Pick it out


Wwabbit

Wwabbit

GT Owner
Mar 21, 2012
1,259
Knoxville, TN
Hot weather coming. GT's run hot by nature, especially if you've stepped up the horse power. One easy way to stay ahead of cooling problems is to pick the rocks and bugs out of your forward heat exchanger. The GT has a stack of three units, the engine radiator is the third one back, so when air flow is reduced in the front, the engine core really suffers. Get some tool picks and pull up a chair. You'll need all three of the picks shown to be effective. Carefully push the pointy end under the debris at the narrow side of the fins and watch the stuff jump out. You'll be amazed what you find. You can also straighten any bent ones. Takes maybe 20 mins. I bet the total frontal area of all the stuff that I get out every month or so amounts to a hefty reduction in total airflow across the heat exchangers. This will means bonus points when it's 90 outside. Turn up the music and get picking.

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I tried to do those pick things on my Cobra radiator. I finally gave up and bought a new one. The aluminum core is still in the garage. I was able to pick out rocks and stuff, but straightening out the bent fins was a lifetime project.
 
P.S. A secret is to go to your dentist and ask for some old dental cleaning picks and scrapers. Mine gave me a few (the ones I wanted given my goal).

For a frame of reference, I used the same tools to pull wires out of wire wrap backplanes about 20 years ago :)
 
Great post. I'm going to pick up those tools on my way home today. If it helps when it's 90 outside, I know it will help when it's 110 where I live. Cheers.

Chip
 
That is some serious dedication. Good idea.
 
Been there done that more than once. An Oxy/ Actlyn torch tip cleaning tool work great too. They are smaller in Diameter so you can go in deep.
Here's a great tip to straighten the fins. Use some small tweezers, Straddle the bent section with the jaws, go in past the bent area to a section where it is straight. Firmly clamp the jaws together and pull straight out, The soft aluminum beds very easy back to it's old shape If you use a tool on just one side you find yourself pushing the fin back and forth to get it in the original position.
 
Awesome tip.tks. Did not know core was so deep. Great info.
 
The front grill on my '05 helps, but the bra screen saves me from this kind of labor. The GT Guys make a screen for you guys with the '06 type front end.
 
STORMCAT said:
Been there done that more than once. An Oxy/ Actlyn torch tip cleaning tool work great too. They are smaller in Diameter so you can go in deep.
Here's a great tip to straighten the fins. Use some small tweezers, Straddle the bent section with the jaws, go in past the bent area to a section where it is straight. Firmly clamp the jaws together and pull straight out, The soft aluminum beds very easy back to it's old shape If you use a tool on just one side you find yourself pushing the fin back and forth to get it in the original position.
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Damn, I thought I was done. Going back in. Great tip,thanks Brian.
 
I bought the GT Guy grill screen, and it works great as a pre filter of bugs and stones.

If you don't mind supporting the Chinese manufacturing community, you can get the picks quite cheaply at Harbor Freight Tools -

The small Hook and Pick Set is $2.99 (on sale - $1.99)
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-pick-and-hook-set-66836.html
View attachment 29013

A larger set is $8.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-pick-and-hook-set-93958.html
View attachment 29014


The dental picks are $3.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-pick-set-93514.html
View attachment 29012
 
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I've heard the grill screen (as in the '05 models) contributes to the heating issue and some folks remove it. Any thoughts?
 
That is why Ford eliminated it. It does reduce air flow. No idea how much but we are dealing with fractions of an inch water column pressure differentials to push air across the radiator, does not take much to have a significant impact on heat transfer.

Good idea to clean the front core once a year.
 
Good tips here. I'm curious about the heating issue, since my '06 with pulley/tune does not have a heating issue. 200 while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on 100 degree days. The worst that has happened is the A/C briefly went into self-protect mode, but recovered as soon as we got some air flow.
 
Wwabbit said:
I've heard the grill screen (as in the '05 models) contributes to the heating issue and some folks remove it. Any thoughts?
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The nice part about the GT Guy Grill screen is that is is removable, compared to the originals which required the removal of the front bumper - a major dissassembly. On the road, my temperature runs 165°-170° F, and in town traffic it will come up to about 200°, after which I turm on the AC to start the fans.

At the track, I carry a small ratchet with the appropriate Torx socket, remove the 3 screen mounting screws, remove the screen, then replace the screws without the screen.

View attachment 29015

This is also helpful at home, to (1) clean the front of the radiator of bits that make it through, and (2) to plug in the Kendall's Cooltech Chargeport float charger, as I didn't want to have it hanging through the screen with a zip-tie.

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fjpikul said:
The front grill on my '05 helps, but the bra screen saves me from this kind of labor. The GT Guys make a screen for you guys with the '06 type front end.
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Don't take advice from this guy,, he never goes fast enough to get his car hot... Thou I must say The car does look sexy with the bra and eye lashes,, :biggrin:biggrin

Wwabbit said:
Damn, I thought I was done. Going back in. Great tip,thanks Brian.
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No problem John , Been taking care of these cars for 6.5 years and I've done many things. It's always great to share and to hear new Ideas.. You are not totally committed to these cars until you buff out the center Alum. belly pan,,, :biggrin:biggrin
 
I've got 28K on my car almost all of which has been run with the grill and bra in place. The only place I went into limp mode was in Utah at Miller cause it was so damn hot. The grill and bra never to seem to cause me any overheating problems. If you have a copy of the memo from Ford stating that the grills were removed for heating problems and NOT to cut some costs, I'd love to see it. Fred Goodenow would never confirm that problem. IF the grill is such a problem, why do the late '05 and all '06 cars still overheat?
 
fjpikul said:
The only place I went into limp mode was in Utah at Miller cause it was so damn hot. The grill and bra never to seem to cause me any overheating problems.
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Same here. We pulled both off for the second day, and it didn't seem to make much difference.

Actually, I didn't go in to limp mode, but the car did. ;)
 
fjpikul said:
If you have a copy of the memo from Ford stating that the grills were removed for heating problems and NOT to cut some costs, I'd love to see it. Fred Goodenow would never confirm that problem. IF the grill is such a problem, why do the late '05 and all '06 cars still overheat?
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Well, obviously all '06 cars do not overheat. Based on mine and Ralphie's, at least two run cool. I doubt we're the exceptions.

I recall from somewhere...I think GT Joey's book, but maybe elsewhere...they simply ran out of grills from their supplier at some point during production and decided they were not value added parts.

Edit: No, I got that wrong. Joey's book claims "The official explanation for this change was a claim that under heavy engine load conditions the car could possibly overheat if airflow was restricted by the grille." And, further, "...the engineering team thought it best to remove the piece in question and not take the chance." They ran out of grills at about VIN 1700 in '05.

No idea how true any of this is, but it's interesting lore.
 
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Xcentric said:
Well, obviously all '06 cars do not overheat. Based on mine and Ralphie's, at least two run cool. I doubt we're the exceptions....
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Actually, mine is a late '05 - #1857, build date of 09/23/05. It has many of the changes implemented in the 06's, but still missing a few, such as the newer clamshell fasteners and a few others. Newer windshield (radio antenna implementation), missing grill screen, new forged A-arms - it is a true transitional car, which GT Joey in his book states:

"In the opinion of many, this phase was the high-water mark of the entire Ford GT production run. VINs 1000 to 2022 (the end of the 2005 production) were built after April, 2005 and benefited greatly from the corrected issues of the previous build phases. This was also the last time all the original GT team members - builders, designers and engineers - from the early prototype days were working together. There is no doubt that GTs built during this period in time, exhibited the highest quality to date. The extra attention given to fit and finish resulted in a series of cars that rolled off the assembly line and were the epitome of American craftsmanship...."
 
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RALPHIE said:
..."In the opinion of many, this phase was the high-water mark of the entire Ford GT production run. VINs 1000 to 2022 (the end of the 2005 production) were built after April, 2005 and benefited greatly from the corrected issues of the previous build phases. This was also the last time all the original GT team members - builders, designers and engineers - from the early prototype days were working together. There is no doubt that GTs built during this period in time, exhibited the highest quality to date. The extra attention given to fit and finish resulted in a series of cars that rolled off the assembly line and were the epitome of American craftsmanship...."
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Nice to know my car fits in that VIN range. :thumbsup
 
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