Did a little bit of work on Dice's cooling system..... he runs and drives great, so he kind of gets neglected.....
Last winter, I noticed he would never warm up above 170* or so..... around town or on the highway.....
This summer, he would run hotter than I thought he should..... especially up grades..... of course the mechanical water temp gauge is a cheap Chinese POS.....
I go to Bakersfield CA once or twice a month..... up and over Tehachapi on Hwy. 58.....
The temp would climb 20* up a grade..... then drop 20* on the downhill side.....
I'm thinking he's got a thermostat stuck open..... or maybe no thermostat..... Hahaha!...... who would be stupid enough to do that!.....
Like I said..... Dice runs good so I never made it a priority.....
Until today.....
Drained the coolant...... removed the water outlet......
Damn!...... someone was stupid enough!..... no thermostat at all!..... coolant was running through the system too fast to cool it in the hot weather.....
Popped in a 192* thermostat...... complete with Jiggly Pin....... they're all the rage I hear.....
Got it all buttoned up..... the hoses were Daycos...... in very good condition..... no need to swap out.....
After filling up the system with 50/50..... looked closely at the cap..... "Made In Germany"!..... WTH!!!..... Thinking back..... I don't believe the German radiator cap ever jived with the coolant overflow outlet..... the overflow bottle was always dry..... even with a good hose going to it..... must be a result of the Cold War in 1978.....
It was fortuitous {that means "lucky"} that I bought a new radiator cap..... 16 PSI..... Lever-Type..... I like these caps because you can release pressure and remove the cap without getting 3rd degree burns on your inside forearm..... usually......
Now..... I have a full set of Autometer gauges to install..... with a new dash panel...... when I get ambitious.....
Here are the POS Equus gages..... you can buy them from Summit Racing...... for one-fourth of the cost of an Autometer gauge.....
You can tell the quality of the Equus gauges by the way the mechanical oil pressure gauge is filling up with oil internally.....
I need to drive to Bako tomorrow...... we'll see how Dice runs with a thermostat!.....
