my 53 imperial seems to run cool without having to have redone everything, but my 54 windsor with the spitfire 6 is giving me a problem.the car was overheating when i bought it. i re-cored the radiator, had the pump rebuilt, replaced the water distribution tube and hoses and thermostat[160].at idle, in drive, the car will almost overheat in about 3 to 4 minutes. today i removed the thermostat and the engine runs much cooler and it will rise in temp at idle, but within the normal range. it does run too cool without the thermostat but at least i can drive it without fear of getting stuck in traffic and overheating. after coming up with several theories and discarding them, i seem to have noticed that at idle the water flow is so poor as to be almost non-existent. ay about 1200 rpm you can see a signifigant rise in the water flow when looking in the top of the radiator and of course no temp problem then. i know that thse cars were capable of running in the proper range as built so i definitely have a problem. my thought now is that the water pump was not worth re-building as it may have too much clearance in the pumping vanes. obviously if i replace it with a new pump this theory will be tested[ i would have to replace the thermostat too for a proper test]. before i spend the money on this i would like to know if any club members have had any similiar experiences and what they did to resolve it. dennis
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