why does my car run hot!?!

[UnderdogGN]

hey guys, my car has always run on the hot side and i cant figure out why?
Its a h/c/i 89 AOD vert. It has an edelbrock aluminum waterpump, summit aluminum radiator, black magic electric fan (covers half the radiator) 180 thermostat, and a canton racing 2 qt recirculating catch can.
The problem is even when not beating on it in cool weather, the temp can get up to like 205 and then it overfills my catch can and coolant spills everywhere. This is really getting annoying and i really dont think it should run that hot.
My only thoughts were that my fan is too small since it only covers 1 side of my radiator. But then alot of guys run the same fan without problems.
Can timing affect engine temps at all?
any help is appreciated
thanks!

 

[jtfairlane]

Are you sure you put your head gaskets on the RIGHT way?

Head gaskets can not be installed any which way. They have coolant openings at one end of the gasket and not the other, that need to face the rear of the block and not the front.

If incorrectly installed, the head gaskets will block some of the water ports that are supposed to be open, and can cause ghost-overheating issues like you describe.

 

[UnderdogGN]

hmmm... probably 90% sure that they are on right... Maybe this winter when its in storage i will tear down the top end and go through it.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Jaswir]

ive had a issue and was just the cap...

also ive had a isssue like u said it filling up the catch can and turned out to be my stock rad was shot... i put a new alum one in and stoped that problem... but u said u have a new alum so i would try to just mess with the cap or try a new t-stat... i had a tstat stop working after 4 months... that really seems like ur 2 problems to me... 205 really isnt that hot...

 

[RYC CUKR]

I had a prob with my new aluminum rad boiling over and it turned out to be the cap. At 205* it shouldn't be boiling over and overfilling your catch can. Sounds like the spring in the cap is shot and not holding 16lbs of pressure. If you haven't replaced the cap try replacing that and see if that helps.

 

[Mustang78]

make sure your temp sensor is in good working order(R/C gas powered cars use handheld temp guns, any hobby shop should have one for about 30.00) Also on the front outer corner of the headgaskets there will be a tab (felpro only i believe) sticking out about 1/2" if they are installed correctly, if the tab is in the back then they're backwards. Also are you sure your water pump is a reverse rotation?
EDIT: any white sludge in your PCV or valve covers? water in the oil? oil in the water?
~Mark~