Well, I drove the 4A to work yesterday (38mi) and the car performed
flawlessly as usual. This is, BTW, the first time I have driven it in such
temperatures. It was only 93 degrees F on my way home at 1700 and I noticed
right away that the car was running a little hot (approx. 10 degrees). My
drive takes me on the I-10 through that "wonderful" area of SoCal from
Ontario to San Bernadino (100 degrees ambient temp that day) and then
straight up the mountain about 4000 feet to my house in Crestline. About 5
minutes into the climb, the temp gauge started climbing close to red and the
engine began pinging just a bit. I quickly opened up the heater valve,
popped the bonnet and retarded my vacuum advance a bit. I then continued
driving the car up, up and up and gained enough of a decrease on the temp
gauge to continue.
Now then, I have an all new cooling system and have never had any
problems previously and none since (I still haven't duplicated that trip,
though). My question is...I have a feeling that I have just exceeded the
engineering design on the car. Did I? That is an incredibly brutal thing
to do to a car, but my Honda does it on a regular basis with no problem and
I usually count 10 cars DNIF'd on the side of the mountain road on the way home.
Also, is my tonic an electric fan and oil cooler to deal with this,
or would that even help? I refuse to have the heater(anemic as they are)on
all the way up the mountain in 100+ degree heat.
Paul A. Carson 1967 Triumph TR-4A / CTC 78299LO
Program Manager/Flight Test Navigator 1974 Norton Commando 850 Mk. II
Big Safari 1988 Isuzu Trooper SE
Lockheed - Martin Aircraft Services 1993 Honda Civic EX
Ontario, Ca MC/EC/NC/PC/C-130E/H Hercules
(909) 338-9873
Yes...I really do wear a Nomex flight suit to work everyday...to keep the
flames off!
|