Finished H/C/I, having big problems. Take a look.

Well, Sunday we finished my H/C/I, so my car is now equiped as you see it in my signature. I drove it home, but monday morning I started it and all my oil came out. I checked the filter, and it was loose. I retightened it, put more oil in, and headed for school. Within ten minutes my car was overheating. Coolant was spraying out of my lower radiator hose, but the hose wasn't broken at all. It took me an hour to limp the car 15 miles to my mechanic's garage. I installed a new 195* stock Tstat,thinking that the 180* one I had put in could be defective and stuck, but that didn't help. I went to remove the oil filter after loosing another load of oil, and it broke in half right on the motor. I finally got it all off the block, and figured that maybe it was a defect so I got another filter. Same result, spewing all my oil. I took the filter off and brought it into the mechanic's shop. We looked at it and realized it had blown up from too much pressure. The part that screws into the block, where it's concave like a bowl, had blown out and become a dome. After some calls, we came to the conclusion that my oil pump was broken and stuck on max flow. Apparently inside the pump there's a spring that compresses as the pressure goes up, limiting the pump's flow rate. My spring got stuck, so my oil pump was going full flow all the time, blowing up the filter, and pissing out. We changed it last night (that sucked a big one), and the oil filter explosion problem was solved. Now my only problem is that the car is running a little hot. I left it at the shop overnight because we're installing a FRPP clutch tonight, and my mechanic took it for a ride this morning. He said the temp was holding around 200* I know I could use a new radiator, as my old one is pretty beat up, but if anyone could trouble shoot this heat thing for me, I'd appreciate it. I plan on getting a new 3 core rad. asap.

PS- other than this crap, the car runs awesome, has tons of power, sounds mean as hell, and generally gets me all excited

it's a stock temp gauge, but apparently the temp holds at 150s and then shoots to 200-220 under hard driving, and then drops down again after you let off the car. My mechanic knows these cars like the back of his hand, and he said the rads shot. The whole lower half has no fins left and the coolant was full of metal when we pulled it. I'm on my way out to get a new radiator right now.

Well, we put in a new stock radiator tonight, along with a coolant flush and oil change, the clutch, and a steel to bearing retainer. The car pretty much runs fine, still needs a little tweeking. On the ride home the radiator cap wasn't on, so I got a little freaked. I went to a gas station and saw it off, filled the rad with water, and all was fine. In the morning I'll add some antifreeze. Looks like my car is ready to rock again. This last week was nothing but a big cluster ****. Here's some of the problems I had:
1) wrong gasket set from summit (non HO 302 set)
2) defective 180* Tstat (I think)
3) broken oil pump day after rebuild completed (almost killed my motor, blew up two oil filters and 10 quarts of oil, caused massive overheating)
4) rotted radiator
5) no fuel gauge to adjust AFPR
6) no money to buy needed small stuff
7) withdrawals from not having my car for a week
8) the thought of around 1000.00 of bills coming up.
But when I hear that nice cammed sound coming from the car, it makes it all worth it.

Heh, my temp today didn't even go above 150* the entire trip home (15 miles) and I was hammering. But, another stupid thing got me today. I was driving, and the motor started missing. I went to the engine bay, and saw the PCV valve was gone. I bought another, hooked it up, and still it was idling like crap, running like crap, stuttering like hell. After plugging small vacuum leaks for an hour, I look down and see the #6 spark plug wire is off. I was so pissed, but at least I found all those little vac leaks. When am I gonna have an actual nice day without a stupid mishap? I think this car's gonna give me an ulcer.

Yet another stupid mishap today. I was hammering down the highway, enjoying the fruits of my labor, but when I started to decelerate, the car started acting funny. The tach was jiggling, and it wasn't idling right. I saw the PCV valve was gone, so I replaced it and a few other things. I then went on the hunt for more vac leaks. Afterthree hours of looking for vacuum leaks, I happened to look down and I found the #6 plug wire sitting between the header tubes. Needless to say I felt stupid. A whole nice day of cruising lost to a damn loose plug wire.