200ci Overheating

i have a 65 mustang 200 and it runs hot at about 230 but never boils over( checked it with an infrared thermometer) . i have read through other posts that are similar and have tried everything. i am at my wits end and i could really use some suggestions. i it is a freshly rebuilt been bored .030 over and has a/c. i have changed to a 2 row aluminum radiator new water pump thermostat etc.. i have put an electric fan on with shroud. i have tried a cooler spark plug auto lite copper core 46 to 45 . i have a duraspark 2 ignition. my timing is set to 12btdc and i have flushed and burped the system. carb is brand new and everything is set correctly. i have good flow throughout the system. any help would be much appreciated.

What is the real coolant temp? What thermostat temp? Do you run a coolant overflow tank? If it’s not boiling over it is probably not too hot! An infrared thermometer is measuring the exterior surface temp so is not necessarily giving you an accurate temp that’s inside the blocks cooling system. What cap pressure do you run? In my opine an electric fan or two is not going to out cool an Eng. driven fan. Straight mechanical fan uses about 15 HP to turn it you just can not really match that with even a pair of electric fans 750 watts = 1 HP. So if you really have a cooling problem you could be going the wrong direction. The very best combo in my OPIN is a thermostatically controlled clutch fan with the proper sized fan shroud. Thats just my $.02

thanks for the reply, i havent been able to get a good thermometer to measure actual water temp in the radiator, currently i have tried a 160 180 and 192 thermostat and none solved my problem( also running straight water ). so right now i am running just somthing that will control the flow like a thermostat but doesnt regulate the temp. i have the old 4 blade fan and shroud that i will try. i took them off and put on the elec. fan when i got the new rad.
Thanks for your input,

Josh

also i have shot a reading of the water in the rad and it is about 215-220. i am running a 13lb cap without an overflow.

The only reason it bothers me is that when it doe get that hot when i come to a stop or anything that kind of jolts the car it dies, also when i take of it will sputter real bad and is hard to start back up again. it only does this when it is at that temp. i dont know if it related to that or if i have another problem. thanks again

Josh

If this is a street car I would try running the 192 thermostat it is not going to control anything other than the opening temp and flow There are high flow types for performance use. I would invest in a good temp gauge or three gauge set before you change the fan out it still may be working okay. I would run a 50/50 mix of ant. (Rated for use with Alum) & distilled water. It takes Eng. temps of at least 190 degrees to keep the sludge from forming in the oil system. A properly operating cooling system (no air) and not losing coolant can be okay at 220 to 240. A 13 psi cap rasies boiling point of water to 245 degrees and with a 50/50 mix of ethylene glycol & distilled water can go up to 260 with out engine damage from heat.

a 13lb cap might be okay you could rasie it more I would for sure put on an overflow tank right away this would help make sure there is no air in system.

Go to a store that sells CANDY making thermometers.They sell for appx 10 bucks including tax.They are pretty accurate.The way that I use it to determine COOLANT temps,is to insert the thermometer into the rad BEFORE starting the engine.That way you can determine the OPENING temp of the THERMOSTAT and the ultimate temp of the coolant.
Use the proper coolant mix,as it will cool MUCH better that straight water.
Good luck.Have fun.
Leo

Thanks for the input will try it out and let yall know what going on.

What do u think would cause the sputtering and stall at stops? And the sputtering happens between 1500-2500 rpm (usually at heavy acceleration takeoffs)

I think you will maybe need to look at fuel system for that problem Fuel needs to be kept cool enough not to boil! You can try a thicker or multi. Gaskets under the carb and or a heat shield. Insulate fuel line or try the old wooden clothespins trick on it (clip on spring type). And than or also a weak coil can cause that too. You can test that with it running but only if you have the right insulated ign. pliers (you can get nailed). A good coil will jump about 1/2 inch and more with a bright blue spark if it's yellow and short its bad some weak coils also stop working right from heat soak with higher temps in eng. compartment.

I thought about it and i bought the DSII ingnition system and i pired in the Gold Balast Resistor but i didnt mount it to the the car it just kind of hanging. it gets real hot. if it got to hot do you think it could be the cause, along with the fuel getting hot.
Thanks
Josh

I am not saying that it would be both (though it could be) that is usually not likely, best way is always do one thing at a time and do those that are the least cost first. To many changes at once and it gets harder to know what dose and doesn’t work. It's harder for me to know what parts combo you have without seeing it in person or full description of the parts used, that’s why I am asking some of these questions. With your latest clues I am now focusing more on the ignition as the cause of your problem.

Gold Balast Resistor but i didnt mount it to the the car it just kind of hanging. it gets real hot.

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Is not really good to for it to be hanging it could short out against metal, so mount it and you eliminate that as a poss. DSII is very good system some don't need a Ballast Resistor you need to know year of car you got it from and duplicate that wiring from ign. sw. to the control box, on mine I usally pick up all the parts from same car and use the stock wiring harness from distrib. to coil and the control box than it's just a simple two wire hook up. Did you remove the org. resistor wire (pink wire)or the points system or run a new 12v source wire from ignition switch? If not you may have too much resistance now. Also which carb are you using? The org. carb (with SCV) would need to be mod'ed some for the right ported vacuum source for the DSII.

i have a simmilar problem, when my engine gets too hot my carb boils over and floods my engine, im going to make a shroud arround my pair of electric fans to help direct the air onto the engine, i will also be making a heat sheild out of aluminum over my headers

i bought my ignition system new from classic inlines. i got the kit and i did tie into the origanal pink wire which i will change. i was talking to a buddy and he said to have my vacuum advanced hooked to a ported source? right now i have it hooked up to the carb spacer underneath my carb. i do have the stock carb. so i need to figurer out a way to modify it for advance.

As far as the carb is concerned, a few guys have been making a spacer out of that phenolic or plastic stuff that's used for cutting boards.
I made one and stuck some home-made paper gaskets on either side.
The later model cars, like my Fairmont came with a factory spacer that had two plastic washers built in. I needed to replace this as they had busted and I'm too cheap to buy new.
The use of spacer seems to help the overheated carb issue.

The use of spacer seems to help the overheated carb issue.

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Make sure the heater hoses are routed through the carb spacer. A phenolic spacer is good too, but the stock config worked just fine.

Also, a lean condition will cause overheating.

Make sure you purge all the air from the cooling system by letting the warm engine idle for fifteen minutes or so while you watch the coolant flow by the filler opening. You will be surprised how many bubbles actually come up after ten minutes or so. Purge all the air you can and fill within a half inch of the top before you put the cap back on.

A couple thoughts on all the good ideas already given...

+1 the phenolic spacer
+1 the heat shield hovering over exhaust idea (will be doing one myself)
-As for coolant hoses going through carb spacer re:fuel boil not overheating, there is some debate that they can actually help to 'cool' the carb (IMO I think they were mainly intended for warming and better fuel atomization). Easy enough to check effects by piking up a 5/8 x 5/8 fitting (plastic from the Dorman/Help section or brass from the Home Despot) and byspass spacer temporarily.
-Maintaining an Overflow reservoir will ensure full purging & full system as well as providing some slight excess cooling capacity (keeps system full)

I think your main issue is fuel boiling/heat soak at the carb ($.02 from a fellow Texan)....ignition is fairly binary (run/don't run...although stranger things have happened).

BUT, I'm not sure about your advance being hooked to the 'carb spacer'...if you mean pvc connection I think your vacuum might be too high there (little closer to the carb venturi/main restriction) than if it were connected to the plug on the side of the log. Maybe not a huge difference in total vacuum to the DSII, but over advance can cause overheating and hard starting as well. I'd plum it to the plug coming off the side of the intake log IIWIYS, and also consider lowering initial timing a little below 12* (which is really absolute max for a stocker) just to see how it does.

I'm .030 over but no a/c (however there is an abandandoned condensor coil still mounted). I'd also make sure your condensor coil is clean/clear of debris...low volume fan pattern on garden hose sprayer will do it.

As mentioned, it's tough to find an electric fan that can pull/push the cfm a mechnical one can (important for your idle issue, as it sounds like you run cool enough when underway=air flow issue).
Good luck!
EDIT: one last one while I'm spitballin...make sure a/c is not overcharged...too much freon too much heat at condensor vs too little=frozen at evaporator(under dash unit)

i bought my ignition system new from classic inlines. i got the kit and i did tie into the origanal pink wire which i will change.

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was thinking you had a used system of parts! "new from classic inlines" thats great so we can rule all those parts out as a cause. So what parts are you using to control the DSII was it a kit with Dyna Module and Inferno Coil, or are you using a Ford DSII control box & coil, or an HEI (GM) to control?

For the Dyna Module or Ford DSII control box to work on that ign. wire from the switch. Hook it up with either the org. pink wire or best way is to run a new separate 12v source wire to the ballast just don't use both together. If you are using a GM type HEI you will need to run a new 12v source wire it would not be used with ballast or the resistor wire.

i was talking to a buddy and he said to have my vacuum advanced hooked to a ported source? right now i have it hooked up to the carb spacer underneath my carb. i do have the stock carb. so i need to figurer out a way to modify it for advance.

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Your budy is right For the stock carb you will need mod by removing the SCV and plug that hole you want to have ported source of vacuum to the DSII advance can. With it hooked up under the carb you now have full manifold vacuum. There are many that use it this way with good results, so it’s more a mater of personal preference, in my opinion it doesn’t work as well for a mostly stock engine because advance is pulled in a lot faster. If you have lots of performance mods and are good at tuning than it can also be made to work well with full manifold vacuum. So now I would focus on the ignition wire first and see how it doses when you get that resolved.

I have put an overflow tank on and have plugged the scv port on the carb and running it like that but have not had a chance to take it out for a drive since then. i have also put some insulation on the fuel line which helped a little. i forgot to mention that it runs hot at idle and even when I am on the highway doing 60. i do have the kit with Dyna Module and Inferno Coil. i will hook it up to a 12v source w/ resistor and try again. my a/c is not overcharged i have a manifold gauge set and i am running r-12( it blows nice and cold ). The guy that helped me do the engine work (and the buddy who told me about the advance) is about 60 and hes been a machinist for about 40 yrs. hes is out of town right now but i will probably take it over to him Sunday afternoon and let him check it out if i cant get it worked out before then, but if you've got anymore ideas let me know.
Thanks for the reply's,

Josh