BAsque 1 Lou IMO 220 for coolant temp is TOO high. This is not a nascar motor. All cobras have a problem, getting air in and ouit of the engine compartment. Hot air soak is causing some of the problems to start. I know guys hate this but my opening the hood an inch or 2, this help reduce the heat problem.
To start with install a 180F thermostat. Have a 50/50 coolant distilled water in the system. If you have coolant fans in the front of the radiator, remove them and try a road test on temp. There have been a couple of guys here that will tell you that these fans look cool but do little to nothing for helping supply more air though the radiator.
I am not sure how your radiator is mounted, straight up and down or at a 20-30 degree angle. Up and down is better. If at a 20-30 degree angle you need a deflector added to help bend the air to go through the radiator for cooling. The other thing is that after you are going over 45 mph on the road the fans do nothing to help increase flow. Try and make sure to have a schroud covering the radiator to force the air to come through this opening.
Pulleys what ones are you running? If they are under size, you are going to run hot. I have been through this problem for over 1 year. I even added louvers to my hood to help remove heat. I also now run to 4" fans in the fender duct to help suck out the hot air. Went from a brass radiator to an Aluminum one. All this helped over time. I run under size pulleys and can race for 20 minutes and have the motor in the 195-198 range after the run.
Oil temp is a little higher in the 200-205 range.
Last, charging system and battery size. Except for trucks, I don't see any large cables for cars any more. Builders are using cable that are just enough to cover the "total" ampage spike load on startup. Wire is thinner and the covers are littler. Old days, welding cable. Battery, what is the CCA of it? You said that your cooling fan is some times on. This fan can draw up to 32 amps on high speed. A 600 cca battery will last about 15 minutes before not having enough to crank over a starter,even a mini starter that pulls about 120-140 amps. Charging system, in the old days a 45 to 70 amp system was fine with only a couple for curcuits to run, ign, lights, gauges, and fuel pumps. Today, IMO you need an 95 amp alt min for all the loads now put on the electrical system. Also a battery with a min of 800cca, 900-100o would be better. Also dual grounds to the car chassic and motor. Even have a direct ground wire to the starter mounting bolt is not a bad idea.
Lou try this, after your next drive, buy a cheap tempature gauge for an oven and place it under the hood, come back in 5 minutes and read the temp. It should drop about 50 -60 drgrees easy. If not try this test with opening the hood about the height of a 2X4" again recheck temp see what the differents is. See if car starts up also. I think you will fine that this will help. Good luck Rick l.
Hybrid Mode
