How hot is too hot?

[grouseman]

I apologize up front for asking this, but it has been known to happen. 

Do you have the t'stat sitting in the housing with the pellet/sensor up or down? 

[dodge freak]

Speaking of thermostats is it a Mr Gasket or Mildon? Those other ones are not so great.

[69BlackChargerRT]

It is a BeCool hi flow thermostat.  It is sitting the right way as I can feel it open and the water flow through the hose at around 180*.  Let you

[dodge freak]

Heck that looks very nice, could not see the front but its all open right? Only thing else maybe the pump, is it spinning so fast that water does not have time to cool off?  If the pump speed is stock it should be ok, everything sounds good maybe get a new water pump but yours on the outside does not look to old. Just make sure the grill in front is open, anything you can do to get more fresh air in would help. I have heared of head gaskets that can cause trouble but not sure how to check. I can't believe black paint would help that much, a little yes but not as much as you need, not sure what more can be done, that rad and fans look great, its not very old inside is it? Rads can get plug up over time but again it looks new.

[dodge freak]

Look back at the start of this post there is some good points. Check your timing should be around 36-38 with advance all the way in. The carb might be lean also, if the timing is ok jet up the carb two sizes and see if it helps. Are you driving it or are you sitting still? Those old mopars did have some trouble keeping cool, it needs to keep moving.Thats it, your cooling system looks and sounds fine.

[7273chargerguy]

aluminum water pump

[Rob R]

The lean aspect mentioned above should be checked out and then I'd look at those two fans you have.I suspect that they are only pulling 1/2 of what a std ridged belt driven fan will pull.
I've been doing this for a while (over 30 years) and pretty much every time a cooling problem comes my way 95% of the time it's a lean condition coupled with poor electric fan performance.
I can drive all day long in traffic in my GTX (730hp) and it never climbs over 190 and all I use is a ridged fan with a shroud and a 3 core brass rad.

[flyinlow]

With a 195 thermostat your temperature gage should steadily climb to the just past the middle of the gage then as the thermostat opens the temp should drop just a little and stabilize at the middle (195) . I run a 180 so its a little toward the cold side of the gage.Still in the normal band.

Any time you can not maintain the thermostats opening temperature your radiator or airflow is inadequate

230 deg is pretty warm. wont kill the engine today ,but you are baking the oil and trans. fluid.

I have a 470hp 440 with a Jegs generic 31 inch wide aluminum radiator. Two , 2900 cfm electric puller fans (5800cfm) B&M super coolers for oil and trans fluid.  Got stuck it traffic,88* humid. Went 1 mile in 30 minutes.  Engine temp 180*,  trans 170* Fans running the whole way. Car stayed cool,I
did not.

Run 50/50 water /antifreeze

Run a 160,180 or 195 thermostat

Unless you have a weird engine block scale problem , corroded waterpump impeller or improperly made head gasket ( all rare) you need a better radiator or fan or both

[69BlackChargerRT]

I need to pick up a new gauge and tie it in and see if my gauge is the problem (which I believe it is).  Believe it or not, I still haven't done that since I first posted this question.  Yeah I know, I don't drive the car that much, and when I do, it's only for a couple of hours (every month or so).  Shame on me 

[Brightyellow69rtse]

some people fight me to no end on this but im a firm believer in a 160 high flow t-stat for any old muscle car. i run em in my charger and camaro. my buddys mach1 mustang was runnin way hot too. when he came over the house i told him lets go the advanced/ got a 160 high flow and he loves it.

[Nacho-RT74]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBeBQJHhIj4



sorry, couldn't resist

 

[flyinlow]

One of the reasons they used to run 160* thermostats in older cars was the fact that they ran alcohol based antifreeze which would boil the alcohol out at higher temps. 180 or 195 is better for the street

Light air cooled aircraft engines used a richer mixture for take off and climb to help with the exhuast gas and cyclinder head tempuratures , then lean the mix at cruise with a lower power setting. (75% power or lower)

If I run my 446 at 100% power for any period I will die . I will hit an other car or wont make a curve or the BFG tires  will come apart.

So except for brief periods of acceleration my engine is making a small % of its power.

I you need to run a rich mixture for engine cooling with a water cooled engine, your cooling system needs some work.