Finnegan, you are very easily Awed!!!!
Jay, I didn't know about the metal gasket and the one we took off was paper and the new one was also paper.
Today was very frustrating with this stupid cooling system. But let me start with the good project of the day.
The appearance of the Box is a little weak and I wanted to improve this, so I bought a small wing for the back end to ultimately go with the new nose. I know there are some that will LOSE their minds over this modification. I did read thru those old posts and somewhat agree with them. So, the mind got working and the clever parts cam e out. I put the carbide blade on the table saw and marked the shape of the bottom of the wing and began cutting away the excess part of the dam, looking to make the fit and function work like the original air dam.
The fit needed some trimming and tweaking but it finally made a nice fit and it was off the the garage to throw a coat of semi gloss black on it.
Then to the install of the wing. The hole that they give you to work thru is quite small and I used allen screws which limits the throw of the wrench and makes for a slow install. I think it came out quite nice except for the paint
match.
Now on to the cooling system :-( Grrrrrrr.
We topped it off and took the car out for a long shake down ride. 25 milers in we stop for gas and fill up. Start up and continue on. Cooling system is acting normal and going up and then back down. Allie has some speed on going up a long curvy hill and all of a sudden she looks down and the temp gauge is almost to the 250 mark and the red light is flashing. We pull over and sit for a while to cool down and then open the coolant cpa to see how much coolant is present. Well, after some steam and some liquid release, we refill with water but since it's hot, needle at the 0 in the 180, she won't restart. She cranks over plenty fast and we hear it trying to fire but no joy. We wait ands try again, same thing, plenty of crank no fire. Wait and try but now battery is beginning to show signs of weakening. We have to call Missus better 7/8ths to comes rescue us as we need a jump and I'm fearful of a full on overheat and seizure. My better 7/8ths arrives on the scene and with cables it jump started and the temp is 180. Once underway we see the temp rising so we pull over and get the tow strap out. Tow home and add some money to the swear jar.
Looks like we have 2 separate issues:
Overheating with no heat. I have ordered a new thermostat and hope this is the issue. I don't know and I'm beginning to throw parts at it. Not a good strategy....
Hard to NO start when HOT. I did some research and there seem to be 2-3 issues that might be involved here. The crank position sensor failing, a vacuum vent thing on the intake manifold leaking and maybe something else I can't recall at the moment. I have a CPS in the garage and Allie will change that tomorrow. But what else could it be??
I need help with this one.......