oh, and as far as the radiator and over heating problems go, i
should have wrote this earlier, i did a project for my heat and
mass transfer class while in university on the effectiveness of
the spitfire radiator. and i'll just say this: unless the
ambiant air temp is something like 145°F, and you are traveling
less than 30mph, you car will never overheat. of course that
means your system has to be in 'like-new' condition.
Well my radiator is in perfect condition, no blockage, no sludge and no
build-up. This is what confuses me, and makes me think its a bad water
pump. Could this be week and ineffective which would lead to the
overheating problems? Or lime scale in the blocks, anyone tried kettle
descailer or does it kill the hoses?
I am extremely doubtful that its the 82 degree thermostat, at the
temperatures the engine was running at it would have been full open, some
how the car is not loosing enough heat. As far as winter summer thermostats
are concerned, in my opinion they are not an option, fitting a cooler
thermostat would be a bodge, not curing the problem but the symptoms. After
all it doesn't tell you to change the thermostat in the handbook! My car is
suposed to have an 82 degree thermostat, and an 82 degree thermostat it
shall have. I could get myself a 78 degree one but I cant see what
difference it would make, afterall the car runs in the 90+ degree range and
that temperature both are fully open. It's just I like to have the engin
warm up quickly to minimise the dammage and poor economy caused by low
temperatures.
Could it be engine tune, I had retarted the timing 2 degrees for the trip,
and is pretty much in tune, but the wax stats could have leaned it out which
caused the heat to rise!
I have the front radiator things in place and in reasonable condition,
complete but a bit loose. I don't have the ones on the side of the engine
in place, are they necessary to cut the temperature?
How do you tell if your themostat is openign wide enough, to let all the
flow through?
How do you tell if your water pump is effective?
Is there suposed to be somthing below the radiator to block the air flow,
and even above it ?
James
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