Club 80-90 Forums

New engine is in and running. It idles fast and not convinced the mixture an timing are perfect but will sort that. With the new coolant system in place but no temp gauge yet, I ran it up using an infrared temp gun.

Time --- LH Head ---- RH Head ----- Thermostat to pump pipe - top of stat housing
start - ---- - 9.5 - - ---- - 10 - - - - - -- - - -- - 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -10
3min - ---- - 54 - - ----- - 54- - - -- - -- -- -- - 39 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -13
5min ---- - 66 - - ---- - 67 - - - - - -- - - -- - 48 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -18.5
7min - ---- - 70 - - ---- - 74 - - - - - -- - - -- - 60 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -26.5
10min- ---- -90 - - ---- - 92 - - - - - -- - - -- - 70 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -27
12min ---- - 100 - - ---- - 90 - - - - - -- - - -- - 75 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -30
15min- ---- - 96- - ---- - 91 - - - - - -- - - -- - 77 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -50

The rad was constantly 10-15 degrees.

The rad fan didn't kick in so will investigate that, but the engine heads seemed to fluxtuate between 90-105.
The van was ran up static on the drive without the engine lid on, but as I said, the rad wasnt working and it was slowly creeping up.

Does this sound about right? I am not sure of the operating temperature of the engine?

i would say the stat didnt open, you can see when the choke came off just after 10 mins and the mixture leaned out..... i would have expected higher temp at the rad by 15 mins to bh

What temp should they sit at? 80ish?
I'll pull the stat out and check it.
There is a possibility I have the feed and return pipes to the rad the wrong way around? would this make a great deal of difference?

yes, it would make a difference.... there is a diagram somewhere, i cant find it right now......
stat should open around 89 degc i think, but its dependant on the stat.