Upgrades

[Kittrell]

Well my T-Stat housing or my Upper Hose was starting to take a shit on me. Dumping fluid like you wouldn't believe. Normally I'd just get the part I needed to get it fixed. But cooling has long since been an issue with all of my XJs. So getting sick of messing with shit, I just decided to replace everything. So here we go: Aluminum Radiator, Hesco High Flow Waterpump, Hesco High Flow T-Stat Housing, Hesco 195* Stat, Mopar Upper and Lower Rad Hoses, Mopar Temp Sensor, Mopar IAC, Mopar TPS. The IAC I needed, ordered the TPS by mistake and figured might as well................:dunno:

 

[Hypoid]

You forgot the expansion plugs and bottle of system cleaner. :doh:

I'll let ya slide on the heater core.















:jester:

 

[Kittrell]

Thought about the heater core, but I've never had issues there. I'll just flush it, should be good to go. I also only buy OEM or upgraded parts (yeah, I'm one of those people). And the core was $190, so I wasn't too keyed up to replace that...............

 

[Kittrell]

Oh, and freeze plugs, ha, get real............:laugh3:

 

[Hypoid]

Come now Mr anal-retentive! We BOTH know how much sediment collects at the back of the water jacket. YUCK!

 

[Starboard M]

Let us know how that Hesco pump works. Thinking about getting one for mine, but not sure if its worth the cost, even with my similar luck with cooling.

 

[Stumpalump]

Come now Mr anal-retentive! We BOTH know how much sediment collects at the back of the water jacket. YUCK!

Elaboration for those of us that are not in the know please? Can a garden hose flush wash this crud out?

 

[xj-grin]

All this and you're still cruzin in 2wd w/ that rusty D35??:laugh3:

 

[jdogg4]

WOW! yet not surprised really. All my post on heater core and radiator issues get you worried a bit?

Man I just got a new radiator from radiator barn.com 2 row all metal replacement life time warranty and free shipping for $128 and got it in 3 days. I can only guess that Alum deal set you back a bit didn’t it. Make sure you have that specialty tool for the lower driver side tranny fluid line with out that your going to be using a lot of *%*#&#$( and a few )($*%$&$)@ and maybe even ($@%*@#%& Even with the tool it wasn’t that easy to get off. Really gotta get it down in there to pop it off. Other than that the install was pretty easy.

 

[Kittrell]

WOW! yet not surprised really. All my post on heater core and radiator issues get you worried a bit?

I overheated going up Vail Pass to and from Moab in '03 in my '94 under normal driving conditions. And I know I was spikin' the gauge drivin' out to Silverton last year keepin' up with Troy up the passes. I actually have a bookmark folder for "needed upgrades", with it's own folder for cooling. Just one of those things that I always meant to do but never did.

P.S. that Rad was $169 shipped, a bit cheaper than the $500 something Novak one and the $650 Ron Davis Racing unit.

 

[Stang5lgt]

That is sweet rad. I had to buy a new one for my 89 I upgraded from the old pressure bottle system. All new radiators are alum now since it cheaper then copper. They are not that nice though. One I got was alum and with new water pump, thermostate, and hoses my XJ runs at about 180 degrees. After I blew a head gasket on the way home from work I decided to replace the cooling system.

 

[Hypoid]

Elaboration for those of us that are not in the know please? Can a garden hose flush wash this crud out?

Awww, if I elaborate too much, DJ will be able to sleep at night. LOL

Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to raise the rear and blow the passages with a high pressure nozzle from the front. Then again, I'm anal about cross-contamination. I'd make an extension out of some copper tubing so I could shoot around the cylinder core, jet the floor as far back as possible, working both sides of the block.

Since DJ is worse than I am, he'll have to pop a plug in the back just to see. Ya know DJ, that might be a good time to install a block heater. Sleep well, LMAO!

 

[jdogg4]

I overheated going up Vail Pass to and from Moab in '03 in my '94 under normal driving conditions. And I know I was spikin' the gauge drivin' out to Silverton last year keepin' up with Troy up the passes. I actually have a bookmark folder for "needed upgrades", with it's own folder for cooling. Just one of those things that I always meant to do but never did.

P.S. that Rad was $169 shipped, a bit cheaper than the $500 something Novak one and the $650 Ron Davis Racing unit.

The 98 with the heater problem was doing the same thing. I have friends that live in Glenwood and silt and the last 3 times we went over the temp would spike up at the Vail summit on three trips and once around the tunnel east bound. Had to pull over and let it sit for a few min then it was back to normal. The flow restriction on the heater core had allot to do with it. After blowing and cleaning that thing out it never did that again. Easy way to tell if it's blocked up is let it warm up running temp wise and the hose to the heater core was HOT but the return line was cold not even luke warm. I did a write up on how I cleaned it out. I also later on before the radiator swap took it to the car was unhooked the two heater core hoses and just pressure washed the heck out of the core got a bit more junk out of it. Went back home did the radiator swap and got some more junk out of the block tell it was coming out clear. Pretty sure I used a whole water heater tank of water, but it’s clean now and I keep checking the fluid and it’s nice and green still with now chunks or things floating in it.

That’s not a bad price for an all aluminum radiator. Is it a two core? I thought about the 3 core for an extra 20 bucks, but I just opted to stay with the stock 2 row setup.

 

[Kittrell]

It's 2 core. The 3 cores never impressed me. A new 2 core Modine cools better than a 3 core GDI or CSF. I went with this piece because I didn't want a single piece of plastic on it. Modine was about the only person left for that, then GDI bought them out....................:twak:

 

[jdogg4]

The one I got from the barn was all metal except for the drain valve. The stock one had all kinds of plastic parts. I got lucky and didn't loose much ATF when swapping it out. I checked the fluid and it was still fine. Been running the new one for a few weeks now and no problems runs fine heats up great blows hot air just fine.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Aftermarket radiators tend to be better than factory replacements because those manufacturers know that the small cores originally in the factory radiators were way too small.

An aftermarket 2 core is likely to have much larger cores and - as DJ said - would not only flow better, but cool better than a 3 core with smaller cores to make up for the space needed to put that 3rd row in.

Plus, that aluminum radiator has the ability to disapate heat from every surface the water is in contact with..... thick plastic tanks aren't as efficient.

I think DJ's gonna be really pleased with the performance of the radiator he chose.

......... Now, if we could just get him to toss some fawkin' gears in that D44......

 

[Kittrell]

Now, if we could just get him to toss some fawkin' gears in that D44......

Gonna get with Terry pretty quick here. Should have it back in the next couple of days....................:thumbup:

 

[jdogg4]

Aftermarket radiators tend to be better than factory replacements because those manufacturers know that the small cores originally in the factory radiators were way too small.

An aftermarket 2 core is likely to have much larger cores and - as DJ said - would not only flow better, but cool better than a 3 core with smaller cores to make up for the space needed to put that 3rd row in.

Plus, that aluminum radiator has the ability to disapate heat from every surface the water is in contact with..... thick plastic tanks aren't as efficient.

I think DJ's gonna be really pleased with the performance of the radiator he chose.

......... Now, if we could just get him to toss some fawkin' gears in that D44......

That's what I had read in some tech sections and the price was right.

 

[jdogg4]

Gonna get with Terry pretty quick here. Should have it back in the next couple of days....................:thumbup:

Is this another 44 your working on? You sold me the gears from that last 44 that you never built up then sold right?

 

[Kittrell]

Is this another 44 your working on? You sold me the gears from that last 44 that you never built up then sold right?

No, I did build that one, just went with a different ratio. Then I blew it up on the way to CO Fest last year. So I have another one and I am putting that together.