You might want to research boundry layer theory in fluid dynamics or the next time you are going down the freeway put down your window and lay your hand on the roof. You will notice no air movement across you hand when laid on the roof at 60mph, It is not until you move your hand away about 1/2 inch. Same in your engine without thermostat, in some instances the flow rate from the water pump can be high enough you get stagnant water next to the engine block. Water to water heat transfer is not as efficient as block to water
transfer rate.

thermostat open at their stated temperature but do not FULLY close until about 10 degrees below there set point.

160F thermostat equals cold cylinder walls and hot pistons which equal excessive wear.

Wrong again, suggest you go read the first paragraph of the Stewart article, which is what most people who have been around high performance street cars already know: A thermostat is essential in preventing overheating. What Stewart is saying is that WHEN THE THERMOSTAT NEEDS TO BE OPEN.....a faster flowing passage is what you want (vis-a-vis their hi-flow thermostats.) They are then saying that such faster flow is not a bad thing. You are taking that out of context to suggest that it supports your theory that if a hi-flow thermostat is good, then no thermostat at all is better.

Look, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the two purposes of a thermostat are: 1. Achieve and maintain under all conditions the "optimal" operating temperature for a given engine (to Madmaxx's post above) and, 2. Regulate/control the flow of water/coolant in order to accommodate conditions (like stop and go driving on the street), where airflow across the radiator and water flow from higher RPMS aren't available to assist in creating the needed heat exchange and dissipation. The absence of a proper heat exchange is going to increase the chances of a healthy car overheating, and guarantee an unhealthy car to overheat. Sorry you can't get your head around this.

I tend to agree with the notion the OD pulley is possibly a contributor given you have ruled out the thermostat. Rhunt...is your engine carbureted....are you sure about your mixture tuning? If its running too lean, even by a little, that will drive temps up and nothing will stop it.

Thanks for the laugh. Not being disparaging, that statement actually gave me a good laugh.

Do a Delaware search for Boundary Layer LLC. Give you one guess who in this thread owns it.;)

I'll let the arguing go with that.

Ok, I just took a ride in my car and placed my hand on the roof while cruising.

I felt the wind. Now what?

No you didn't:LOL:

Every time I've had an over heating issue, I've over thought it. Go with the proper thermostat.
Make sure it is a quality unit.
Make sure your water pump is turning the proper direction (easy to have the wrong one with small fords).
Put your number one piston at tdc & check the mark on your harmonic balancer
Make sure your radiator is free flowing & the proper size.
Make sure your radiator fan is turning properly

A new engine can run a little warm. i would be nervous if mine sat at 210 but, you should see it go down when the thermostat opens, right? A big enough radiator, full of coolant will cool off when the thermostat opens. If you're running a 160Deg, you aren't giving that radiator much time to cool that liquid. You'll likely get it up to temp & the thermostat will not be able to close the system again.

You've got an air pocket. Trust me!

I have done all of this. Different stats, no stat, OD pulley....I have done it all. Here is your first clue. The Rad is 30 degrees cooler than the engine using your infrared. This eliminated bad senders, etc.. Why is it cooler? You are not moving enough water. Why? you may have to overdrive the WP so it cools at idle (you have that), you have an air pocket or you have a partially plugged Rad or collapsed hose. What else can it be. The T-stat discussion is nice but it is not the reason for a 30 degree difference. Start easy, check hoses, get ALL the air out and if it continues you may need to pull the rad and flush it. Someone may have shoved sealant in the block after the build and you pushed it all into the Rad if you did not do a long and proper block flush before first fire. Regarding the T-stat I found my best was 180. 160 is too cold if the system works properly. 190 was a little on the high side for me. Once you get the water flow correct you can play with the T-stats. Until then you need to flow more water from the Rad to the block. My guess is air. You need a t-stat, it allows the water to flow properly in a street car and keeps consistent temps. Wha are your temps at ram air on the highway?

I tried a flowkooler water pump on a sbc in a rod of mine and it helped quite a bit.

I didn't notice if someone else has already mentioned it or not, but make sure your fan rotation is correct for pulling air through the radiator.

Ted

I like a high volume pump

take a look at these

Milodon Mechanical Water Pumps 16230 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

This might not be it but 10 quarts is a lot of oil. Is it possible you over filled the motor? When I had my oil changed for the first time they added too much oil and the motor immediately ran very hot. I drained the excess oil and the problem went away.

:)

Must have been a cross wind, shoot your car is frictionless, you don't need fuel, sell the technology.

Help me out, I googled and it described exactly what I was saying. What is a deleware search?





QUOTE=mikeinatlanta;1375440]Thanks for the laugh. Not being disparaging, that statement actually gave me a good laugh.

Do a Delaware search for Boundary Layer LLC. Give you one guess who in this thread owns it.;)

I'll let the arguing go with that.[/quote]

Delaware is a little friendlier on some corporate and limited liability company issues, so you set your company up under that state's laws to make your life a little easier. I take it he did that and named his company "Boundary Layer." Unless that would be on a big chocolate cake, I don't know what a boundary layer is.:cool:

Zactly.:) Was in GA under Boundary Layer Products, but shortened for DE. Not important that people know what a boundary layer is, however, probably a good idea that the owner of a company named such does.

Maybe making delicious red velvet cakes instead of chocolate?:3DSMILE:

Now were talking.:rolleyes:

I don't think 210 is anything to get too anxious about but I second checking your timing. I suspect you may not be running a vacuum advance unit as that seems to be pretty common with a lot of Cobra motors. If not, then initial timing could be very critical to your engine keeping it's cool. If not running vacuum advance the distributor needs to have the centrifugal advance limited so somewhere around 15 to 18 degrees initial timing can be run.

If you are running vacuum advance it should be hooked up to manifold vacuum and not a ported vacuum outlet. My 66 Corvette was set up by GM for ported vacuum advance but by just switching it to manifold vacuum I dropped the engine operating temperature significantly.

Can you snap a picture of your Tstat housing to Filler to Radiator setup and post? Picture might get you further down the road to a solution more quickly. The filler has an important dimension between the top mating surface and the bottom pressure relief seal surface. If it aint right, you could be sucking in air while you're driving instead of your reserve coolant at rest. There's been some sound advice given here so tell us what you've done so far. Small blocks and Windsors are notorious for needing a good burp. Does your temp spike and go back to Tstat temp a few times up and down during the first few miles or does it steadily rise and stay there no matter?

At only 6.5 miles, your gonna run a little hot during break-in as the engine is working harder than it ever will when mating surfaces get acquainted. What oil are using for break-in?