6.0 LS Swap

That's looking mighty sexfull.
How much space between the water pump and radiator? Think you can get a Taurus fan in there? You've got the fin count & water capacity for 400 HP, but without airflow...
 
yossarian19 said:
That's looking mighty sexfull.
How much space between the water pump and radiator? Think you can get a Taurus fan in there? You've got the fin count & water capacity for 400 HP, but without airflow...
Click to expand...

I have 4" between the radiator and the water pump pulley. I'm looking for a fan now. Just don't know how many CFM I need. I know the more the merrier, but I don't want it to sound like a jet trying to take off either. I will search the specs on the Taurus now.
 
Taurus fan is a popular swap. It's 16" diameter & around 4" deep. You can also pull them out of 90s Volvo cars in a variety of shrouds. Ford owned Volvo at the time, so, same fan. They pull 33 amps on high, I hear (but haven't measured), and 4500 CFM. On "low" (they come with two speed controllers) they pull around 2500 CFM. The stupid-high CFM is what makes them so popular - it's a portly bit to package and draws a lot of current while running but if you want it cool...
 
Thanks for the info. I called a local parts store and the have one in stock. When I get ready I will go measure it and see if I can make it work. For the $ and CFM that would be the best choice.
 
I'm thinking you'd want something more like this to support the bottom of the radiator with, plus some rubber or poly top and bottom for vibration isolation.......
520603d1272982003-how-did-you-mount-your-aluminum-radiator-radbottombracket.jpg
 
Speedway Motors sells "universal" radiator mounts that look like the ones you made, complete with rubber isolators too.
You could also use foam rubber adhesive-backed weatherstripping as vibration pads. It's available in a few thicknesses and widths.
 
I know you cant see it in the pics but I did use 1/4" rubber strips on the brackets. I should have taken pics sorry. And I am making a bracket/slider under the radiator. I will post pics as soon as it is done.
 
JeremyB said:
I know you cant see it in the pics but I did use 1/4" rubber strips on the brackets. I should have taken pics sorry. And I am making a bracket/slider under the radiator. I will post pics as soon as it is done.
Click to expand...

Hah! I should maybe restrain some of my "helpful advice" :o You've got this.
 
A little more progress today. I modified the heat shield that came with the intake kit for the Chevy and trimmed and rerouted the intake so it would be lower than the intake manifold.













 
As awesome as it looks, you should probably find a way to brace that gap in the upper radiator support for the overflow barb. I'm thinking like a small plate that bolts on over/around it. You've eliminated probably 75% of the cross section of the rad support... and since you've taken out one edge/flange and most of the top web, probably 80-90% of its rigidity.

Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome and it's very clean work, but it's much much weaker than it was.
 
While I'm thinking of it -
Make sure you plumb that steam line (small coolant hose, 1/8" ID or so) that runs just under the throttle body into the top of the radiator (best), the pressure tank (if you are running one) or at the least, into the upper radiator hose.
It's there to help air purge out of the system. You don't want to block it off and you don't want to plumb it to the inlet side of the cooling system - you want that air to purge every time pressure rises in the system, so the top of the radiator is where it needs to wind up.
 
kastein said:
As awesome as it looks, you should probably find a way to brace that gap in the upper radiator support for the overflow barb. I'm thinking like a small plate that bolts on over/around it. You've eliminated probably 75% of the cross section of the rad support... and since you've taken out one edge/flange and most of the top web, probably 80-90% of its rigidity.

Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome and it's very clean work, but it's much much weaker than it was.
Click to expand...

Very good point. I will start to fab something up.
 
yossarian19 said:
While I'm thinking of it -
Make sure you plumb that steam line (small coolant hose, 1/8" ID or so) that runs just under the throttle body into the top of the radiator (best), the pressure tank (if you are running one) or at the least, into the upper radiator hose.
It's there to help air purge out of the system. You don't want to block it off and you don't want to plumb it to the inlet side of the cooling system - you want that air to purge every time pressure rises in the system, so the top of the radiator is where it needs to wind up.
Click to expand...

I am going to install an over flow tank. Can I tie it in there?
 
JeremyB said:
I am going to install an over flow tank. Can I tie it in there?
Click to expand...

Nope. The steam line on these motors is part of the cooling system - you'd quickly over fill the over flow tank & keep pumping coolant till it's gone.
It needs to be plumbed so that it will as quickly as possible make it to the top of the radiator, or wherever the pressure cap is being mounted. The idea is that any air in the system will naturally burp into that steam line, and from there
once pressure builds in the radiator or pressure tank it will burp to atmosphere.
 
yossarian19 said:
Nope. The steam line on these motors is part of the cooling system - you'd quickly over fill the over flow tank & keep pumping coolant till it's gone.
It needs to be plumbed so that it will as quickly as possible make it to the top of the radiator, or wherever the pressure cap is being mounted. The idea is that any air in the system will naturally burp into that steam line, and from there
once pressure builds in the radiator or pressure tank it will burp to atmosphere.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will look and see where the best location is.
 
If you're up for it, I'd weld / braze a nipple onto the radiator. Or plan on using a sensor adapter (aluminum chunk w/ 1.5" hose nipples on either side and femaile 1/8 npt threads in the middle) and a nipple installed in that, incorporate it into your upper radiator hose.
The idea is that the steam / burp line should be going "up" to something, so that air will naturally make it's way out. That's ideal, anyway.
I've heard 2nd and 3rd hand of guys having trouble with overheating LS swaps due to air issues when the steam port isn't plumbed correctly, so it's worth doing right.
 
You are making great time on the swap. I will be doing this within the next 12 months. Im interested to see what you do with the hood.

Few questions:
How many miles were on the engine and trans?
The novak adapter works for the 4l80e to the NP231?
I know the 4.0 and the iron LS blocks are about the same weight but did you notice any drop in ride height? I wondered this because V8 vs. I6... different weight distribution, etc.
 
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