sysred@psuvax.UUCP (06/16/83)
Here's another request for help with my 1961 Bugeye. Some of you may remember I had a burned exhaust valve a couple of months ago. Well, I replaced the valve (along with a bent intake valve; BTW did you know that the intake valves for 1098 CC Spridget engines are REAL CLOSE in size to valves for 948 CC engines. Real close, but not close enough [1.095 in. diameter vs. 1.150 in.]). Anyway, I bolted everything back together but am now having something of an overheating problem. I installed a 180 degree thermostat, but the engine runs at 190, rising quickly to >200 if I have to idle in traffic for more than a couple of minutes. I don't think this is normal - I don't remember the car being quite this bad last summer. A caveat - the ambient air temperature was about 90 here yesterday, and the car seemed to run cooler last night when the air dropped to 70 or so. Anyway, the coolant level is OK, the radiator is warm all over, I tried removing the thermostat altogether (with no change in symptoms), the hoses are new, and the timing is OK. What else can I check? I'd really rather not burn another valve... Thanks for all your past advice - Ralph -- Ralph Droms
wookie@alice.UUCP (06/21/83)
beside the obvious remedies for overheating like plugged radiator, belts, water pump, head gasket etc. have you looked at the timing? In my race car (where things are running at the hairy edge anyway) I can reduce the engine temperature by about 10 degrees by advancing the ignition by only one degree!! I must admit the Sunbeam is only marginal on cooling in the first place but I thought I would mention this as a not so obvious a cause. Good Luck! Keith Bauer White Tiger Racing
crc@floyd.UUCP (06/28/83)
/*If you've already gotten an answer, forgive me, I havent read the news in 10 days. */ AH HA! You've just pulled the head off.... Check the head gasket. If blow-by gases are getting into the cooling system, The car will over heat and everything will look fine. /crc
pgf@hou5f.UUCP (06/29/83)
I've lost track of the original article, but I remember something about changing the thermostat. Always remember that putting in a colder thermostat will do NOTHING to solve an overheating problem, unless the one being replaced is faulty. Your thermostat guarantees a *minimum* temperature for the engine, for fast warm-up, proper efficiency, emmision performance, etc. The *maximum* temperature is determined by the steady state dynamics of the cooling system (air flow, water flow, coolant level, etc.). A thermostat can be checked with a thermometer and a pan of water on your stove-- it should begin to open at the rated temperature, and be fully open at about 20 degrees above that. On my GT6, the engine overheated in freeway driving until I dropped the front license plate about 4 inches. It was right in front of the radiator before that. Eventually, though, I had the radiator boiled out for about thirty bucks, and the car is fine now. I tried backflushing with a commercial radiator flush before that, and it may have helped, but it also cleaned all the gunk out that had been holding my water pump bearing seals together, and I had to get a new one when it started leaking. By the way, can anyone recommend a good textbook-style book on automotive engineering? Service manuals tell you what to do, but they usually don't tell you why. Paul Fox ABI Holmdel NJ ihnp4!hou5f!pgf