You can see the foam I used between the shroud and the core support. That’s all I could think of to clean it up after having to space it out.
I finished the shroud and started hooking up oil cooler and transmission cooler lines in the tanks and everything lined up perfect. I filled the block up and it held about 1 1/2 gallons then almost 2 gallons in the radiator thru the upper hose outlet and filled up the overflow bottle. I had to order 2 more gallons of Evans and I probably will only need 1 gallon but I thought it would be better to have some on hand just Incase. I had it running for 15 minutes and I checked for leaks and I don’t see or feel anything but I will give it a little better test before I put the hood and bumper back on. While it was running I put my hand on the driver side tank and it was hot and then I moved over to the passenger side and the tank was cool not even warm. I think this setup is going to work great in all conditions.

 

Installed my front bumper and lights and I’m ordering my air doc intake. Looked and felt for leaks and none so far. I’m pretty excited to get the hood on but I still want to let in run and drive it for a few hours before I reinstall it. It’s going to look really good when it’s done. I don’t know how many hours I have in it but I have enough to know that I could never afford to have it done and I really don’t think they would do as good as I did.

 

I’m guessing this is 180/190?
I took it out and drove it with a/c on and while driving I’m seeing temps about 180, but while sitting idling about 30 minutes with a/c on it gets up to 190. What temps are you guys seeing? I thought it would run cooler with the 160 stat and larger radiator. I was also thinking that the clutch fan has a set temperature to engage and that would explain the temps while idling. I will post a picture of what It’s showing while idling. Maybe still have a air pocket? I turned heater on to get it thru the heater core. It’s 83 degrees here today.

 

Mine reads 190° no matter outside temperature . Even while towing.
Standard thermostat new aluminum radiator
I heard the engines are designed to run at a specific temp and changing that is not a good idea

 

I believe they say that because of emissions? I could be wrong but I have never heard of an engine failure because it ran too cool? I have heard of a few that failed because they were too hot. I think yours is perfect at 190 especially while towing. I never paid much attention to what mine was before but I don’t ever remember it getting above 210. I haven’t had a chance to take it on a road trip yet. Wanted to change fluids and then the failed radiator opened up a big can of worms!

 

I agree with your hypothesis ... Before I change the radiator the temp while towing was really high
going up to 230 sometime
I replaced pump . Hoses . Thermostat but nothing helps till I got an aluminum radiator . Not a becool but seems good quality and factory fit

 

As long as it doesn’t leak it’s great whatever brand you have. I couldn’t find any real world people with any long term experience with other brands.
I had a fitting leak on the transmission cooler and I had to remove the cooler to tighten it up. I had to remove the fan and shroud because I dropped a 7/16 wrench and then an Allen wrench that slid under the radiator. While it was off I trimmed 1/4” off of the bottom flange going in towards radiator. Shroud was curved and the middle of it was getting hooked on the bottom of the radiator. Now you don’t have to fight getting a piece of plastic lined up perfect for it to drop in.

 

I made an appointment for June 4th to have 4.88 gears installed at 4 wheel parts. I can’t wait to see how it does on the freeway and hopefully it will hold overdrive. I think I’m going with a Diablo trinity 2 for a tuner. I here good and bad about them. It seems to have a lot of useable features that I might use. I still have a few days to make up my mind.

 

I never tow with mine but mine also holds the 190 mark even in the dead of summer here in AZ when its 120+ degrees. That is with a complete stock cooling system, never been flushed since I've owned it either lol. I do plan on going your route H2Miami, using an aftermarket aluminum radiator. I've used BeCool in the past in my old Camaro and while they are beautifully built radiators, I can't see justifying the money they want for them. Back in the day they were never the price they are now. The ONLY reason I would be doing it would be to do away with the potential leaking issues with the internal tranny cooler. Other than that, the factory cooling system seems to be more than adequate for my needs.

 

Out of curiosity, how much is is setting you back having the front and rear diffs re-geared? Its something I'm thinking about since I put 37's on mine...