Agreed. I'd put a 180 or 185 in there. Somewhere around where the engine t-stat opens up. They pull a lot of juice to have running all the time. Then you get more problems!
Thank you - I will adjust it to a higher setting but I don’t think there are specific settings - just an adjustment screw.
Took the truck out again today to pick up tires I had dismounted at my buddy’s place. It’s a truck, right?! It ran great, temps never got above 140, I scooted along at 55-60. No over heat issues at all and my buddy also adjusted my tv cable so the truck was not so lethargic and I actually had a passing gear! Of course, once the heat is back all may not be so rosie but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I am just tickled to death it’s running so nice now! I will post a pic tomorrow of my “haul” - lol!
I'm a little unsure how it could run 140, when it has a 180 thermostat. The thermostat will stay closed until the water temp is 180 degrees, give or take. Where is the temp gauge sensor located?
140? That's cold. Not really optimal power or economy, or good for engine durability. As above, where is the temp sensor and maybe the accuracy is questionable??? Apart from that, it seems you've had good success with not overheating!
Looks like it is top of intake manifold from this pic. The sender on the front looks like it is for the fans???
Measuring temp near the thermostat housing is good, for accurate measurement. BUT, I'm still not sure how a 180 thermostat will allow the engine to run at 140 degrees.
Ok - the vertical sensor that is located right front of the intake is for the temp gauge while the one in the front of the intake is the fan sensor. My temp gauge reads from 100 to 195 at the apex then to 180 completing the 180 degree sweep of the gauge. Throughout today’s ride my gauge never read above midway between 100 and 195. At one point I pulled over and checked temps around the vertical heat sensor - 140-145 - the horizontal sensor read 165-170 and the top tank of the radiator, 177. And no I have not changed when the fan turns on so it is still coming on early. My gauge temp stayed in the same location all day regardless of speed or more stop and go. To be truthful, I was happy it was not puking, the overflow tank did not overflow, and there were no antifreeze leaks anywhere. She ran like a top, idled nice, and after my good friend Koppy checked and reset my TV cable (I am running a 700 with no lockup), there was no lethargy/sluggishness during acceleration had passing gear - everything is coming together and I feel like I can now jump in it and go whenever I want with less and less fear of problems. This build is the first build in almost 40+ years that has all the bells and whistles (for me anyway) - much has been forgotten and relearned. Sorry for the numbers confusion but I think you now know where I was coming from. I am very grateful for all the help and support I have rec’d here on the HAMB. Thank you. So far so good but we’ll see what happens when the summer heat hits with ac and all ….
I have reread the last post several times. If your gauge is reading midway between 100 and 195 after the engine is warmed up, either: 1. The gauge is not accurate 2. The sender isn't touching the hot water that should be flowing past it. Does your kitchen have a thermometer like for cooking a turkey or making candy? If so, when hot, if you can open rad cap you should be able to hold the tip in the hot water to get a reading. If unable to open cap. Maybe sneak it between the fins at the top of the radiator. Your engine should run above 140, even with the fan running constantly. It should run over 140, even with no thermostat.
Thanks, Phil - I will try the thermometer trick first as that is the simplest one to do and take readings with the heat gun at each sensor location. Will keep you posted …..
Just remember, we are trying to determine the temperature of the coolant. The temperature of the iron block/intake is not really what we are trying to measure.
Popped the radiator cap and put in a meat thermometer, started it up and waited until the meat thermo hit 190. I then adjusted the fan to go on - at that point my thermo water temp was nearly 200 when it kicked in and gauge temp was on the second mark past the apex of 195 on my gauge. Fan brought the temp down to 185-190 at the tank neck and shut off and my temp gauge was reading 195. My best guess my gauge reads 10-12 degrees higher than actual temp. I removed the thermo, installed the cap and went for a spin. My gauge read 195+ (meaning almost to the next gauge mark beyond the apex) and the fan kicked in. Btw - thermo temp and heat gun temp about midway of the top tank were nearly the same So, going by the gauge, 195 is actually 180-5. I go almost to the mark beyond the apex, fan kicks in and the gauge temp drops below 195 initially then seems to settle at the 195 gauge temp. It was pretty warm out today - 55+ - but windy. We will see how she runs at cooler temps. I feel I am pretty close to where I need to be right now …..
It's sounding like you are getting close. It sounds like the fan is effectively pulling air through the radiator.
Thank you, gents - if there is one thing that I am it is stubborn in both good and bad ways - I refuse to give up. But it takes a community sometimes when you can't see the forest for the trees and that’s where you all come in. Thank you! BTW - this little truck scoots! Mama may be in the hoosegow if she don’t watch it! Lol!
I have bren getting in a lot of driving time going further and further out from home. All WAS going well until I started getting smoke in the cab. The tranny was acting funny and I was just 5 mikes from home. Next traffic light in downtown Col Willyburg she would not move. Thought the tranny was toast but then I noticed the one rubber return line to the tranny had popped off the metal line dumping a bunch of fluid. My buddy Koppy got me home and in the garage where she stayed until today (been interior house painting). Finally got it up in the air and noticed I had not flared the ends of the metal lines coming out of the tranny. My bad …. but there was no room to do anything like that. So, I reseated the rubber lines way up into the metal lines and double clamped them. That’s the best I can do for now but they are way tighter than before …. Good thing I am short and have small hands or I would have had to drop the exhaust pipe …. that will probably be done next winter. Hopefully some fresh fluid and a test run will prove all is well ……
I like using these Fuel injection clamps. They hold more pressure than worm gear clamps and they look better.
Took the truck out for a pretty good run today and no problems with the transmission so that's good. Had a rattle up front I am going to look into but other than that, I have the asphalt angels indoor car show on Sat I think I will take it to, a 120 mile round trip. I had it out on the interstate today but I will probably take the road less traveled to the show just to be sure. Moving forward again ……
So I went searching for the source of my up front rattle. Seems the main hood latch @hook” was not seating and hooking under the cross piece ir jyst barely. Nornally I think this would require a major re-alignment of the node and hood. I am knee deep in alligators and I want to move forward not backward. I tried modifying tge nide ofvtge hook hut the real problem is that the hook cannot go under where it should. It gad reached its limit of movement. I think I have some mismatched hood latch parts between the 40 Standard and the pickup. Putting this aside, what I needed was to move the hole rearward somehow. Searching around a bit I found a 4” x 3/8 or so inch of steel that was a good size to put on the engine side of tge crosspiece, adjusted it’s location so the hood stats home …. I spot welded it in place so I can easily cut it off if need be. Not the cleanest of solutions but it works and I am moving forward ….
Your stick to it attitude (sticktoitiveness) in overcoming these toe stubbers keeps me going on my PITA coupe’s engine swap. Thanks!
I am having the same issue with the hood latch on my '40 Pick-Up. I have the std. passenger car latching hardware, but the connecting bar from the hood release handle to the hook is too short. All the Ford parts catalogs say the latching hardware is the same passenger car/commercial but the original Ford master parts book lists a special connection bar for the commercial application. Part #01C-16674. I can easily fabricate the bar if I could find the dimension of the commercial part. Any body got one they could measure?
There are slight variations between the two with the truck having a longer vertical bar. I also had to bend the hood hardware/crosspiece down and the grille catch up but to no avail. My nose sits a little higher and my hood arms attach to the lower of the two vertical cowl lip holes. Hell - it took 5 trucks to get all the steel sheetmetal that were decent enough to make a go of and I am using a 36 frame. I knew that would bite me in the butt at some point. I thought of lengthening the “hook” to get it to catch but it was not moving forward enough to catch meaning my fenders are perhaps too far forward or I needed to use the upper holes on the cowl lip. Either way I decided on my course of action to keep moving forward. All the hood lines are decent so let’s make do with what I have - keep at it and you will find a way!
The Jalopy Journal
