I purchased my 1968 Firebird 350 a bit North of Chicago last weekend. I drove it back on an 80 degree Labor Day Friday in heavy stop and go traffic (5 hours to travel 195 miles). The water temp gauge reached 220 degrees when I was sitting still (idling) at one point. The oil light started flashing, the engine starting knocking hard an I thought it was going to stall. At that point, I exited the highway, drove around a local neighborhood and it cooled back down to 195. I was able to get back on the highway and learned that if I maintained at least 5 MPH (keeping a distance between me and the car in front of me), the car never reached 220 again.
Now that I'm back in Michigan, I've had the chance to drive the car around our local highways. Yesterday I was on a 15 mile trip, it was 85 degrees out, I was traveling at 70 MPH constantly and the temp was at about 200 degrees.
I guess I have a few questions:
1. Is 200 degrees normal on a short drive, doing 70 MPH with the outside temp at 85? 2. I don't know what thermostat I have in the car. I assume a 190. Should I look at a 160, especially if I'm going to be in start and stop traffic on a hot day? 3. What do the rest of you do when you end up in start and stop traffic in hot weather?
