Cat 3116 engine swap into blue

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Originally Posted by BBM715

Keep the questions coming - at least they are new and interesting and not the usual "where can I buy wheels" or "who has lockers?"
When it comes to cooling you want to set yourself up for success. Never too much radiator IMO. I didn't want to swap out the radiator support either (lazy, not cheap :) ) so I unbolted & turned around the pass side support and used that as a guide to trim out the sheet metal. Gets you about 4" wider in 1/2 hr. Still a lot of room in front of it for an intercooler too - routing the hoses might be a pain, but not too bad. Add a Rhino grill no one would know it's there.
I'd go with a trans cooler in the radiator for the winter when you want to warm up the fluid quicker - I would add an aux cooler though because heat is the main killer for an auto trans.

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That is a good tip for the Rad support. I have several old Jeeps so I just swapped out the support. Either will work fine.

I will comment on the idea of cooling the tranny thru the radiator, and again, people can take it for what it is worth.

According to Allison, and their specs and documents, preheating of the fluid(assuming Dexron III is used) is not necessesary above -13*F. Even running 15/40 in the transmission will allow temperatures down to 5*F without preheating. Unless you are running straight weight oil, heavier than 30wt, then there is no need to preheat the oil in TN. I didn't just pull it out of my arse, I have the paperwork and documentation to back up everything. Additionally, Allison calls for a maximum pressure drop across the external coolers/filters, of 35PSI. Now, I don't know what the drop would be, using the tiny diameter cooler in the radiator, but I know that added to an external, and a pair of external filters, it is going to be more that if it was plumbed as it was designed to be plumbed. Personally, my choice would be to minimize the restriction, using the largest filters and coolers possible.

FWIW, the data I quoted is real, it is free, and it is available on Allison's site.

Correct me if I am wrong, but all the cutting to the core support to fit any larger radiator is all well and fine, but you are still limited to the small hole the M715 has in the front anyway, right? Only a certain amount of air can find its way in that opening. That is unless you swap out a later 70's J truck grille, and core support as suggested above. Then you'd kinda lose the M715 distinctivness.

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Originally Posted by randyscycle

Correct me if I am wrong, but all the cutting to the core support to fit any larger radiator is all well and fine, but you are still limited to the small hole the M715 has in the front anyway, right? Only a certain amount of air can find its way in that opening. That is unless you swap out a later 70's J truck grille, and core support as suggested above. Then you'd kinda lose the M715 distinctivness.

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Actually, the M715 and the J-truck share the same stamping for the front fascia. There have been small changes over the years, with the addition of tabs for attaching the various grills, and the later model ones are not as refined and smooth(wrinkles around some of the bends and curves) because they were intended to be hidden behind the grill, but the overall dimensions, including headlight openings, and grill opening have remained essentially unchanged since 1963. There have been changes in the radiator supports, the most notable, being that the older 6 cylinder versions had the radiator offset to the drivers side, with the corresponding reduction in overall width of the radiator. On the V8 supports, the radiator opening is centered behind the opening in the fascia, and extends the full width of the opening. The difference amounts to roughly 15% more surface area.

There is a small difference in the radiator support, between the M715 and the J-trucks, where the inner fender openings were enlarged, but if you have the original M715 version to use as a pattern, it is easily copied. Additionally, there is a small difference between the M715 and J-truck fascia, where the flares are attached.

FWIW, BJ's offroad, offers a very nice Brass 3 core V8 radiator, as well as a really nice crossflow aluminum version. I believe Griffon makes an aluminum radiator that fits as well, and they may well be the manufacturer of the BJ's offering. If my memory serves me, that is the one that Poolmike used in his build.


http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...Picture015.jpg

A pic just for grins that shows the practical limits of pushing the radiator forward. Figure it gives about 1 or 2 more inches of room for the engine. I have no idea what that radiator was sourced from.

I plan on opening as much space as possible then taking the parameters to a friend who works for BE COOL radiators. Surely they have something high flow that will work for my needs. If not it can be made. I am not opposed to cutting the firewall to get the clearance to install a radiator that will keep everything cool. Cutting the firewall will however be the last resort.

If you are going to give up the bed space for the stacks anyway why not just run a bed mounted radiator like the serious mud runners use? You could make it as big as you wanted with a huge transmission cooler too.

Randy - there is about 6" between the grill opening (which is pretty big to start with) and the radiator. Plenty of room for the incoming air to spread out, lose speed, and more effictively cool the radiator. I would be more worried about getting the hot air out of the engine compartment. With all that motor and heat I think he will end up having to vent his hood like Spicer did. You like the look of cowl induction don't you Snake? lol

Venting the hood definitely does help in many applications, if you don't mind a hole in your hood. I'd use a Waggy hood to perform surgery on though and keep my original.

I had a couple XJ's and they would literally run 10 degrees cooler with a pair of vents in the hood. Chrysler LeBaron turbo vents worked very nice too......

Spicer and....I cant think of his member name...guy in Thailand...have both used a reverse scoop placed on the passenger side toward the rear to lot heat out...

Now that I think about it, Gwen just ha a flat grilled area over there that helps hers stay cool:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1502/bettyli0.jpg


Barry had the cowl induction looking raised area in the center of the hood...raised the rear of the hood a good 2 inches in the center section that is already raised over the outer parts factory. He did a fantastic job of getting that done and it worked well to remove heat.

I had a pic somewhere...but I cant find it now.

cowl induction......that's kinda cool sounding?? I think that cutting a couple vents into the hood is a doable thing. To release air pressure? Is that basicall what I am understand ing, so that air can pass more freely through the engine compartment? Logical. I think the radiator in the bed is a little over board, maybe not. I will put it in the last resort file. If I have no other alternative I may do something like this. Snakeater

off the subject of heat:

Since you're going w/a CAT motor, I think it should be manditory for you to convert to tracks...

you know you want too...:D