I have an 88 GTA now and it seems to run a little on the warm side. It runs around 220. I checked it out and what Im thinking is that the radiator isnt getting enough air through it. I know that 220 isnt that warm for a stock set up but I wired in a manual fan switch so I can run them all the time and it doesnt seem to be running any cooler. I was just looking for things to possably get more air through the radiator and out of the engine bay, even thinking of opening up the vents on the hood to let the hot air out.

 

Make sure you have the air dam under the car. Make sure the water pump is good. There could also be a lot of crap built up between the rad and a/c condenser. Make sure your hoses are fairly new and not soft. The bottom one tends to collapse at throttle if there is no spring in it. You could change to a 180 stat if your running the stock 195. See if your fan is pulling air in instead of pushing it out. It should be pulling air from the outside into the engine bay thru the rad. Otherwise as long as the temp is around 220 and not higher than 240 your really ok. They were designed to run that way. It could be that your rad is clogging from being old (if its stock). And last but not least, if your timing has been advanced it will make the motor run hotter.

 

I know the airdam is in good condition, the upeer hose is new, not sure about the lower one though, I know the pump is good because I can take the cap off and watch the flow and its great,the radiator is fairly new so I know its not clogged. I was thinking of making the vents on the hood functional to bring the underhood temps down some but I dont know it water getting in there would hurt it or not. I was also thinking baout the water wetter stuff and Im going to swap the stat out for a 160 soon and Ill replace the lower hose at that time as well. I was just wondering if there were any tricks to get more air moving through that engine bay, I know my old camaro moved alot of air but it also had a big open grille that the air could get in there so it ran much cooler than the closed nose bird does.

 

Just because you can see the flow through the filler cap, doesn't mean the radiator isn't partialy cloged up! The core running through the top of the radiator get's the most flow and is the last part to clog. The center and lower sections of the core (that you can't see) is the part that clog's first. That's what I used to think till I blew the end tank and decided to tear it off before I bought a new one. It was cloged up from the bottom up! My 88 form. used to run warm like yours till I bought a new rad. from modine and a new themostat (180*). Now, no matter how hot it get's outside, it stay's at 180* running down the road even at 70-80mph. If I'm in stop and go traffic or in a drive thru, I just switch on the air con. and the fan kicks on and it still run's at 185*. I also have the block off plate on my power bulge hood removed for better air flow.

 

I highly doubt my radiator is clogged since its only been in the car for about a year and the rest of the system was flushed at that time. I think if I do the things I said in my last post it may help out alot and when I do that Ill run some more flush through it then.

 

Yup! opening those hood vent's up will help some. I noticed a big difference while cruising after I removed the cover from the power bulge on my form. I remember being thankful that GM had made it so it could be removed. I don't worry about rain or snow
getting in it though, fortunatly I don't have to take it out of the garage unless it's sunny outside! I was thinking that maybe I would get some cooler air to the open element, but as it turned out the under hood temp. went down and it ran cooler.

 

Here are few ideas.
First. Try making a custom grille. However do check if you have an air dam.
Second. 180 thermo. Although not improving much, its just enough to get the coolant in a bit sooner.
Third. Remove the weather stripping from the very back of your hood. It rests on top of the firewall, you will see it going along the bottom of the hood. Now what I did is cut it so its over the distributor and than removed the rest. This allows for heat to escape the engine bay.
Forth. Open element with ram air set up or CAI (cold air induction), go from fender opening, oppenings on both sides, you will see one right next to the battery.
If you do not want to go through all of this work, go ahead and get a sucker fan, mounted infront of the radiator and it sucks the air in to the radiator and than your stock fan throws it on the engine. Just make sure you can controll that fan in cold weather cases, to where you will not need it.
Good luck

 

Removing the wheater strip above the firewall. will allow hot air to enter the ventilation opening under the windscreen, and blowing right in your face!!
Not nice when it's warm outside!!

 

Ya know, i would understand where the argument of that would come from, but I have never felt any heat on my "face" and there are certain procedures you have to do in order to really protect your ignition system. Leave the stripping right above the distributor and coil, it will protect it from rain. Also this is a long lasting hotroding tip of getting some air cooled off and it does work.
Also, what I think would make the system work better is if you change your fan motor, and maybe possibly the fan. The old and tired engine does not work to its full potential on third gens. Its good if you get a new one and you will notice a bit of difference. Also Water Wetter helps bigger engines stay cool and its not sticking to any hoses, its just a bit cooler. Try it.
Good luck.

 

Ok thanks for the ideas there. Heres what Im planning on in the near future: High flow water pump, 160 stat, replacing stock fans with 2 high flowing ones, water wetter, removing certain parts of the cowl weatherstripping, and then Ill get up under the front end and modify some of the pieces under there to get it opened up in front of the radiator so I can pull more air through it. Let me know if you think this will work to get to my goal temps with this car which are a low temp of about 160-170 and a high side temp of about 200.