by pcguy » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:47 am
Well, I've been through this way too many times and I began to wonder if it's something more obvious. Unfortunately, I'm not able to easily test any changes since I live on the coast and it never gets hot here - 60 mile round trip on a hot day inland to determine what effects, if any, a given change will have.
After completely boiling out the radiator (lots of stuff came out) and reverse flushing with a hi volume of water (trapping the output for inspection), there is zero change - well, maybe a couple of degrees better at 215. This setup should run at under 200 at all ambient temps.
So I was looking to see if the under hood temps (thin wall headers, small compartment, etc) could be the contributing factor - looking at hood louvers. The trans cooler was/is mounted on the flat under the radiator and was/am considering removing the grill and mounting it up front and off to the passenger side as much as possible.
Well, in trying to figure out what the proper steps would be, I noticed that the front license plate hung down fully below the bumper and right in front of the central part of the radiator. It also extended toward the front of the engine right up to the main pulley.
Does it make sense to you guys that at 65 MPH that plate location would cause enough turbulence to keep the system from cooling properly? I’m going to remove it and move the trans cooler, but I’m wondering if, in the meantime, I should continue my search for the right hood louvers.
2009 Corvette ZR1 - bone stock
1975 Vega Hatch - Built 350/TH350/3000 Stall - 400ish HP