Made some more runs at the track

[JohnP]

Yeah I should flush the system out, but have no where to go with old coolant. Will need to take it somewhere for that.

In the mean time I got a 195 degree t-stat in, and the new 14 inch flex-a-lite flex fan on. Had to remove water pump to get it on. No room between rad to get bolts in and trying to line bolt hole up was impossible. Added a bottle of Water Wetter also. Started her up and car idled at 200. At first, as car warmed it went up to 220, then the stat opened and it went down to 200. Took car for short drive of about 15 minutes and it stayed at 200, but went up to about 205 at a couple of stop signs. Its was a mild day, cool and windy so I guess that helped keep it cool too. Suppost to be warmer tomorrow, so will try longer drive to see what happens.

I'm wondering should I try the 180 t-stat? I'd really like it to run at 190, but can live with 200, it will stay there and not go much higher. Summer will be the test.

Thread has gotten away from drag racing, but appreciate those that have stuck with thread, and given good advice.

[PeerStalkHawk]

John,
As some were saying, the car should run at the warmest temp. possible for maximum thermal efficiency by burning fuel close to cylinder walls more completely. If the 190 thermostat keeps it steady at 200 degrees thats okay as most thermostats very from the rating to actual temps.. A 180 is sort of ideal also because it will allow the engine to warm up sooner to operating temp. and will keep it safe at maybe 175-185 or so. Thermostat accuracy and quality can be poor on some brands recently so even the same rating on different brands can very quite a bit on your guage. Prestone has a newer line of premium thermostats garanteed to be only +/- 4 degrees from rating over a much longer lifespan. They are pre-tested and made of better quality materials by far. They are around $13.00 and called Prestone Ultralife. The fail-safe lines are good in theory, but if the engine temp. exceeds rating by too much they stay stuck open and sometimes don't close again causing overcooling. This has been the experience of mechanics and they don't recommend them. Water Wetter does help but works better when more water is present than antifreeze. Run no more than 50/50 or slighlty less antifreeze to water as water is good coolant and transfers heat better from engine to rad. The Water Wetter helps prevent bubbling so cooling transfer is better in the engine and radiator and a good time to add it is after a drain and refill. In my area they don't have any disposal for antifreeze either unless your a garage. Some garages might take it for you. Your last 160 thermostat may have been stuck and not working properly if you mentioned there was stuff in and around it. If your not sure about the 190 then try a 180 or 180 high-flow and it should be really close to ideal. Initial timing that is retarded at idle will cause a lot of heat as will a really lean mixture at idle. A sign is that the temp. will go down when driving and rise when idling. You have a very nice car too John and hope this helps you some......Dean

[JohnP]

Thanks Dean, that is some great info, great advice, especially the timing and mixture.

I have not checked mixture, I do that with a remote Sears dwell/tach tester, and adjust mitxture screws til I can get rpm at its highest, takes a bit of back and forth, but only way I know of to do it simply. I need to check my timing too, but ruined my timing light when the cable felt against the headers and melted, always something with these V8 Vegas. Need to get a new timing light. Also, I will see if anyone local has those new Prestone
t-stats. Think I'll try a 180 degree one. If I did nor blow a head gasket this afternoon n my test ride.

Well, it was a warmer day here, so I took the Vega out for a spin later in the day, it ran fine. Temp was 200 but went up to 205 at a couple stop lights. It was about half hour drive and in a couple open spots ran it hard. Made it home and while in drive, I reved engine trying to set shift light and white smoke started pouring out from under the hood. Killed engine and coolant was boiling out of the rad cap. I checked rad for coolant befoe I headed out and hope it just did not seat right. I sure hope that I did not blow a head gasket. Maybe the new flex fan was blowing the coolant onto the headers. Car is cooling and will check it out tomorrow.
Keeping fingers crossed.