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!

well we don't really know if its overheating, but having the top of the radiator up to 4" lower than the thermostat housing is asking for an air lock. You'll need to adapt a bleeder to your thermostat housing. Alot of modern cars have these, a quick trip to a parts shop or wrecker will find one pretty easy. But you may have to get a 'boss' TIGed onto your thermostat housing to tap into because they aren't terribly thick and may not hold a thread.

cheers for the reply. don't have a clue what i'm looking at for an air bleeder, but i see what you mean. I think i lift the radiator a bit, so i'll try that. would i work if i run the engine with the radiator cap off, and fill it while its running? (wait till the thermostat opens first obviously) With the radiator that low, i can imagine that if it possibly does get full, when you open the cap to check the level, its going to come pouring back out.

Have a real good look inside the radiator while you are doing the bleeder thing. It's possible that as the engine died [the one that the radiator previously fronted] it could have thrown out a whole bunch of rust gunk from the bottom of the block in its dying moments, thereby partly blocking the core.

Give the radiator a reverse flush, or even give it to a radiator shop to pull the top tank & have a proper look. It costs so little to be absolutely sure.

and try putting the front of ur car on a jack. nd live it up so the radiator is higher than ur motor. it may help with the air lock thing.