Let's cool it down

[Dior55]

When I first got my 460 crate (FMS 535 HP) on the road last June, I too was having a hot running condition that I didn't like. Engine ran at 190 and if stuck in traffic form more than 3 minutes it would shoot up to 220 +. Here's a couple of things I learned/did which seem to have attacked most of the problem:

1. Took MOST of the antifreeze out the system and ran good ol' mother nature's h2o. I learned that antifreeze has less cooling properties than water. I left a bit of antifreeze in for corrosion purposes. This was, BY FAR, the singularly best improvement in the cooling of my engine. Water ROCX!!!

2. Changed thermostat to 160. I know this doesn't really help when stuck in traffic, but now the car on the road runs at about 165 or so, and gives me about 8 minutes of being stuck in traffic before the temp gauge goes over 200!

3. I bought two bottles of water wetter but have yet to use them. Now that the sticky days of 2002 are upon us, I might see if there's an improvement.

4. You might want to check your timing and how much you've leaned out your carb. Both of these conditions will seriously affect operating temperature. If you retard the timing a degree or so, you may see a vast improvement in temperture, and the loss of power would be negligable for street driving (ya', like your 2000 lb. plastic toy can notice the difference between 500 hp and 535 hp between traffic lights!!!) Same too with the carbs. Leaning out your mixture will always make an engine run hotter.

My car now runs great and cooling is not a big problem. If I got stuck in a big traffic jam it would be an issue, I'm sure, but hey, these cars were not meant to be driven in traffic jams!