Help: V6 overheat

[cdk84]

Hello All:

I've just bought a 2.8 V6 which is reported to drive fine on the highway, but overheats in traffic. It's got a "heavy duty radiator" and the car is purported to be 'professionally built.' (I think I remember it being on ebay, as the seller says, 7 years ago when the car left CA)

Also it has seen only low miles since that transaction -less than 200 mpy (year!)

The 1976 Cologne engine has a performance cam, headers and a 4 bbl. More than that I can't say, because I haven't yet seen or driven the car. The seller said his mechanic ordered and would install a new t-stat.

My questions are:
First: could the t-stat be the problem? If so, what's the proper temp range?

Second: if it's not the t-stat, what might be causing the overheat? Cooling system flush in order? where do I start to look for a source? should I look for AF in the oil, or vice versa? Do these engines have a habit of blowing head gaskets?

(the 1976 engine has been rebuilt, again "professionally," and I would think a 'heavy duty radiator' ought to manage the heat)

Third: is there a way to get the speedo / odometer to work with this setup, preferably without changing the gauge?

Fourth: what shocks work well with the extra weight of the V6 for performance street / track day handling?

Thanks everyone for your help. As soon as I get a couple of ideas I can pass them along to the seller's mechanic. I've thought of having him flush the radiator because the car has been driven 1000 miles in the last 7 years (!!-why?)

Hope that's enough information to help y'all help me. Thanks in advance, and

Best Wishes,
David / Fin Fan

 

[Bill Blue]

First things first: The temp gauges on these cars are notorious liars. Have you verified it is truly overheating? Second, air flow is critical. What kind of radiator fan setup does it have? As far as running temperature is concerned, probably anything in the 180-210 range would be considered fine.

Bill

 

[V6 JOSE]

Hi David,

You didn't mention a fan. An engine mounted fan is the best way to cool the V6. A heavy duty radiator is a good, (and important), start, but the V6 needs a lot of air moving through the radiator and out of the engine bay, in order to keep it cool. The V6 is a pretty tight fit into the Alpine engine bay, so it needs a lot of help moving the air past the engine too. I recommend using a Volvo plastic gan, because it will move quite a bit of air.

The V6 was designed to run hotter, because of smog requirements. If the temp doesn't go over 210, and doesn't lose water, I wouldn't worry about it. As Bill said, the Alpine temp gauge is notorious for reading hot. You might want to put a new thermostat, with the range from 180/190. I would also suggest drilling a .125 in the outer ring of it, so the engine will not have any air pockets that can cause over heating.

Jose

 

[Tom H]

There's been tons written about Sunbeam cooling - Tigers, Alpines, and V6s.

Bill's advice to verify the overheating is right on. If you verify that you have a cooling / overheating problem see these articles:

http://www.tigersunited.com/techtips/SteveLaifmanValance/pt-SteveLaifmanValance1.asp

(Be sure to keep going to additional pages)

http://www.teae.org/cooling/cooling_article.html

( A VERY thorough set of tests and conclusions)

Main conlcusion - need better airflow through the radiator. Accomplished via some or all of the following : electric fan, shroud, block the horn holes, add some additional bafffles to force air through the radiator instead of around it.

Tom

 

[tony perrett]

If you think that the t-stat may be faulty, try running without it. My experience with flushing blocked rads is that it is seldom effective.

 

[Jim E]

All I can say is dang-it why didn't you buy my V6 S3...