[Amc-list] Nick Frank or Davis - thermostats

[Nick ALFANO <71amx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

JT,
 
Tell me a little about the rebuild and what temp thermostat are you currently running?  What temp is your engine getting up to while it is running?  Do you have a fan shroud and how many core radiator do you have?  When you rebuilt the engine, what over bore did you end up with and was the block sonic tested for cylinder thickness.
 
I would run between a 180-190 degree thermostat.  If you have a shroud, a three core radiator and good water pump and it is running over 200 with a 180 degree thermostat, there could be a couple things going on.  One, if this is an old radiator, it could be partially plugged not allowing the coolant to flow through the radiator properly.  Have it flushed and tested.  You could also have air in the cooling system that is not purging out or an improper mixture of coolant to water.  Your thermostat might also be bad already.  Wouldn't be the first time a new one went bad right away.  Also check your timing and fuel mixture.  An improperly tuned engine can run hot and if really lean and a lot of timing, you could melt a piston.  If all of these things check out fine, you might have a cylinder or two that are too thin.and not be able to dissipate the heat from the cylinders enough.  While this is something that should have been addressed with a sleeve when
 the rebuild was taking place, there are still options.  One would be to put a higher flow aluminum water pump and or a larger capacity radiator or an aluminum cross flow that cools better.  There are also additives for the coolant that is meant to reduce operating temp.  This might help if they are not too thin or too many of them that way.
 
I would check the easy stuff first and progress to the more severe until you find the cause.  All too ofter I hear of guys who bore their engines .040 over  or more without doing a sonic test first.  Some AMC V8 you can bore to the moon, while others that might have had a core shift, are borderline at .030 over.  When a cylinder gets to .125 or less thickness, proper cooling becomes an issue.  Anything less than .125, I would sleeve.
 
One thing you really want to be careful of right now is getting too hot.  While running a little on the hot side helps the rings seat fast, too hot can and will most likely do permanent damage so be careful and keep a watchful eye on the temp.   If it gets in the 220 and up range or into the red on the stock gage, turn off the engine and let it cool down before starting again.  
 
 
Nick,
 
 
Alfano Performance
4849-76 st.
Kenosha, WI. 53142
262-308-1302
262-942-8271 after 6pm central and weekends 
 
 
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:05:50 -0400
From: "Thomas, Jeff" <jeff.thomas@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Amc-list] Nick Frank or Davis - thermostats
To: amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:
    <2BEA03C6137B454CB50F2E92146D05CA167DC688@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Guys,
Do you have a recommendation for a thermostat brand/heat range on a
newly rebuilt, mainly stock AMC 360 4BBL. I have the 6090 heads from an
73 
AMC 401 if that helps. After my break-in, my engine seems to be running
hot.

J T
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://splatter.wps.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/amc-list