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View Full Version : Cooling, fuel pump, and intake questions - please check my work



shackf16
10-08-2022, 10:01 PM
Hey guys, I'm making steady progress getting my Mk 3.1 back together after an epically slow rebuild. I've got the new motor in and all the pertinent accessories back on and I'm fitting up the last remaining details before attacking the remaining dash/center console electrical wiring.

I started this build as nearly a full donor car route using a '90 for everything except the brakes and rear axle from a '94. My new motor is a 306 with all Trick Flow components, 75mm TB, 80mm MAF, and full MSD ignition. As I was hooking up the stock '90 Mustang radiator (pretty sure it is the original one) I thought now might be a good time to revisit if that was such a good plan knowing I had some cooling issues before. I can get a new 3-row SVE aluminum radiator from LMR for about $250 that is a direct fit and I was thinking that might be a smart option. I will replace the stock overflow tank as well with a new unit. I don't plan to use a stainless-steel overflow bottle - there is enough of that kind of bling in the engine bay already, and space is getting a little tight. Along those lines, I currently have the corrugated steel radiator hoses but I'm missing one of the hose ends/connectors. I don't absolutely love the corrugated look, but they do give me a lot of flexibility in how I want to route the hoses. What is required to have a custom rubber/silicone hose made once I have the bends finalized?

I finally got around to swapping the stock fuel pump for the higher flow unit to support the new motor and kind of freaked out a little. Below is a photo of the pump after I pulled it out of the tank. The sock was not on it when I got it out, and this style pump assembly isn't an easy swap for the new one, nor do I want to put that thing back into my fuel tank, or any fuel tank...the wire insulation is totally gone - yikes! I need to take a closer look at the tank in the next few days, but is this corrosion going to be everywhere inside the tank? Again, it is a stock '90 tank and I just gave it a quick cleaning and new filler neck gasket when I first installed in back in 2005. I'm clearly going to be doing a more significant cleaning this time and I'm hoping I don't need a new fuel tank to go with that fuel pump.
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Lastly, I have my air intake tube routing pretty much finalized and just wanted to get some feedback on the placement of the MAF/filter. I have a little flexibility by using the silicone components, but I am going to have to fabricate some type of support for the aluminum tube off the hood hoop square tubing - it's pretty heavy and "drooping". I will likely not reinstall my top radiator shroud that forced all the air from the nose into the radiator to allow some unheated air into the intake area up and over the radiator. Anything I am missing here? (Ignore the pulley alignment on the PS pump and AC compressor - they are not yet in their final positions.)
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I appreciate you guys!

Shack

rich grsc
10-09-2022, 10:42 AM
If the tank looks anything like the fuel pump, replace it with new. I think that is a bad location for the MAF/filter, it's guaranteed to pull in nothing but hot air from the radiator. Why do you have a bolt in the radiator fill/overflow port? That is where the overflow hose connects and goes to the recovery tank, it should be at the highest point in the coolant flow

shackf16
10-09-2022, 05:59 PM
I am using the stock Mustang radiator and overflow bottle which is attached to the driver's side of the fan shroud. I have a higher pressure cap at the fill point with the overflow port blocked off and a lower pressure cap on the radiator itself with the port attached to the overflow tank. Probably not ideal to have two potential sources of a leak, but this was the advice I got from this forum years back. Any overflow would still occur from the radiator cap into the tank based on the lower pressure of that cap??? Trying to add an overflow tank on that side of the engine would only make my intake setup that much more difficult...

Other than running an intake tube to the oil cooler opening, what would you recommend for the air filter placement. My original setup used the stock plastic intake tube so the MAF/filter was sitting next to the engine beside the passenger side F-panel in the engine bay. I'd love to source some cooler air, especially with the extra HP this combo will provide, I'm just not sure how to accomplish that.

Shack

shackf16
10-12-2022, 05:45 PM
New fuel tank, fuel pump hangar, 3-row aluminum radiator, stock replacement overflow tank, and various sundry items arrived today from LMR. Hope to get these installed by the end of the weekend and will update this post then.

I would love to hear from others on how they routed their EFI intake to minimize the heat from the radiator. I still need to search out the method folks have used to pipe in cold air directly from the oil cooler opening...

Shack