As been said already here by a few of the broken - the heat is killer. I actually put a tag and insurance on the Mav so that I could officially run it in a Pro Cruisers and Real Street class. Took it to a local car show and it ran about 215 degrees. I thought I was hearing a little flutter in the motor - but decided to run it on out. Friday night I took the Mav out and dropped the hammer on a turbo Honda with the temp about 210. Won the battle but lost the war. Immediatly recognized the rap of a bearing. Anyway, just dropped off the rotating assembly at the shop today to turn the crank and ballance. At that temp, the oil pressure was only runninng about 45 psi. I knew better. I guess I am in the market for an aluminum radiator if I am going to continue running on the street. Any suggestions? Cleaver
IMO, 215 isn't all that hot. Now, if the oil temp was way up there, that's a different story....I've made full drag strip passes before in the middle of summer at 220-230 degrees F...and never really had any problems. Now with alcohol, I'm lucky to get it to 140. A GOOD aluminum radiator will help reduce your temps quite a bit. On mine, I ran a summit 26x19 IIRC universal radiator and it was a BEAR to get warmed up in the morning until I figured out how to lean it out & get it hot. The car fell off the jack one day and landed squarely on the radiator...and took it out, so I had to put the 3 row copper/brass/lead Maverick radiator back in. It now runs warmer than before..quite a bit actually....Last time I had it out, I actually managed to get it up to 200 degrees easily and it took a LOT longer to cool off between rounds compared to the summit radiator. So yes...You'll definetly benefit from a properly installed and good quality aluminum radiator.
Thanks - found the summit brand. $167.95. Looks like a good deal to me. The temps made me a little nervous - but I didn't think they were excessively high either. Several of the bearings had signs of scuffing. All had right on .002 clearance too. Thinking about going to synthetic oil after break-in. Cleaver
The Summit brand radiators are pretty good. We've used the Griffin "universal" radiators in our big block cars for years. Great stuff. Double row with 1" diameter tubes. Use a good electric fan/shroud combo though. We also use Royal Purple exclusively. Never had one single bearing failure in any of our cars. Or trucks. My '98 GT has over 200K on the odometer, runs mid-13's easily, and still knocks down 23 mpg going to and from work.
Is there any specific radiator from Summit (part #?) you guys would reccomend that fits good and is easy to mount in a Mav? Not building a race car here, just want something of good quality that will last for years, keep my car under 200 degrees in this high 90's GA heat/humidity, and I love the way aluminum radiators look. I am planning to go with an electric fan.
I've been running the Griffin for years now, it's the 26x19 Universal Ford. The only problem i've had is that sometimes while out cruising, it kept the 347 a little too cool.
Is 45psi correct or was it 4 to 5psi? Don't think the heat had a lot to do with bearing failure if it had 45psi. Lots of other issues could enter into the picture, oil dilution from sitting up, worn bearings/rods etc. From my experience with high rpm engines, .002 is a bit tight for clearance but it all depends on your application. Synthetic oil is good stuff and I run it in my race engines but for years used nothing but Valvoline 10w30. On several teardowns, seemed like it clung to the bearingx and crank etc, even after sitting for long periods of time. Also had little bearing problems related to oil, dirt and oil pump problems are prime culprits along with just plain worn out parts. Still change oil and filters every three thousand miles on all my vehicles here at the house. Leaking carb or even fuel pump, can dilute oil to the point of viscosity is affected. Oil just makes a cushion between parts, along with other properties. Hope you have better luck with the new assy.
I agree, 45 psi does not sound that bad at all. Funny story....well not really funny. After the 2nd pass Thursday at WH....I was going down the return road and smelled something I looked at the temp gauge it was at 230*....my car never runs hot, that was the 1st time I had ever seen it above 185*. well, after a frantic 1 minute of searching, I discovered the hot wire for the water pump switch had come loose I have made about 15 passes since...so everything ended up OK, I know 230* is not that terrible, but it was very scary for me, with my car and fresh motor.
No real action here yet. Crank should be done tomorrow or Monday. Found a couple of other little things to take care of while everything is down. It's too freakin hot here to move very fast. Perfect weather to pressure wash the house. I always went by the 10 psi pressure per 1000rpm deal. 45 psi doesnt = 6500 rpm. Hot idle was about 20psi. I always liked 45 psi idle and 75psi WOT. I asked crank grinder to polish out a little looser tolerance. I was planning on moving from straight 30W oil to 15W40 Rotella or synthetic. I think I will stick with standard oil pump until I see how it goes. I've got a HV pump on the shelf but I really haven't found the BBF really need them at my level. Cleaver
