ok, 1982 TA and the car seems to be overheating due to the factory gauge saying about 220 to 230 but not boiling over have new everything except radiator. I bought a cap that has a temp gauge in it and it reads between 180 and 200 for the most part until i am sitting at an idle for long periods of time like at a stop light. The only 2 things i can think of is that when i put the motor back together i accidentally got the heads switched around and i am missing the lower half of my fan shroud. Other thing is that i have the summit shorty headers and have not been able to afford exhaust. I am clueless to what may be causing my problem.

 

the missing fan shroud lower half probably is the cause
of the heating at lower speeds,if it gets hot at speeds
over about 30 mph check that the air dam is in place
and is not weak and bending back under the car at
speed.The radiator cap is on the "cool"end of the
radiator,so 180-200*does sound a little warm...
With those temps on the cool end,the factory gauge
is probably pretty close to actual coolant temp in the
head,220-230*is abnormally hot for an early 3rd gen
to run with the factory 195 thermostat-mine runs at
195-200 with stock cooling system.

 

You said you put new everything on the car did you do the water pump? And make sure you got the right pump, I bought a brand new pump for my camaro and put it on and ended up having cooling problems ,then to find out it was the wrong pump that was sold to me it was a reverse flow pump, make sure your belts are tight and not slipping on the pump hope this might help. you might also have an air pocket in there somewhere.

 

yes the water pump is new and it is the right one and the belts are new and tight. but the air dam has been missing since i bought the car... I tried putting a single electric fan with shroud on it and it helped a lot in town until i got on the highway then it gets hot but i think that is due to my low gears. I'm not sure what gears i have but its a posi and at 70mph it is running about 3500rpm's with a th350 tranny.

 

the missing airdam is the cause of the overheating at
highway speed-it is needed if you have clutch or electric
fan as those types do not move enough air at highway
speed to cool with the engine under load.
running 3500rpm at speed should not bother-years ago
i had a th350 in my car with 3.42 rear and it ran about
the same rpm-did not cause any tendency to heat up VS
the rpm turned after i swapped in a 700r4.

 

Thanks alot for the advise... will look for an air dam

 

The airdam is essential. There's no way you could have switched the heads around, they're identical. Also, you're not missing the lower fan shroud, the car never had one.

 

 

I put an electric fan on the front side of the radiator to push the air and its working like a champ... thanks for all the good advise.. the air damn wouldnt help at an idle...

 

Wow, I cant believe it took that to do the trick...what kind of rad. do you have? (outta curiosity)

 

Did you check the fan clutch?

 

I think its an O.E. replacement radiator... with the plastic tanks on the sides...