Engine Turbo 306 Running Hot

CPalmer72

Member
Aug 14, 2019
8
3
13
Alabama
New to the forum, lurk around here, yellow bullet, etc regularly.
Bought a 91 hatch. 306, TFW forged rods and pistons, Anderson N41 cam, gt40 heads, ON3 turbo kit w/ 70mm turbo, 42# injectors, etc.
I've had the car 4-6 weeks, on the way home, it ran good, but started running really lean. For some reason the fuel pressure was on 24#. Got it up to 40 at the tank and 38 at the rail. Swapped the stock fuel lines to 3/8 supply and 5/16 return. Took it to my tuner, it made right at 520hp at 88% on injectors. In boost, in running around 11-11.2 AFR on my wideband, and 13.8-14.2 cruising.

As far as cooling goes, has an aluminum radiator and unsure of the fan specs, but no shroud. I am from Alabama and it has been a scorcher here the last few days. It started running hot on me (have not driven the car much at all at this point around town) sitting in a drive through weekend before last. Again, it's really hot here and I didn't think too too much of it. This past weekend, I was playing with the car a bit after getting it back from dyno, and it wanted to run hot on me around town. Speed up to 60 mph or so and it would cool down.
I am in residential construction and had to drop the car off to get subframe connectors welded in, so I drove to work, on interstate it did great. Around the subdivision it was very short stop and go all day so no time for it to run hot. Interstate to drop it off, no issues. Picked the car up and had to stop 3 times on my way home, which is roughly a 25 minute drive through town. Of course, get home and passenger window motor goes out and it's supposed to start raining. After it cooled off, took it 5-7 mins down the road to my shop, got warm but not hot. Made one decent pull in it. On my way home, starts running hot on me again.
Frustrated as hell, went to pull a part here and picked up a Taurus fan/shroud. They only had the 3.0, no 3.8 but it has to be 100x better than what I have on there now.

As far as unknowns, idk what thermostat is in the car, or if it has one. They had fan worked to a toggle switch, which I'll be changing as well. They relocated alternator to driver side, have heard they make two separate water pumps(clockwise and counter clockwise) havent pulled it to see what is on the car. Every time it has run hot (on gauge) I never hear the radiator boiling which was odd as well.

Can any of you guys shoot me some recommendations on where I should start? Frustrating having a new toy and not even able to drive the dang thing. I appreciate the help in advance.
633334

633335
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Taurus fan and shroud will probably do the job, but you'll need to upgrade to a 3G 130 amp alternator at the minimum. This will require upgrading the wiring. It will also require proper wiring and relay work so that you can feed the high amperage the fans will require. All of that is probably more trouble than doing as Noobz suggested and finding a stock shroud and purchasing a fan & fan clutch. Plus, the beauty of stock is that it's extremely reliable.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: 1 user
Yeah... The thought occurred to me that the piping should be 4" and bend a lot smoother.

That's a 'down the road' fix.
Intake piping is definitely strange. Whoever made it put a bunch of time and was one hell of a welder. The inside is surprisingly smooth and finished. But, can only imagine a bigger smooth would flow much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Intake piping is definitely strange. Whoever made it put a bunch of time and was one hell of a welder. The inside is surprisingly smooth and finished. But, can only imagine a bigger smooth would flow much better.


In the end, you will likely end up with an Anderson Ford Motorsports Power Pipe or something similar:


633436


...but by no means, is it imperative.


If you haven't looked at these before, don't let their terminology fool you. For a setup like yours, you would need the "Naturally Aspirated" inlet pipe. All they mean by it is that it's the one that goes to the filter box/element.
 
Yeah... The thought occurred to me that the piping should be 4" and bend a lot smoother.

That's a 'down the road' fix.

I would guess that the pipe size is livable since it's being blown through, although not optimal.
It just strikes me as kinda crazy that the previous owner can weld, but comes up with that crazy plan of attaching multiple pieces for absolutely no reason, then instead of using sweeps for 90's and 45's, he cuts his own angles.
I would think he could probably just buy an Anderson ford power pipe and fix that portion in no time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I would guess that the pipe size is livable since it's being blown through, although not optimal.
It just strikes me as kinda crazy that the previous owner can weld, but comes up with that crazy plan of attaching multiple pieces for absolutely no reason, then instead of using sweeps for 90's and 45's, he cuts his own angles.
I would think he could probably just buy an Anderson ford power pipe and fix that portion in no time.


You just corrected something I had wrong in my brain and are of course, correct.

Disregard my post above. I'd forgotten that the turbo setup blows through that manifold and TB (I have PD blower setups on the brain).
 
Then again, if he layed down 520rwhp with gt40 iron heads, an explorer intake on a stock block, i'm not so sure we should be suggesting anything that get him more power, he's already 70rwhp past my comfort zone, lol.
 
This thread jumped off track so fast

I do plan on changing it soon, but it will not benefit me with the power it's making now. I had plans to put a good set of heads and all on it, but going to wait until I either go dart block or 351 to do anything else. Didn't expect the numbers I got out of it..

I'm swapping the fan, the heater tube is leaking, so pulling the intake and replace that, and check the water pump. Hopefully I can get the thing driveable
 
Just an update, got the fan swapped to the 3.0 taurus fan with shroud and it made a HUGE difference. I did find the radiator was just a hair low on coolant but nothing crazy.

The bigger fan was a PITA to install with the alternator relocated and everything. Only have about 3/16" between the bolts on water pump pulley and the center of fan. Makes it a pain to change water pump, alternator, etc because I'll have to take the fan out, but cant complain since it stays cool.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user