2+2 is definitely right about the T-stat. I live in Barstow, CA and its 100+ all summer long. I was having some cooling issues and found out that there was no thermostat installed on my 302. I dropped a 195 stat in and she runs steady around 200 all day long. Not having one in there in a cold area will keep the engine colder than it should be and in a hot area wont allow sufficient time for the coolant to cool while passing through the radiator. It's a double edge sword in my opinion. Pretty car!

 

that gunk was from the coolant yesterday, ill take some more pics today to show you what ive done with the fan. im gonna order a new thermostat today its a shame that it takes 10 days to get it but i only drive the car few times a month so no big deal... thanks

 

another question guys, where is a good place to pick up some nice pretty guages that I can hook and also look pretty in the car. something like a water termp, oil and maybe a voltage meter all in one. maybe ill buy a stat and some guages from the same place...

 

i was thinking.....the thermostat is more for cold weathers. so that when the weather is cold and the car is cold, the thermostat closes to keep the water in the engine circulating not allowing water to enter to the radiator so that it keeps the engine warm. when the weather is 100 degrees out, the car will always be running warm so thus the thermostat will always be open constantly letting the water to circulate through the rad as if there was no thermostat. so whats the difference of actually having one in warm countries?

 

Below is the pic of the spacer that i didnt have on and on top of that i had the fan installed backwards. it wouldnt fit the othe way as i touched the bottom pulley and thought it could only go on one way. now that i put the spacer there was room to flip the fan the correct way and much more air is being pulled.



just some more shots




and from front...

 

As PatrickL said, it's a double edge sword. Irregardless of the heater the Tstat is designed to get the engine to operating temp. (190*-210* basically) and keep it there no matter the weather outside. Ford designed the engine to work at this temp for efficiency, emissions, HP and wear. If you run the engine too hot or too cold you increase all of the above.
In hotter weather with no Tstat the water circulates constantly and has no time to cool in the rad. which is what it's designed for so the fluid could increase to boiling temp. and never cool down, imagine sitting in traffic not moving for 15min. with the fluid just moving in a circle and the engine temp continuing to rise.

As far as gauges you can get a triple set from many suppliers in either electric or mechanical, both work well, some hardcore car guys only swear by the mech. but electrics have come a long way and are a lot easier to install. I read a test done by a magazine and they found only a 5% diff. at most between the 2 types of gauges and many read exactly the same.

Take a look at something like:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G2925-V/

I prefer the full sweeps like these as they're easier to glance at. They're pretty easy to hang under your dash towards the middle and you just need to run a wire through a hole in the firewall vs. having to push a big sender through with the mech. type.


I did a search and limited it to just oil/water/volt and got 28 kits, you can sort them by price:

http://www.summitracing.com/search/S...keyword=gauges

Jon

 

yea i think your right i went for a spin in the middle of the day with no stat and the temp was on 3/4 the whole way towards an hour into my journey. i was on local roads with stop signs and stop lights. then towards the uphill to my house it went to almost the H.

 

I think your fan is still a bit too far out of the shroud, should be half in and half out.

 

that pic is not good, it is half in half out. you guys think its the stat thats preventing it from staying cool? what temp does the engine usually run at? 190? if thats the case that means the stat is always open? so how would it keep the engine cooler?

 

Cyprus,
I understand your thought process on the T-Stat being open equating to not having one at all. Consider this. The opening of the thermostat is much smaller diamater then the T-stat housing. Im not sure what kind of flow rate your pump has, but by placing a "cork with a hole" in the line you are restricting some of that flow, giving more time for the fluid in the radiator to cool. If Im wrong about my description, that is fine, but I can vouch for my 302 that it runs too hot WITHOUT a thermostat in 100+ heat.