It's finally running!

Hi Bruce,

Good to hear from you. As I mentioned above my engine has about 10
hours on it. For a quick review, it is out of an '84 T'Bird and has
forged pistons, reground cam, new lifters and push rods, Beecher
underdrive pulleys, Blanton redrive, modified water pump (larger
impeller and backing plate), Holley 350cfm carb, Ford sandwich oil
cooler, short exhaust stubs and the expansion tank you welded for me.
It is hung on the airframe so I can start it up and run it whenever I
go out to the airport, which isn't too much lately. Initially my goal
was to get it running and keep it cool. I hung a radiator out of a 3.0
Taurus vertically about a foot under the motor. I mounted the fan from
the same car behind the radiator. Coolant temps were Ok but oil temp
kept climbing. Then I hung a copper/brass radiator from a 280Z
horizontally under the motor with the fan on top pulling through the
radiator and blowing on the engine. I also mounted a stacked plate oil
cooler under the radiator so the fan could pull through it. On hot
days coolant temps stayed at 185, pressure was less than 10 and oil
temps stayed a few degrees above coolant. Everything was perfect.
Then I changed it. I installed a new aluminum radiator in the tail
with a larger fan. The stacked plate oil cooler just hangs up front
with a computer fan pulling air through it. I also installed a sensor
and relay to control the cooling fan. The coolant temp is still fine
but the oil cooler needs more air through it and the coolant pressure
is all over the place. Spark plugs look good except #5. It is silver
gray. I'm putting in some Bosch platinum +4 plugs this weekend. If
anyone wants pictures let me know.

David