I have a 68 mustang coupe on which I recently had several upgrades done and now have an overheat issue. I have another thread on here concerning steam vent holes and heat. My car went back into the shop and had a head pulled to make sure the steam vent holes were drilled and we found that my block already had triangular shaped holes where edelbrock said to drill holes so that was not the cause of my over heat issue.
I had edelbrock heads installed as well as edelbrock matching cam. I already had a performer intake with 4v 500 cfm edel carb. I also have flowmaster dual exhaust with stock cast iron headers. Ignition is vac advance distributor with pertronics igniter. New plug wires. My radiator is over size copper 2 row 24x17 core with 6 blade 18” steel fan no clutch. The mechanic did put a restrictor with 5/8” hole in place of thermostat. I did have hi flow water pump installed when they did cam.
When I got the car back after upgrades it was running much hotter than before upgrades. I stalled a temp gauge with numbers and did test drive. In 4 miles I hit 210 degs with 95 outside and no a/c on. After idling few seconds went to 220 degs. I got gas at local store and headed back home. On the way turned on the a/c and when I stopped at my gate I hit 230 and shut it down.
I verified that head gaskets were on right and heads were on right. Then issue of steam holes came up. They did not drill holes so it went back to shop and found holes already there on my block. My block is C8OE. But for a week before it went back in I prowled the forums and talked to a very car savvy friend in Georgia. Forums said check gaskets, water flow direction, timing, mixture etc. One post said bleed air out of cooling system. I removed rad cap to check flow direction and had good flow at fast idle but noticed extreme air in system. Had foam coming out of radiator. So I warmed it up to 185 while massaging top rad hose and burping lots of air. I then let it cool down cranked it did it again. I did this 3 times total.
A couple days later I took it back to the shop to check for the holes. On the way there it was 80 outside, I left a/c off and drove 45 not over 50. The temp for 10 miles to town stayed at 175. When I hit stop light temp immediately went up to 180. I went through small town at 35 and then hit highway and went up to 55 mph. Temp stayed at 180 for 2 miles to RR track where I stopped and eased across. Immediately temp went to 185 and stayed there until I got to the shop 4 miles later.
Mechanic is installing hi flow thermostat in place of restrictor. And I asked him to verify timing and mixture.
So on the highway it was not bad after burping the air out but at idle it shoots up very fast. I don’t know how high it would have gone if I had to idle longer but it is worrisome that it goes up so much so fast. So I guess my question is should I put an electric pusher fan In front of radiator to help out in traffic or what? And if so does anyone know what amp the stock alternator is? I assume I will have to have a bigger alternator. If I do need new alternator what do you suggest?
All thoughts on subject appreciated.
I had edelbrock heads installed as well as edelbrock matching cam. I already had a performer intake with 4v 500 cfm edel carb. I also have flowmaster dual exhaust with stock cast iron headers. Ignition is vac advance distributor with pertronics igniter. New plug wires. My radiator is over size copper 2 row 24x17 core with 6 blade 18” steel fan no clutch. The mechanic did put a restrictor with 5/8” hole in place of thermostat. I did have hi flow water pump installed when they did cam.
When I got the car back after upgrades it was running much hotter than before upgrades. I stalled a temp gauge with numbers and did test drive. In 4 miles I hit 210 degs with 95 outside and no a/c on. After idling few seconds went to 220 degs. I got gas at local store and headed back home. On the way turned on the a/c and when I stopped at my gate I hit 230 and shut it down.
I verified that head gaskets were on right and heads were on right. Then issue of steam holes came up. They did not drill holes so it went back to shop and found holes already there on my block. My block is C8OE. But for a week before it went back in I prowled the forums and talked to a very car savvy friend in Georgia. Forums said check gaskets, water flow direction, timing, mixture etc. One post said bleed air out of cooling system. I removed rad cap to check flow direction and had good flow at fast idle but noticed extreme air in system. Had foam coming out of radiator. So I warmed it up to 185 while massaging top rad hose and burping lots of air. I then let it cool down cranked it did it again. I did this 3 times total.
A couple days later I took it back to the shop to check for the holes. On the way there it was 80 outside, I left a/c off and drove 45 not over 50. The temp for 10 miles to town stayed at 175. When I hit stop light temp immediately went up to 180. I went through small town at 35 and then hit highway and went up to 55 mph. Temp stayed at 180 for 2 miles to RR track where I stopped and eased across. Immediately temp went to 185 and stayed there until I got to the shop 4 miles later.
Mechanic is installing hi flow thermostat in place of restrictor. And I asked him to verify timing and mixture.
So on the highway it was not bad after burping the air out but at idle it shoots up very fast. I don’t know how high it would have gone if I had to idle longer but it is worrisome that it goes up so much so fast. So I guess my question is should I put an electric pusher fan In front of radiator to help out in traffic or what? And if so does anyone know what amp the stock alternator is? I assume I will have to have a bigger alternator. If I do need new alternator what do you suggest?
All thoughts on subject appreciated.
