As I have probably mentioned in the list before, I am having some cooling
problems with my 69 Spitfire. The needle now likes to ride just shy of
the red zone. I'd like to bring it down a bit... The only thing which
does is driving over 70 MPH, which is frowned upon around town. I do
have an electric fan as well as the bolt-on, which helps in stop-and-go
driving.... doesn't help at 40-65 MPH, though.
I see there once were air deflectors on either side of the radiator.. no
longer. Does anyone have a sense of how these effect cooling?
Also, on thermostats. I now have a 180 degree thermostat in the car....
I have a new 160 degree spare. Should I use the 160 in warmer weather
(and if so, why?) Will it effect the hot cruising problem?
The system never boils over, but does run more smoothly when the temp
is down off the edge of the red zone.
In the miscellaneous question mode, my tach (when it worked) read 50%
higher than the tach/dwell reading (yes, my meter was set to 4 cylinder
mode). Now the cable is broken, and I have ordered another. What's causing
the 50% high reading (wrong gearing somewhere? Dirty tach? Weak spring
in tach? Gremlins?)
Oil consumption is still up in the 150 mile/qt range. I am convinced now it
is a valve/ring problem, even though there isn't any visible oil smoke. The
plugs do get oil-fouled from time to time.
....John Trindle jtrindle@ftf03.larc.nasa.gov
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