Hey guys. Quick question. I have a 383 that I am putting in my truck. I am about to order to cooling equipment, but wanted to see if you thought this setup would be sufficient. I plan on running a Jeg's 24" x 19" aluminum radiator with a pro-form 16" 2100 CFM fan. I was also contemplating dual 12" fans. Please let me know what you think. Thanks a lot! ~ Mike

 

what year truck

that radiator seem a little small at only 24".i would meassure the rad support and put the biggest i can then put 2 fans maybe one 16" and one 12".

 

Sorry. Forgot to mention what kind of truck. It is going to put into a Ford Ranger. Don't think of it as blasphemy, but as improvement. LOL

 

You will need more than 5000cfm to keep that engine cool at idle. The area of the radiator is not as critical as getting enough air through it.

I'm not sure how large the stock radiator on a '96-2000 half-ton Chevy that came with a 350, but on my truck with a 383 and the air on, the dual fans (5100CFM total) stuggle to keep it cool.

 

Don't waste money on junk fans. Having done several V8 swaps and living in the land of eternal heat and humidity I found the best electric cooling fans are found on Ford products, namely the Lincoln Mark 8 circa 93-97 and/or Taurus 3.8L circa 90-95. These can be had used on eBay or Lincoln message boards shipped for around $50-60. You will need to fabricate mounts, wiring, and possibly trim the shroud.

The Lincoln fans are pretty big, but I think they would fit your planned application. I'm using one on my LT1 280Z and it works great (I also have an aftermarket AC condenser in front of the radiator).

Both of these fans are said to be rated around 4000 CFM. When testing my Lincoln fan, I would tend to agree. They also draw big amps (no free lunch), so I'm using a Delta Fan Control which cycles the fan in at a lower RPM so as to avoid the big amp hit.

I also tried a Flex-A-Lite dual 12" setup on my 383 LT4 spec Trans Am and ended up with the original setup, which also struggles to keep things cool (also have an intercooler in airflow there).