ERA #776 Initial Startup Questions

[tgitchel]

Thanks for the reply David.

I haven't tested the guage yet, but my stove test and opening of thermostat during running both showed 190.

Yes, I have a big shop fan in front of the radiator as well as the heavy-duty radiator fan on the rear, plus a vent fan pulling fresh air from a door on the up-wind side.

My pulleys are OEM size as far as I know. My anti-freeze is about 30%.

My timing is 25 degrees at 2,200 RPM. Should I mess with this?

I have bigger jets on the secondary side of my carb. I've heard I could temporarily swap these with the primaries to get it to run richer during break-in.

All of the headers look even and consistent with slight greying of the ceramic from the head to the collector.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

30% anti-freeze is good, check your pulley sizes, you want the water pump pulley to be about two inches smaller in diameter than the crank pulley.........

Timing and jetting should be as per engine builders recomendations, not knowing anything about the engine, I'd go with whatever the builder suggest........

230 just seems high to me even for a break-in run......break-in runs will generally produce more heat than afterwards, but I still prefer it to be down in the 190 to 210 range regardless......

Put the big shop fan as close to the radiator opening of your car you can get it, I put them within inches of the car, just make sure it will not "walk" on you and hit the car......

Not knowing exactly how your cooling system is set-up with the radiator and overflow tank, if possible leave the radiator cap off the radiator if you can......I do this on my engine run-in stand, it lets me see the flow thru the radiator, normally I start with the water level 3 or 4 inches down from filler neck of the cap, once the thermostat opens and water starts circulating, the water level will drop and I add water slowly till it'll maintain a level of about 2 inches from the cap opening.....if things are working right at 2,200 rpms, you'll see water shooting out with some force out of the upper flues of the radiator.......if it is just trickling out, your not getting enough flow...

after your break-in run,and things cooled down, did you check the level of coolant in the radiator itself???? if not, do this, it may be low.......I'd do another 10 to 15 minute run and if it's still getting up to 230, shut it down, let things cool off and begin checking your hoses and coolant level,leaving the radiator cap off if possible will also help purge any air trapped in the system.....I've seen it take 2 or 3 ten minute runs to purge all the air out of a system......

good luck and keep us posted.........

David