Went up Thursday morning came home Sunday. It's a 200 mile one way for me. Was 100+ everyday we were there. Pretty stressful trip for me this year. Not the usually fun and games it has been in the past. Car ran great all the way up. Thursday was all good. Friday was good until late afternoon when I decided to take it to the Peppermill show and shine. Got stuck in their" cruise lane " for about 40 minutes and the car overheated. Had to get some help to push it into a parking spot. I noticed on the way there that my voltage was dropping in my battery. Obviously my alternator wasn't working anymore. I had to drive it back to my hotel at night on about 11.4 volts. I made it. Got up Saturday morning and went to Summit to buy and alternator. 20 minute install and everything was good again. Volts reading 13.2-13-8 again but now I'm afraid if I drive it anywhere I'm going to get stuck in traffic. So after a little get together with some Firebird buds I take the car back and leave it at the hotel. Sunday we get up early to blow town before traffic gets bad and as soon as I get on the freeway the car starts cutting out intermittently. No way I can drive it home over Donner Pass and the sierras and 200 miles back home. So I"m starting to think about where I can leave the car for a few days or a week till I can come back with a trailer and get it. The I notice the numbers of my Throttle Position Sensor are bouncing all over the place. I turn around and go back to Summit and spend $50 on a new one. 5 minute install and all is good. Make the 200 mile trip home without any additional trouble. Of course I didn't turn the car off. Not even when I stopped for gas. Not going to tempt fate like that. Man, I was never so happy to pull into my own driveway. I think it might be a couple years till I'm up for that again. I'm starting to see the advantages of a truck and trailer. Next project is to make the car so that it can sit idling in 100+ temps all day long and not overheat.
I hear you Robert, this NorCal heat wave the past few weeks has been nasty. Finally cooler this week. While on your trip up I-80 did you suffer the smoke from all the fires? The north valley has been really thick for weeks, but getting better.
It was a bit smoky here and there on the way up. It was pretty bad Thursday in Reno. Almost hard to make out the mountains but it got progressively better Firday and Saturday.
Glad your back safe. Mine gets hot when I am in real heat as well. I had the water pump rebuilt by a well known Pontiac guy, and I have the shroud, and all the correct factory set up. Thinking I might get the radiator cleaned out and rebuilt, or maybe put a small 10in electric on it for some extra cooling.
Cant wait for summer... 68HO4004spvert Sleddog Iowa
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Yeah you hear guys all the time saying I did this or that and my heat issues are completely gone. Alum rad, different fans, all the baffles, blah blah blah. But everybody has something different and when you start upping the hp the heat the engine generates is bound to to go up too. So the stock system just won't get it anymore. But then that what hot rodding is all about. Innovation and out of the box thinking. Thing is mostly it's fine until outside temps get in the 100s and that usually doesn't happen around here so I keep thinking it's all good and then all of a sudden I get the double whammy, heat wave and stop and go, and everything goes off the rails. Guess I'm going to have to get one of those propane garage heaters and point it at the car and idle it for an hour and a half to see if my fix works.
Firebob, do you drive in 100+ weather, stop and go, often enough for this to be a real concern? I'd bet $$ that none of our birds could handle that.
Last October, I was in 90-92 degree weather in a cruise line for about 45 minutes. The car got to about 220 degrees. That's a bit hotter than I like. No issue though...except... it vapor locked on me when I was parking it. Had to get a little help.
I'm a hobbyist. Not a professional. Don't be hatin'!
I get into stop and go in outside temps over 100 rarely but it does seem to happen on occasion and I would like it if it was a non-issue. There's enough other stuff to worry about. The car reached 248 before I shut it down. I'm just glad my rad didn't blow a seam or, worse, damage the motor. I don't want it to ever happen it again and I'm going to do whatever it takes so it doesn't.
Moving..the car has no heat issues. Traffic in normal temps the car has no heat issues. 100+ temps and no air circulating through the engine compartment and we have a problem. I did notice a few cars running hood less. I have to wonder if it was not just to show off what they had under it as much as making sure the underhood heat didn't build up high enough to create difficulties. At any rate I only have a couple more wires to hook up and my fan installation will be complete. We shall see what difference, if any, it makes.