..so, I have the Panel running ....finally, after five years...I've managed
to put 500 miles or so on it...the initial adrenaline rush is waning and
I've realized I have a couple of small problems to address.....(in addition
to getting the interior finished ...later this winter)
First, it runs a little hot. It's a 350, pretty tame...with stock water
pump, a desert cooler radiatoe with internal tranny cooler and a 180
thermostat....at first it ran at 210+ and jumps to 220 at the stop lights
(particularly with the A/C running). I had an electric fan with shroud at
first and have now replaced that with a flex-fan on the motor (with no
shroud yet)...it runs a little cooler...190 about town and 200 at the
lights. My 'truck guy' had some infrared device that showed that at various
points on the motor the temps were 15 to 20 degrees lower than indicated at
the dash gage. The gages are original and were rebuilt by Chevy Duty
(Bowtie Bits??). The questions then come....has anyone see the case where
the gages are inaccurate??....is there any calibration possible??...and
generally, should this setup (with a shroud) be sufficient to cool this
motor? Should I put the electric fan on the front and push more air through
the radiator??
Second....the brakes suck. I have a Heidt's Mustang II front-end with 10 in
rotors and a '86 Camaro rear end with drums. There is no way I could lock
'em up even with the flood of panic as I forsaw my hard work running into
something. Yes, the Panel may be heavier than a pickup but should it make
that much of a difference?? I've weighed the Panel...1800 lbs on the front
and 1700 lbs on the rear axle. I've replaced the Master cylinder....mid-70s
corvette with a 1 1/8 bore....and bled them several times. There's no
front-end dive even if I stand on 'em...just a nice slow glide to a stop.
Is it really possible that I don't have enough brakes under this Panel??
Any/all help appreciated...
-A
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