Flathead coolant flow help?

[Dave72dt]

As far as the timing marks, I like to use some emery cloth instead of a wire brush.  V notches are good and you can place them at both 0 and at recommended spec degrees. 

 

It's hard to test a system when you do two things at once.  I'm assume you put in the anti-freeze mix and the thermostat at the same time.  Vinegar and water shouldn't cool that much differently than a proper antifreeze mix and an idle test isn't the same as a driving test.

[wolk625]

So I think this is the root cause of all this.. Thanks a million for that chalk trick, I would've never thought of that in a million years. My timing at idle was off the scale, and when I did bring my idle back to roughly center, the idle speed was racing. I went to go turn it down on the screw and noticed the idle adjust screw head was snapped off, the throttle linkage had about 5 washers shoved on it and the arm is all bent up. So I think some dingus in the past snapped the screw off at some weird idle, tried pulling the arm to extract it, bent it, then tried washers on the linkage to account for the bend, then when that didn't work, they gave the distributor a twist to bring idle down.? At least that's what my mind thinks what happened haha

[busycoupe]

So, does it run cooler now?

[Chuck51631]

I had a similar problem with a 55 Plymouth. Driving around town wasn't an issue. When I took it out on the highway the Temp guage would rise to almost hot. I slowed down and the temp . dropped. I had to get the radiator recored. Atter flushing it it had more pin holes than I could count. No problems since the recore.

[Seaside Pete]

My P15 normally runs at about 160 but I was having smooth running problems, found out that the vacuum advance diaphragm had gone so I have removed it and waiting for delivery of a new one. In the meantime as a temporary measure I have advanced the timing to max to compensate, the temp gauge is reading higher but still runs at about 180, so not sure if a timing issue could cause the problem?

[wolk625]

just for the update, yes, runs (ran as of now, different thread explains haha) idles in driveway at about 150-160, driving in this 95ish weather stays around 180. Pretty much right where I was hoping to be, but now some other fun gremlins have got me sidelined again.