Do all A bodies have overheating problems?

bluefish1967 said
Thanks for all of the input!!!

Based on what I've read, and the fact that the upper radiator hose was reading 221 degrees and the lower was 210, it has to be airflow and/or flow through the radiator. So I tried an experiment tonight. I removed the Milidon high volume thermostat and tested it in bowling water with my IR gun. While it was somewhat inconsistent with its' opening temp ( 180 ), I was surprised at how much of an opening it has ( hence, high flow ). So, maybe it is flowing too quickly through the radiator and not giving it time to cool. I never tried the high volume pump with a normal thermostat.
I'm still at the belief that my fan is not correct, but I want to try one thing at a time.
Unfortunately, the parts houses did not have a thermostat, so I won't have it till tomorrow. As with the case of this car, and it's age, the only parts I can usually get off the shelf are oil and sometimes an oil filter...LOL.
So I'm going to try my current combination with a stock 180 thermostat and see what happens. I'm also going to explore different types of fans. I'kk keep you posted. Thanks. Larry

I would not change that stat! It sets the minimum operating temperature. The minimum. The minimum. Since at anything over 30 mph, your water temp settles down to the minimum, that stat is working perfectly. And that pump needs that stat to work properly.
The moving thru the block too fast, if it occurs at all,will not occur until higher than 5000 rpm. Since I am not having that kind of trouble at 7000 rpm with the same pump and stat, I see this as a non issue for you. Even if you had 4.30s your rpm in first gear at 30mph would still only be 4400. At idle your engine is turning what?, 800 or less. If anything you would need to speed it up!
You want to experiment?, try this; Get your car warmed up, to where the temp starts escalating, then drizzle a fine mist of water onto the front of the rad. Fine enough to to evaporate on the trip through the fins but not enough volume to drown the engine behind it.The goal is to have the rad evaporate the fine mist. It takes a tremendous amount of heat energy to evaporate water. Flooding the rad will not prove anything.The mist has to be evaporating on the trip thru the fins.
I can almost guarantee you that the temp will begin to drop back to the minimum running temp. Unless your fan cannot even pull that little bit of moist air thru the rad.
Have you ever been in traffic in the rain? What was the temperature doing?

BTW, when testing the stat, it has to be suspended in the liquid with no surface in contact with the pot. Your IR gun will not read the water temp properly. You need a proper liquid-testing thermometer.