A lesson about coolant

[86Woodgrain]

So yeah, I picked up my Eagle about 3 months ago and sure it's got lots of known issues... but it was not really putting out much cabin heat and I thought the temp gauge was broken, it never got past the bottom C line pretty much.

Long story short I figured it must be a thermostat stuck open or opening way too soon. I drained the coolant, flushed the heater core, replaced the thermostat (with a correct 195 degree one), broke the housing putting it back together, replaced that plus some hoses, filled 'er up and...

loads of cabin heat now, the temp gauge is accurate, comes up just a little under the exact middle of the gauge and she's running quite fine.

The previous owner wasn't very mechanically inclined so I will continue to tackle the endless list of little things like that. Oddly enough it's had an intermittent misfire at times, it tends to smooth out when you rev it. I'm debating to take off the carb and rebuild or just live with it for a while. I'd rather rebuild it when the weather is warmer, like spring/summer.

[vangremlin]

Sounds like you're off to a good start with the Eagle.  The cooling system maintenance including replacing the heater core is inevitable once these cars reach their age.  And now you have heat when you need it - in the winter!!  Keep up the good work.

[86Woodgrain]

The PO gave me a folder of receipts an inch thick going back to 1991. The heater core has been replaced already, I can't remember the date but I think it was in the 90's or early 00's. So fingers crossed that I won't have to worry about it for a few years.

Oh I forgot to mention that the coolant overflow bottle had literal dirt in the bottom. A LOT of it. I had to flush that thing out a number of times to get it clean. I do like projects like this. I don't like repairing my daily driver, this is a fun project car for me.