Thanks,
I used Rislone water treatment ( couldn't get Water wetter locally ) and So far so good.
with a gutted thermostat in it the car runs in the 130-140 range running down the road ,,,which is obviously to cold ( including expressway ) , It gets to maybe 160 ish range at extended idle
while you have the gutted thermostat in and the weather is cool,
it might be a good time to do some experiments
on pinging versus coolant temperature.
Years ago (about 1999)
I decided to do an Oxalic Acid flush of the cooling system of the Magnum 5.9V8 in a 1995 Ram.
With distilled water, Prestone Oxalic Acid flush and no thermostat
I pretty quickly noticed that the light pinging on 85 AKI gasoline I usually had in the hot 95-99 North Carolina summer weather disappeared.
My coolant gauge and scanner readings showed 145 degrees coolant temperature.
I tested for pinging on a steep 4% grade hill by going to full throttle in 2nd gear.
My fuzzy memory is that a 10 degree coolant temperature change leads to 5 Octane number fuel requirement change.
