Cooling System Upgrade
 

Howdy All, upgraded the cooling system these past couple of days. I put in a Champion 3 row radiator, and a Flowcooler water pump along with a 180deg Thermostat. Here is what all it involved.

Step 1 - Remove all bolts from the top radiator frame (I had to remove the battery because one passenger side bolt would not back out completely with the battery in place).

Step 2 - Drain Radiator by turning the petcock located on the passenger side. (I had to remove my headlight and turn signal to have full access). It also helps to connect a hose to the petcock nipple to control the drain.

Step 3 - Remove the electrical aux. fan and move the clutch fan guard towards the engine to have enough space to get the radiator out. Disconnect all the hoses (Upper and Lower coolant hoses, Upper and Lower transmission cooler lines). The radiator should come straight up and out now.

Step 4 - Remove the hoses from the thermostat housing and the water pump. Then remove the thermostat housing to gain easier access to the water pump. Before removing the belt, break the water pump pulley bolts (unless you have the fancy water pump pulley tool). Now would be a good time to loosen the belt and move it out of the way.

Remove the water pump pulley to gain access to all the bolts.

Step 5 - Once the Water Pump is removed, you can prep your gasket surfaces on the engine. I stuff a paper towel or rag into the engine to keep debris from getting in as I scrape away. I also found a razor blade worked real well to get the old gasket off, but it's hard on the hands, so spend the extra money to get the tool if you can.

Step 6 - Install the Water Pump First, then the Thermostat to have pletny of working space for the pump. I like to wipe all metal mating surfaces with laquer thinner the get any residual grease and grime off. Fit all the bolts before tightening down to ensure you can get them all to fit.

torque specs are:

water pump: 17ft lbs
thermostat: 13ft lbs

Step 7 - Replace the pulley and tighten (17ft lbs). I like to use threadlok as well being that I would not like to loose a pulley while driving on the hwy. (if you dont have that fancy pulley wrench, you can just tighten as much as you can, then attach the belt, tighten up the belt, then reach the 17ft lbs with the friction of the belt)

Step 8 - Now time to fit the radiator in, *Careful to keep the fin bending to a minimum*. Fit the clutch fan in before you drop it in because you most likely will not be able to get it in without damage if you have the radiator in place.

Step 9 - Attach all the hoses. If you ordered the Champion 3 row radiator, then it is most likely that your upper transmission line will not fit (as this is what happened to me). I just cut the line to remove the old nut, slipped on the nut from the champion radiator, then flared out the tube again.

Step 10 - Re-install electrical fan, then all bracketry in reverse order of removal. Again, it is good to attach all bolts first, then tighten after.

Fill the radiator up through the fill cap and monitor levels in the resevoir until all air pockets are removed

*Note - When installing and parts that are rotating (water pump & fans) check to make sure there are no clashes that will interfere with it's operation. If the water pump scrapes the engine housing, install another gasket and retry until the scraping goes away.

*Note 2: It would be a good idea to flush the radiator before this operation if the system is old to remove any gunk you can, then afterwards to rid the system of any air pockets.

Hope this write-up helps anyone in cooling need :thumbsup: