quote:Originally posted by nemophoto:
I have a 1972 early "L" with about 60,000 miles. I bought it about five years ago and it sat in various mechanics garages until I found a good restoration guy to do just basic mechanical work, rather than a restoration. (If you live in Central PA, I highly recommend Kelby Steele at Steele Motors in Enola, PA.) Anyway, I finally got the car back on the road in late March and drive it a few times a week. I have to admit, the temp gauge often scares the crap out of me, especially on warm days. The cooling system has had mods: stainless steel tanks and pipes, high output pusher fans (I think I got them a while back from Hall). Still, the norm seems to be the mark before you hit 230. Is this the norm, or should it be running much cooler? At it's worst it creeps awfully close to 230. I also wonder if it's actually the gauge (and that all is fine) since I've sometimes seen the gauge erratically bounce between the "norm" and 160. I've also thought of using Red Line's Water Wetter. Anyone used that with any success. Thanks for the input.
Nemo
Don't trust the factory temperature gauge. The sender is not matched to the gauge on these cars for starters. Ford had a technical service bulletin that actually had the mechanics at the dealerships install a resister in the wire going to the gauge to reduce temperatures. I played around with some resisters and actually had my factory gauge quite close, but I never completely trusted it.
If your gauge is jumping around, you most likely have a bad ground or a loose connection somewhere. You should look at the gound to start with. Get a temperature gun and shoot the water outlet line from the engine and compare the temperature reading between it and the gauge. There is a shop in New Mexico that can take the Veglia oil pressure and water temperature gauges and install VDO? internals with a matching sending unit. The gauges will look factory, but at least the sending units will be matched. That will give you a good idea of how hot this engine is actually running during all types of driving conditions.
I tried Water Wetter years ago and didn't see much of a change in operating temperatures. It can't hurt to use it, but I wouldn't expect any miracles.
There are also the other items that others here are suggesting, such as making sure there is no air in the system. These are all very good suggestions being made by some very knowledgeable members.