Its a 1971 super ej20t

I had a run in on the dyno today to make sure everything is all good, turns out its not. It idles ok temp was about 90-100 but as it ran longer and comes on boost temps just seem to creep up.

We had a lot of trouble filling the water up and trying to get it circulating they think there isn't an air lock anymore. I'm still not so sure..

It has an electronic water pump which was pumping thermostatically controlled so they remove the thermostat which helped the circulation.

Thats the longest the car has run and the first time its been up to fourth gear. We stopped here cos they suspect a head gasket problem and told me to have the water tested at radiator shop to eliminate this.

Has anyone had a similar problem or any ideas

do you have the cooling system set up like it would of been in the Subaru with a air bleed pipe/hose going back to the highest point of the cooling system which should be your header tank.
I have been running a Subarubug for 3 years and its fine just the stock water pump and thermostat and fan controlled by the computer.

airlock.

they can be a bugger to bleed. you have to warm it up and then let it cool a bunch of times. Takes me a few hours to do mine, even if I bleed air from the highest point. Where is the filler tank? You need that as high as possible really like Ian said. If it's still a little low, you can park the car on a steep slope nose down and bleed it there.

P.s. you don't need an electronic water pump, but you do need that thermostat. Too much flow = not enough heat shed. If you want to help air bleed through it you can pull the flipper valve out of it, but don't enlarge the hole.

Yes I think, there is a small hose from the top of the radiator going to the reservoir which you can see on the right of this picture.

Do u think it sounds like an air lock issue?

I now the setup isn't ideal, I plan on changing it but I'm still making sure the engine is right for now.

You can see the tank top right of the pic,

The davies craig pump was all ready installed so I thought I'd run with it as an extra it switches on when the thermo fan does, subaru water pump is brand new so was the thermostat.

Tomorrow I'll run it some more jack the front left right up and keep pouring the water in hopefully then see what the temp gauge says...

Thanks for the help so far!!

Bit hard to see in the pic, but you need the radiator cap and the hose going to the reservior at the highest point of the cooling system. The radiator is at the lowest point at the front.
Is the radiator getting hot at all? Once that thermostat opens it should start pumping through. If there is no themostat, run the electric pump flat out and check it heats up in the pipes.

Thanks heaps you have all helped me confirm my suspicion, I just went down the shed and poured litres's in even after we had already spent hours topping it up today, I ran it for 10 mins, temp didn't get above 55 but already the radiator and hose prior was warming up. I don't think the radiator really was before

Seems dumb now but I guess know one was expecting it to take so long... With a day full of obstacles I was preparing for bad news but already I feel positive again, I'll take that for sale sign down now and have another beer this time not to drown my sorrows

I'll keep doing that tomorrow (the top ups not the beers ok maybe if the temp stays down another beer:spin

Had the car tested today with a radiator specialists they don't believe there is a head gasket issue, at this stage there are some other issues like flushing the system which has sat around for so long and is probably blocking the radiator up removing the electric water pump because they only interfere with factory pump, and changing a few hose's a bit. Looks like the engine is pretty sound for now so back to the drawing board for the cooling system!

if you're going to all that effort, may as well get the radiator position right too. Don't you think?

totally agree with Pete, just change it now & Simplify that cooling system.

It looks as though u may have the same radiator as mine which is out of a Holden Camira, really thick core & it's a sealed unit.
I've attached some pics of my radiator setup & also Pauls. I layed mine on an angle so as to keep all my boot space, I also have my intercooler radiator on top of the main radiator as well.

Hope this helps.

regards
jak

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it's coming up to 7 years old this Xmas & I still can't cook the motor. Trust me , I've tried, even on the track

pauls setup

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I got the same Alfa radiator as Pauls in mine too, just mines further forward and lower to keep some boot space.

Even in summer sitting behind the heat from the A/C condenser I cant get it hot either.

yeah I plan to change it all in the one go now, I really wanted to be moving forward with things but it seems its 1 step forward and 2 steps back... like the thousands already just on wiring! (which works, but still looks a mess!). Hopefully I wont get burnt like that with the rest of this project.