engine temperature

does anyone know what a good temp for the ford 144 six cylinder should be? at idle and barreling down the highway?

so far the engine has been running uphills in 30 degree weather at about 209 f, cruising at night at 180 f. what think you of that?

that should be safe. my 360 runs at 180 on the road and bout 210 +- 10 in traffic in town. not gonna do a parade or anything like that but safe. a good rad cap should raise the boiling point of the coolant around 6 degrees for every pound. most only run a 7 to 10 lb cap anyway so. 235 degrees plus is soon to be trouble. never trust the factory gauge, get a good mechanical gauge with the probe attached and install it in a fitting in the head.

retarded the timing a little, cut engine temp down ten degrees.

Yep, retarding timing makes a big difference.
Water wetter and premium fuel helps my 300 to stay below 200°
in 80° and uphill.

Cheers

water wetter? what are water wetter?

OK, you guys got my attention.

Found this in my searches to see if it really works. It looks like the manufacture promises a lot.

http://mr2.com/TEXT/water_wetter.txt

He has best results in running just Water Wetter and distilled water (no anti-freeze)

i had a look at those links... i'll have a look around too and see if there are more articles out there. pretty neat idea. by the way, could someone post a pic of an installed belly pan on an econoline? i dont have one, but i have decomissioned helicopter stabilizers that may be useable as a air directing ground spoiler with a teleflex trim cable. i actually have a few of these and they would make sick spoilers for the top of your van!

I used Water Wetter in my Mustang which had a 460 engine in it. It definitely helped to keep the temperature down a few degrees.

Be careful though, as the instructions tell you that you must use coolant in a road car. Coolant acts as a corrosive inhibitor as well as a coolant/antifreeze. Not using coolant in an old engine not made of aluminium will result in brown sludge ....!!!!