Took the P car out to see the local SCCA guys run the Fernley-Reno Raceway and then up to the Virginia City Ferrari hill climb today. What perfect weather and a great day; that is until I arrive home, park #7024 whereby she gurgles profusely and spits about a quart of water/coolant on the garage floor from the overflow tube. No prior indication of o/heating and has been running dead on 185 (185 t-stat installed) all the time (Vegas and Monterey trips included) since I did a complete upgrade of the cooling system early this year vis; Fluidyne radiator, Flexalite fans, stainless coolant tubes, Milodon high volume water pump and 185 Robert Shaw Cleveland T-stat.
My order of priority checking the cooling system wil be by 'ease of check' I guess, with first being the fans & fuses, then t-stat and some fingers crossed. Any other armchair mechanic suggestions?
The hill climb was a great event, 5.2 mile course, 1200 ft elevation rise (from around 5500 ft at the start) but those Ferrari guys were mainly just out for a fast Sunday drive. The only guys I saw pushing it were a Ford GT, the mustangs (including a couple GT 350’s) and the vipers. No Panteras to be seen, and what an event so well suited to our cars, so this winter I’ve decided that I need to prep the car to try out the hill climb next May. That is if I can get a spot, which apparently is a whole other story as one local P car guy told me he had tried to no avail…me thinks them F car owners might be afraid of getting shown up! Getting the car track ready will also maybe give me a chance to run the Silver State and some local SCCA club trials, not withstanding putting #7024 on the track at Pahrump. I’ve run out of road locally where I can really open it up without the fear of some cop around the next corner, so the track is a natural progression and a must to keeping my license intact.
Julian
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