351 Winsor major overheating problem
 

I bought this car (1969 mustang coupe) fully restored and it's always had this overhgeating problem. I didn't think much of it because the engine still worked and could still get up and go when i wanted. But on a normal drive it would get from 200-220 degrees...which is alot hotter than where it should be. also, the coolant resivior would be full and the radiator itself would only be about half full.
I rescently bought a new carb (650 speed demon) and put it on at a friend's house...I noticed a big increase in power but i wasnt looking at my temp guage. i noticed a little later when i was about to drive it home from my friends house when i noticed the temp was over 240! water was literally boiling out of my coolant resevior. after spraying the radioator with a hose for about 15 min and then filling the radioator with water we finally cooled it down to about 170. there are so many possibilities; i'm not sure where to start. someone said it might be a head gasket and exhaust might be leaking into the coolant system...which does make some since since the new carb heated the exhaust so much i think it melted my spedometer cable (its badly routed over the exhaust and its happened before) which reminds me i need a new spedometer cable :)
anyway like i said i dont know where to start, so any help would be much appreciated.

thanx,
Ben

Well, I have a story, and I hope it helps. My friend had a F250 with a 460 that just would not be cool. We (he paid...) put in a recored rad, new waterpump, tried some fan things, pulled the heads and had them decked and pressure tested, flushed the block with the heads off ,and put in several thermostats and rad caps with no luck, it would run ok empty, but put a load on it, and it would boil over in a hurry, and would not cool ideling. I bought the truck after he gave up, took his 11.5 camper too. I tried a few things, it left me standed once, and while sitting on the side of the road, I thought, I bet there's something in the block, sure enough when I got home, I pulled the frost plugs and the right side of the block was filled with crap. Flushed it out, put in new plugs and nows its great! Finnally.

so where would be a good place to start?

How old is the radiator? t-stat? radiator cap?

What kind of fan does it have? Does it have the fan shroud?

There are several things it could be, but there are things you need to rule out first, like everything I just mentioned.

:)

If the answer to anything above is "I don't know", then they should be replaced.