While USA Today promised 127* on the day I traversed Death Valley, I was only able to record 123* in the shade a couple of hours before the typical peak temperatures. More interesting to me, however, is the fact that there is no shade in Death Valley, and the pavement was recording 160* in the sun. The air just above the road was in the 140's.
On the downhills, I kept the car at 70 mph when I wasn't hauling off to take pictures. On the uphills, I would downshift if the engine could not maintain 55mph in 4th gear easily, I'd hold it at 47-50 in 3rd (with the 4.86 rear axle, that is 3,800-4,000 rpm), except for the hairpins and big hills where I would downshift into 2nd and keep the engine at 3,800-4,000 (somewhere around 24-28 mph).
After climbing from 190 feet below sea level to approximately 2,040 feet in Death Valley Junction, I took temperature readings:
valve covers leading edge/trailing edge.............240/285
crankcase corner just ahead of the oil filter........243
oil filter...........................................................260
taco plate........................................................246
strainer plate...................................................240
#4 exhaust pipe..............................................864
#2 exhaust pipe...............................................810
muffler............................................................410
intake manifolds under carbs.............................152
fan housing above scale....................................155
front tire..........................................................133
rear tires..........................................................143
I checked valve clearances the next morning in Pahrump NV, and found no tightening up of the clearances, oil smelled good, engine ran well.
These stock Type 4 engines can take the heat, they don't care . . . as long as you keep them properly assembled, correctly tuned and clean. This is the differential drain plug reading:
Colin
