347 issues

OK, update. Changed the two 10" spals for one 16" zirgo rated at "UP TO 3000 CFM"??? Whatever that means. Replaced the guages for a set of 6 guage MP products so I could see the actual temp. Changed the oil to a 20w-50. Well the oil pressure is 50 psi. Noise is Acceptable at idle, but while driving it is so annoying. I think I'm gonna try some other lifters. Anyone got any brand suggestions??

On the Temp side of things, we started it up on a coolish evening and it sat on 180. Great!! Drive down the road and bang up to 200 210. Thermo going the whole time. This is driving me nuts. Should I try another radiator?? Some guy was telling me to bridge the two rear coolant ports on the heads that are blocked off by manifold with a hose?? Is this a common practice??
 
I realise thats not overheating, but I'm worried if it gets that hot on a cool night, what it's going to get up to on a hot day?? And once we get the A/C hooked up what's it going to do??

We get very hot summers here. like yesterday was about 95 and it gets much hotter.
 
Dude, it gets that hot here too. Cross that bridge when you come to it. The 5.0 in my 89 Ranger occasionally gets to 240, as does the 331 in my Comet. No problems from either. Would I like them to run cooler? Yea. But without doing major surgery to fit a big assed radiator, that's not going to happen.
 
The best fans in the US are in the junkyards, in my opinion. I had a SN95 fan on mine and it moved some serious air. OE fans are great quality and more powerful than aftermarket. JY fans are also much cheaper.
 
Brian and Iskwezm are right. The OEM fans are awesome. Zirgo, tried it and didn't work.

If you coolant temp is good at idle, but raises when driving, then there is a problem. Cars get warm at idle because of a lack of airflow across the radiator. That is not the case when you drive. If you are getting warm when driving, you need to look into a possible water circulation problem
 
It's funny, because it make little to no difference with a restrictor plate in the top hose!! The restrictor plate I made had a 16mm hole in the middle. I think thats about 5/8.
 
Just an update. Changed the lifters again and run them in. NO CHANGE. Purchased some cheap stainless chinese roller rockers and installed them. They are crap but you would not believe the difference. I now have the sewing machine noise that you guys talked about, but no rattle when the revs get up. I have noticed from the first time I installed the trick flow rockers they were very loose on stud?? To think of how much time and money that was wasted for a stupid set of roller rockers. Although now I've noticed a drop in oil pressure when at idle. Down to about 40 psi. The lifters that my buddy got didn't seem to have restrictor/metering plates in them. Maybe that is why.
 
No, they are not 7/16 rockers. The studs are 3/8 and the whole thing was purchased together as a kit, heads rockers and polylocks. A 7/16 bolt will not fit through, but a 3/8 is rather loose. The crap rockers fit over snuggly. As far as the oil pressure goes I realise that 40psi isnt low, just stating it has changed when new lifters and rockers where installed. It's all a learning curve, but if you cant explain it, then you have learnt nothing.
 
Can anyone tell me; on the trick flow rockers, they are stamped 1.6 and D10. Does that maybe mean 10mm?? as 10mm is bigger than 3/8 and a 10mm bolt fits through. I'm just curious as to why the new rockers are quieter?? The trick flow ones look like far better quality obviously.

Also installed a 17" Hayden 2 speed fan which I havn't tested yet, but boy does this thing suck some power in high speed. All the "JUNKYARD" fans I measured didn't fit my radiator which is only 21.5" wide (just core excluding tanks). All the radiators here seem to be much wider.

We are running an early Holley analog 4 barrell pro-jection system and I'm having trouble dialling this thing in. I have installed many commander 950 systems and other efi systems, with no troubles, but this system is prooving to be a nightmare. Anyone know any tricks?? I'm still trying to come to terms with power 1 pot and power 2 pot and how you tune them to work with each other?? any help would be great.
 
Just an update on the Hayden 2 speed fan. I wired it up with a 188 degree on and 182 degree off thermo fan switch and just used the high speed. Let the car sit and idle and it cycled beautifully. This moves some serious air compared to that zirgo hunk of junk. Havn't driven it yet to check. One thing that I noticed is that by the new guage that I just installed, the fan come on at 200 degrees. The sender for that is in manifold just before thermostat and the one for the fan is in the tank right near the top hose.