psi and runs up to about 80 psi as my rpms increase. My oil temp stays right at 250 - 260 degrees.

In short I am very happy with my engine and I want to thank Carbone's Machine Shop here in Tulsa for their good work. I would highly recommend Steve and Kent and I would encourage anyone wanting a good engine build at a very fair price to contact these guys. As many of you know they do stand behind their work 100%.

Carbone's Machine Shop & Racing Engines 918-835-6596

I believe giving credit where credit is due and their attention to detail and care certainly deserves mentioning. Thank you both.

Clois Harlan

It's good to know that we have some local FE know-how in the area.

Congrats Clois.

Hey Traveler,

There are actually, two others that I know. Stanleys machine shop (just moved to Broken Arrow- Has a dyno for all Fords) and Lloyd Brea in Bartlesville. Both are good shops too!

Clois

Clois,

What are the engine build specs for your engine - in particular your cooling system?

I have a new 428 cobrajet - but it gets hot in traffic, but runs perfectly cool on the freeway. My electric fans don't come on until the engine is at 212F which is too late, as too much heat has built up in the engine already. Now I watch the temp guage like a hawk and flip the fans on at ~200F.

I'm trying to figure out the root cause problems...

I don't think the 180 degree thermostat is sticking, I don't think it should be a problem. I don't have an aluminium high performance water pump, plus I have large iron crank and low geared water pump pulleys. My gut feel is that there isn't enough coolant being propelled around the block at low rpms.

What do you reckon??

James

Clois,

Sounds like you're on cloud nine.... Always nice to hear a happy ending...

al

Clois,

Nice to hear a story with a happy ending.

Congratulations:D

JRC,

My fan is always on unless the temp is under 70 degrees. I am running an aluminium radiator with two rows of 1 inch tubes and cross circulation (both my inlet and outlet are on the drivers side).

I am running an Edelbrock alum water pump with March pulleys.
I am also running a 50/50 mix of distilled water (not tap water) and anti-freeze with a one pint bottle of Water Weter. I am runnig a 190 degree Robert Shaw thermostat. Aluminium heads and manifold.

I think my biggest problem with my cooling was how poorly my original engine was built. Since Carbone's has built my engine I have not had any problems with heat or oil pressure. I have made four or five races and ran everyday. After each event I would take my System One oil filter apart and look for debris and so far I have found none. I have almost 2500 miles on this engine and I couldn't be happier with it.

EDIT-note. You MUST purge you engine of all air in your cooling system. I started my engine cool and barely looseded (cracked) the temp gauge sending unit and once the thermostat opened I let the air escape until it started pushing a little water out. Then I tightened it up again.

Clois

JRC3

You should be able to get a separate thermostate (temp sensor)that will turn the fans on at around 180 or 190 automatically.

Paul

cobra427mnsi,

I like the way your Cobra sits.
What rear tires/wheels/suspension are you running.

Also-what is your clearance from the ground to the bottom of your oil pan? I've got 3" clearance with my C/O.
Thanks

Thanks Clois & Paul...
 

Clois,

What March pulley set are you going with? I know they have both an improved water circulation v-belt set and a performance v-belt set for FE engines.

Regarding purging air: Due to PI manifold and turkey pan being right next to the t-stat, it leaves little room to work in that area without removing the turkey-pan (and therefore carb). I have read that the cobrajet is prone to burping coolant - so I am assuming this is from trapped air pockets in the block expanding when it gets hot? I'm trying to understand things in my head!

I'll try purging air first - as I also want to check the brand of the thermostat installed. I'm not sure what brand that was installed, but will plan to change it for a Robert Shaw as I have heard excellent reviews about these. Are you running a PI intake manifold out of interest?

Paul,

I'm going down that path as well.

Many thanks again guys for the info - I'm trying to get up the learning curve on this engine!

James