already sounding like a better idea to keep it stock haha.

alright all thats left is intake manifold gasket, 180 t-stat, and intake manifold bolts

 

so today i ended up doing the plenum fix. Now because of time and money I only did the intake manifold gasket set, plenum gasket, new plate and bolts, intake bolts, murray 180 t stat.

Install was a nightmare to begin with. Previous owners pretty much pulled a gerald and jerry riged alot of stuff, on the top side of that i had to deal with a 1/2 inch of grease all around the thermostat housing coolant bypass hose ect... but after i got the intake off everything went pretty smooth from there. Spent 2 hours degreasing and cleaning the intake and about an hour half *** degreasing the engine bay...not fun.

Truck fired right up and it ran pretty good. Only problem im having is burping all the air out of the cooling system so im gonna wait till the engine is completely cold tommorow and start the burping again.

Oh a couple side notes, i broke the **** out of my fan shroud(a mix of anger and force), so its now time to make my own fan shroud and...wait for it...E FANS YAY!!! (not), also caught the edge of my thumb in the clutch fan(idiot me thought the coolant supply hose was touching the pulleys).

 

so, i burped the system as much as i could and it still overheats while sitting still at idle.

I drove it to the gas station and it was fine but i didnt have to sit at any stop lights. After i got it home i sat in it, in drive like i would be at a stop light. It slowly kept creeping up until i turned it off at 230-235. Is the new thermostat i put in junk?(murray 180 t-stat from oreilly)

Before this the truck ran pretty cold so i think the old one was stuck open. this only started happening after i did the plenum plate, all intake gaskets, t-stat, i have put about 3 gallons of coolant in the truck and it wont take any more. any suggestions guys?

 

and another couple of notes:

I cant hear any bubbles or gurgling from the heater core so i think i got all the air out of it.
I followed all the rad lines and none of them are wet like they are leaking.
I am pretty sure my gauge is reading correctly, but i havnt tested it with a uv light ive only noticed that it is unusually hot in the engine compartment and the motor made a bunch of clicking noises when i shut it off, not the normal clicking but heat expanding metal(not good lol).

 

my hughes plate did the metal expanding contracting noise thing for quite awhile. also didn't you say there was a problem with your fan shroud? is it even on the truck right now. could be part of your cooling issues.

 

Wouldnt the truck not having the shroud work even better? Sorry i just thought it would grant more air flow. Ill start checking at the local wrecking yard.

 

No the shroud directs the air the fan is pulling directly through the radiator to help it cool more efficiently.

 

If i didnt necessarily want to go pull another shroud would i be able to just buy a efan for the rad?

 

A good E-fan setup is rather expensive. Also, bear in mind, the radiator overflow tank, and the windshield washer reservoir also mount to the shroud.....

 

gotta have a shroud for the stock fan clutch, you aren't pulling any air thru the radiator at idle. Ram air when driving forward is the only thing cooling your engine currently.

Get your butt to the bone yard ASAP and get a new one.

dumb 2nd question, did you put the T-stat in spring side down?

You can strap an E fan straight to the radiator, but it won't pull the rated CFM without a bit of space and a shroud. If you are going to strap it straight to the radiator, get 2 and stagger them higher side, lower side.

I'm currently running a 16" and 14" strapped directly to the radiator, but this summer has been so hot that I've found they still don't pull enough, so I broke down and ordered a shroud from TCP Performance and another 16" fan to replace the 14". I currently own all the wiring and a controller, so it's just going to cost me the shroud itself.