jason450

Hey guys I got a 90 lx recently this is my 3rd mustang. The previous owner claims the car should run at 165 degrees... That seems real low to me, and as soon as it warms up and you drive it runs around 200-210. Its a carb 302 bored 40 over( 308) wieand intake,cam, edlebrock carb, GT40 heads, etc. Let me know anything will help. Water pump is working great and radiator is good, has a constant electric fan on also. Thanks!

mstngsule68

drop a new 180 tstat in it. and id suggest rewiring that fan.

jason450

Thanks. He claims the car has a 160 tstat. I took it out and just let it free flow, there in no heat or ac nothing its a drag car. Still runs 205-210, And the fan blows and work flawless, any other ideas?

mjr46

sometimes if a stat is to cool it'll allow the coolant to constantly circulate and not remain in the radiator long enogh for the heat to be removed, put a 180 in and see how that works

jason450

Alright thanks! ill try that, should i run a lower one or is 180 a decent one to start with. He said the other tstat was a 160 or something

302army187

nope, you need a 180, anything lower will make the car run rich all the time trying to heat the car up.

projectresto83

180 is fine

1990lxhatch

210 is ideal. Christ, you shouldn't even build pressure in the system at that point. You don't even need a radiator cap at 200-210.

If your fox runs that cool, you should feel lucky. I need an electric fan, 3 core rad and a 160 stat to pull off 210. Underdrive pulleys and hogged stock heads add to my cooling needs.... but by no means do you need to worry about your temps.

start biting your nails around 245

jason450

Alright, well i was just woundering you know? He had a 160 in there and its runs up to 210 and i shut it off. He claims that if the car runs over 180 shut it off. Doesent sounds really realistic to me. My 87 ran 210, but he said no no no it will do damage etc etc. So im trying to keep as cool as possible. Its got a electric fan also, and its constant... never shuts off and it blows amazing. So i guess then 180 tstat guys? ill buy one tomorrow, I heard "stant" was a good aftermarket tstat. Let me know, and thanks a ton guys... this makes everything 20x easyer.

67mustang302

I don't understand how some people have such cooling problems. A lot of the problems are probably crappy radiators, some of them out there just plain suck and don't work. I'm running a high flow mech pump with a stock(1967) 3 core copper/brass radiator and the engine never sees anything over 210 unless it's over 100 degrees outside and I'm pulling a hill. And that's with underdrive pullies.

As far as stats, 180 is fine, I run a 195 and it never fully opens until the outside temp is at least 75-80. Even at 165 it won't run pig rich, that's only true for EFI cars where the computer won't go into closed loop. But carb'd cars are better off running hotter anyway to help with fuel vaporization. Too cold and the fuel may not totally vaporize and you might end up with fouled plugs and lost power/mileage.

I wouldn't worry about 210, 230 is where you need to start to worry. Try a 180 and see what it does, the stat might just be bad. Otherwise, the radiator is inadequate or needs to be rodded out.