[msinc]

I own 2621 and it has an aluminum Robert Pond FE. It has the turkey pan and an insulating spacer under the carb. I also have the fan over ride switch. Gets pretty hot in southern Maryland, but I haven't had any trouble with power when running. No overheating in traffic or idle either as long as I watch the gauge and switch on the fans. The problem I have had is when, after a drive, if I stop and cut everything off and didn't run the fans prior to stopping the ethanol will boil out and flood the engine. I believe, based on what I have read and researched that fuel injection is the answer. I find that as long as I run the fans 5 or 10 minutes before I know I am going to stop and shut it down and also open the hood and let the fans run a few minutes, after shut down, to cool things off then it wont boil over. One thing I would caution you on....I definitely do not recommend a cooler thermostat. The cooler you run an engine the more cylinder wear it will suffer. Engines that run at 190 or above wear the cylinders very, very little, 180 isn't too bad, but 160 and lower will wear cylinders out surprisingly fast. I first read about this in a popular engine building book back in the 80's titled "How To Rebuild Your Small Block Ford" by {IIRC} Tom Moore. He had a little chart that cited wear in an hourly test at different temps. I didn't believe it until I put in 20 years as an automotive machinist where I saw first hand older engine blocks {160 was a popular thermostat back in the 60's} almost all needed bored over. Engines run with no t-stat any amount of time had wiped out bores and the newer engines that ran 195's and 200's {after they found a hotter engine produced less emissions} rarely even needed to have the cylinders bored. Don't get me wrong, no doubt running the engine cooler will help the problem, but it will cause one that is way worse. I have to admit I was surprised at how hot the carb gets in spite of the working hood scoop and turkey pan. I may not have the best or most effective insulator/spacer, but staying ahead of the curve with a fan over ride switch works pretty good for me.

Edit: obviously, non-ethanol gas will solve the problem too. But, that is a little expensive if you drive your car a lot and in many places a little hard to find. 100 octane no-lead av-gas if you can get it will work too. That stuff is even harder to find, you have to get it at an airport and then they have to agree to sell it to you.