69 Cougar About to hit the shop, cooling questions

MunchE

Founding Member
Apr 4, 2002
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Inland Empire, CA
I have had my new Cougar for a couple of years now. About a year ago the stockish engine in it took a dump.

The car basically has an entire engine in pieces sitting here in my house. It's been a project that neither me nor my dad have the time or the ability to take on (assembling the whole engine and swapping it) and we finally found a shop nearby that's going to do the whole shebang for ~$1000. Which is worth it to make sure the job is done right, imo. I'd rather have it done and move on to projects on the car I CAN handle myself.

Today I took an inventory of parts before I send it over, and I figure I'll share because it's fun to nerd out about this stuff:

Brand Notes
MILODON Milodon Oil Pan kit w/ windage tray, pickup
MSD MSD Ignition Control 6A
MSD MSD Street/Strip Pro Billet Dist w/ Vacuum Advance
Fel-Pro Oil Pan Gaskets
Edelbrock Intake Gaskets
Fel-Pro Exhaust Gaskets
Fel-Pro Valve Cover Gaskets
Fel-Pro R.A.C.E Set 1969 351W
Fel-Pro Head Gasket
Melling High Volume Oil Pump w/ Hardened pump shaft
Melling Oil Pump Screen
Comp Cams Ford 351W Pushrod
ARP 12 pt accessory kit
March Underdrive Pulley Kit
Edelbrock Chrome High Volume Water Pump
Prothane Urethane Motor Mounts
Crane Energizer Rocker Arms 1.6 Ratio w/ 3/8” studs
Comp Cams Magnum 280H Hydraulic Flat Tappet Cam/Lifters (.512/.512 lift 230/230 dur 110 lsa)
Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap Intake Manifold
Demon 750CFM Speed Demon – Vac Secondary – Electric Choke
Airflow Research AFR185CC heads, 58CC chambers

Short Block
351 2 Bolt Block
Hi-Nodular Cast 4.00” stroker Crank (408 ci total displacement)
5140 Forged I Beam Rods 6.200” long w/ ARP 7/16 Bolts
Total Seal Max Moly Rings
Clevite Tri-Metal Main @ Rods bearings
Probe Forged Pistons 19.3cc Dish
Externally Balanced Flexplate and Damper

I am expecting about 460tq@4500 RPM, 450hp@5500 RPM. 411tq @ 2500 and it only drops below 400 at 6000rpm, per the engine simulators I've run. I have looked at similar builds that have lower end parts and put out more power than I am hoping for, so I think my figures could potentially grow with good tuning. This should be perfect for my somewhat heavy car (3600-3700 lbs) with an auto on the street.

What I am still unsure about is how I am going to cool this beast. I have looked at BeCool etc. and they want a mint for their radiator/cooling setups. I was hoping to see some similar combos/setups. I was thinking the stock radiator, maybe recored with a good shroud and an electric puller fan should work, but anyone else have any suggestions/ideas?

This build has taken a ton of thought and planning and I am finally satisfied that I have a nice solid combination that will never need any major changes. I had to scrap the 800CFM double pumper I got from the swap meet when I determined it was likely too big for my needs.

Anywho, feel free to comment or advise me on this. I am going to be dropping it off in about a week to get the engine swap started.
 
Check out a Summit/Northern/AFCO aluminum rad from Summit, they're about $245 or $175, depending on drivers side Vs. passenger side waterpump. Stangnetter iskwezm ditched his $500 BeCool for a $200 radiator from Summit and it cured his overheating :eek:

Check out streetortrack.com for great prices on a Spal puller fan. The straight blade 16" puller fan has been reccomended to me by many people (a lot of CA folks :D) $155 for that, plus $15 for the brackets and $50 for the wiring and thermostatic control switch. Check out the PWM controller for something neat :D

Most electric fans are preshrouded BTW, and you'll need a bigger alt, because that fan draws a LOT of power (to the tune of 30A IIRC). I'd go with a Ford 3g alt myself.

Sounds like a stout and well put together combo, but I'd talk to Flowtech Induction and get a custom cam. I'd bet a custom cam will be more streetable and make more power than the cam you've picked out, and it's not that much more ($220 for a custom cam).

Either way you go for the cam, make sure the springs are the ones they reccomend, or match the specs identically, and make sure you have the RIGHT length pushrods.

Sounds like it's gonna be a beast :nice:
HTH
--kyle
 
I actually settled on this cam after e-mailing Buddy Rawls (who I heard a lot of good things about) and having him tell me the OTS cam was too close to the custom to make it worth it. If it comes down that I feel like my combo is lacking, the camshaft isn't that hard to swap out later on anyways.

Thanks for the advice on the cooling, I'll look into that radiator and the site for fans. Sounds like cooling this thing will be an undertaking
 
MunchE said:
I actually settled on this cam after e-mailing Buddy Rawls (who I heard a lot of good things about) and having him tell me the OTS cam was too close to the custom to make it worth it. If it comes down that I feel like my combo is lacking, the camshaft isn't that hard to swap out later on anyways.
Dang..I always wondered if that could ever be the case, guess so. :D
 
One thing I just thought of today....I had a 2.5" dual exhaust with an x-pipe and Spintech mufflers in my old car. I was figuring on just transferring it over to the new car, but now I'm wondering if that will be big enough? I guess I better talk to some exhaust shops and see what they say.