Triumph Repair: Spitfire running warm, spitfire 72, radiator cap

Question
My 1974 Spitfire(72 motor) seems to be running a little warm.-  a little more than 1/2 past on  the temp guage. I don't drive car in winter. Would it hurt to take thermostat out and let the coolant more freely thus hopefully it would run cooler? Thanks .Jim

Answer
Hi Jim,
I do not recommend that you take the thermostat out. You should check what temp the thermostat is and if it is a 195 or even a 185 you should change it to something like a 165 deg thermostat. If it has a 165 deg in it then you should purchase the dye from any auto parts store that tests for CO in the cooling system and put it in the radiator and follow the directions for the dye on the label. The dye will test for a possible combustion leak into the coolant.

You should also run the car to operating temp and carefully remove the radiator cap and use a meat thermometer to see what the actual temp is.

Howard