Reply to "Help Needed - Cooling System problems"

Everything ran great for a while and then a week later some mountain driving coincided with more climbing temps. I concluded altitude sickness was the fault but after it persisted at lower elevations for a day longer I begged for help. Fortunately for me, John Christian (master engine builder from Detroit), Mike Drew (who did not drive my car prior to it acting badly and thus could not be blamed) and several others were around to assist. John pulled my carb completely apart, checked EVERY little tube, needle, screw and passage but could find no fault. He put it back together and I went for a test drive. The problem was gone and the car had never run better. After another 1000 km of crazy driving in the mountains and back home at sea level, the car still runs great and has ZERO overheating or running issues. Whatever John did (he swears he did nothing) exorcised some demons. In fairness, on our trip several guys had rough running issues and we have concluded that we got bad 94 octane gas somewhere. We were filling up twice a day so the odds are that some crap got sucked in and stuck for a while.

In my case, the overheating was accompanied by engine pinging (which I conclude was a result of running lean), so if you're getting that when your engine is at full running temp, and your timing is verified as correct, then checking fuel/air mix might help. Although I can't be certain exactly WHAT was giving me issues, the ONLY thing that actually corrected it was messing with the carb.

Good luck George.

Mark