1952-59 Ford Kovid Kustomline build thread

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out for the blog post.

 

Normal ride height


With two people in the back plus two dogs

 

Lol! Mine is the same and I sure like it better loaded. I need to just put air shocks on and change to 3” blocks.

 

I have the 3" blocks but might need to consider the air stocks, lol

 

Any bottoming out with the car loaded?

 

No bottoming out but it was super bouncy. That was actually the first time I've ever had anyone in the back seat. I rarely have anyone wanting to ride with me due to not having AC in this GA heat. I may need to look into switching over to air shocks out back.

 

So, did you cut out the driveshaft tunnel for more clearance? That is where my car hits when loaded and when hitting bumps.

 

Nope - still stock. It may have actually bottomed out once as we were negotiating the uneven payment left from the repaving project outside my subdivision. The bump is pretty severe even in my daily driver and I just****umed it was similar when we went over it in the 55. Probably should crawl under it and double check for scrub marks on he tunnel.

 

Just took a look under there and there are no marks on the hump. I have about 4" of clearance before I'd get into that scrubbing. However, looking at the before and after pics I grabbed an estimated measurement and then started looking for issues underneath. Looks as though we were riding around on the rear bump stops which thankfully protected my new exhaust as it goes over the axle. Definitely need to add some air shocks.

 

Maybe you just need to get some lighter friends for the back seat?

 

My issue got progressively worse as my 4 kids got older. But, then it all the sudden got better when they started driving.

So, skinny friends is probably a good suggestion.

 

Funny, now that you mention it I never had the problem when I didn't have a back seat.

 

I never liked the gap between the radiator and the front surround so I finally got around to making a filler piece for it. Now if only I could match the old satin to the new satin black.

 

Thanks for posting that as I was a bit concerned that might occur. I was hoping it would in fact push more air through the radiator. I havent yet gotten out and about in it so I'm not sure what the Temps will look like

 

Let us know how it does.

 

No noticeable difference to me. The two openings on either side of the radiator seem to allow enough air up and through the engine compartment.

 

There is a factory shield that fits over the radiator and front bracing that seals to the hood. It forced almost all the air thru the radiator except for the interior air and under the battery thru louvers for the starter. Moving the radiator forward would change its shape.
Different parts of the country had different cooling needs.

 

^^^^^^^

 

Just an idea...Have air shocks - cut lines, replaced o rings - no matter what they leak down. Quality has gone south. Thinking of going to these if they will fit.

 

I take this back. I previously did not have an issue with increased under hood Temps after adding that filler piece. I also did not have a proper shroud for my electric fan. The electric fan was originally held in place by some aluminum bars so I****ume more air was entering the engine compartment through the radiator. Now the only air entering the compartment is coming through the 16" hole for the fan from a recently purchased shroud from Champion . I am less convinced now the holes on the sides of radiator apron are allowing air into the engine compartment. Especially when you look at the picture Jimmy six posted. That piece would have sealed against the hood and prevented air from going into the engine. I guess I'll pull my piece back off and see if that helps with the under hood temps.

This all started because I'm running into issues of the engine overheating that I can't figure out. I've flushed the radiator, installed a new 180* thermostat, all new hoses, new coolant, burped the system, took timing out... This shroud was supposed to be the solution. My last thing to try would be a new water pump and I'm trying to hold off on that until all other options have been attempted but I think that list is getting smaller.

 

Did you purchase the fan from Champion?

 

No. The fan is 16" and the shroud was made for a 16" fan.
The fan is 2500 CFM, single stage, comes on at 180*. The fan isn't new, I've been running it for years now. It will hold a microfiber towel to the front of the radiator so I know the fan is pulling plenty of air through it.

 

I bought a fan from them that was supposedly 2500 cfm but tested against
a known Spal fan of 2000 cfm it was obviously much less.

 

I fought cooling for 6-7 years all well documented on here and the yblocksforever.com page. The remedy was a Mustang 289-302 water pump pulley which sped up the pump at idle never allowing the engine temp to creap up to begin with. I kept the fan shroud, 6 blade mechanical fan. I now have AC and still hold temp at no higher than 185*. Good luck.

 

Thanks! I'm running an '87 5.0 in mine and have been looking at upgrading to the high volume water pump when/if I am forced to change it. Should give me similar results.
I guess I should also clarify my earlier statement of the engine overheating. It in fact never boils over but the temp rises higher than I would like or am used to with this engine. It slowly rises to 180* (which it should with the 180* thermostat) and will hold there for awhile (in traffic and highway) but will then start creeping again and gets into the range of 200-225 without ever coming back down. It does puke some coolant out of the overflow in those instances but nothing more than a few drops. Coolant level is always topped back off before heading out on the next test run.
I also went back and removed the radiator cover I had added and that "seemed" to have helped the under hood temps but I haven't scientifically proven it with an oven temp. Guess I should have done that before removing the piece - oh well.

 

I

I have had gauges go slightly wonky after coming to temperature. You might try another gauge/sensor to be sure its not an instrument error.

James

 

Nothing I have written pertained to anything but a Y block. Later engine my have other problems I am unaware. Please disregard.

 

Fingers crossed, I may have just stumbled upon the cooling issues. I was just looking back through some old pictures I had taken when I came across a picture of the old vs new tstat. The new one is just a standard flow tstat and the old appears to be a heavy duty version, which according to Rock auto has a higher flow rate than the standard. Going to purchase a new heavy duty tstat and swap them out see if that helps. Should know more by this weekend.

 

Thermostat helped but the issue is still not resolved. New water pump is on order and will be going in at the end of the week.