Hot(?) Spider; Cold response.

["Douglas R. and Julia R. Harris" <dharris@domain.elided>]

    In AD 863, Bill Sinclair shared an interesting "internet social
theory."  As he put it:  "I think I may be experiencing an alfa digest
symptom known as 'weekend question syndrome.'  This phenomenon occurs
when someone asks a technical (non-controversial) question on a weekend
posting and by the time everyone gets back to reading their digests on
Monday the question is stale and everyone figures "oh, someone smarter,
more knowledgeable, faster typist than me has already answered that
one.'"  Thank you for a particularly sagacious observation, Bill.
    I think I've experienced this recently, too.  Although two
considerate folks responded with off-Digest advice I will take (Thanks,
Bernie and Keith!), I'd still like to get a consensus among the esteemed
Digesti in response to my query yesterday.  In a nutshell, I'm trying to
determine whether I'm about to ruin the engine in my beloved Spider by
running hot (I know the gauge is off), or whether I'm okay.
    To paraphrase my earlier message, I have a low-mileage 77 Spider.
I've done everything I and my mechanic can think of (all the obvious
things -- flushing the system, rodded the radiator, new thermostat, new
hoses, WaterWetter) to keep it running cool (except for installing an
electric fan, which will be done at some point).  I know my temperature
gauge reads high, but it's troubling nonetheless.  Yesterday was
particularly hot, and the gauge read between 212 and about 220.  When it
got to these temperatures, I immediately shut it down and removed the
air bleed screw on the top of the intake manifold, above where the
sending unit (just replaced) is, and stuck a thermometer in there.
(This is on the engine side of the thermostat.)  The readings were
between 192 and 206.  The readings in the top of the radiator were lower
 185 to the upper 190s.  The car has AC, so the air flow may be a bit
tighter than a typical Series 2A Spider, but this shouldn't be too
operative in the above-described scenario since the car was mostly
stationary.
    I'm seeking advice from the esteemed Digest because I love my Spider
and don't want to ruin my aluminum musical instrument.  Calling Dr.
Bombay.  Calling Dr. Bombay.  Please let me know what you think.

Doug
Richmond, Virginia
77 Spider

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