after many months of slaving away, i finally got it on the road. Yes it does go GREAT! Only one problem so far, and that is overheating.

The facts:
1) my temperature gauge is not working, but when i put my hand on the heater hoses under the dash, i can barely touch it, its getting that hot. (this is during a 5 min drive, at night, in reasonably cool conditions, no thrashing)

2) radiator was a second hand one, the story with that one was that the engine it was with died due to blowing a heater hose, and blowing a head gasket. (owner then lost interest and sold the lot to me ) Its custom made and had done around 600km.

3) engine is not the one mentioned above, it came in a 200b. The radiator in that car was apparently in more than average condition. Engine runs fine though.

4) SUSPECTED MAIN PROBLEM:
The top of the radiator is lower than the top of the thermostat housing by about 50 - 100mm. The top radiator hose runs up on an angle to the thermostat. I tried to get as much water in there as possible, but could still have air in there. (I unbolted it, lifted it up, and filled it up in that postion, then bolted it back in)

5) heater hose going into the cab reduces in size by about half, so that it fits onto the standard 1200 heater.

6) condition of water pump is not known. Thermostat passed a "boiling water" test in a pan. (its possible, although i did check, that i put it in the wrong way)


Any ideas as to how i should tackle this??

A big thankyou to all answers to my questions getting the ute this far!