Running Hot on the Highway Options

[NJ914Guy]

My car is a 1973 914 2.0 running dual Weber 40 carbs, an Aircooled.net SVDA vac advance distributor (vac port connected to dual carbs) and a Pertronix electronic ignition module.

Here in NJ, on a 80-90 degree day, the car runs great on the back roads ranging from 30-45 MPH. Using the dip stick temp gauge, she runs around 180-195 for oil temp. If I take her up ont the highway and run the car at 65-80 MPH for 10-20 minutes, the temp will run up to 220-240, based on the outside air temps, which seems too hot.

I assume that since I am fine on the back roads, my flaps and fan are clear and working fine? I do have 100% of the factory tins in place, and from 180-240 degrees, the car runs strong at all temps.

I am thinking that I have a problem and would like to rule out some things. Here's my list of things to try. Please feel free to comment or make additional suggestions.

1. Change oil. I am running 10W-30 now. Have some fresh Brad Penn 20W-50 on hand. Could an oil change help?
2. Drop the oil screen and check for any sludge or blockage which may be impacting oil flow.
3. Check timing on the SVDA dizzy. I am wondering if it's advancing a little too much on the highway? Per John's instruction, when we installed the dizzy we set timing to: 38-45 Total Advance (hose connected) @ 3500 RPM.
4. Pull spark plugs and check for lean conditions.
5. Check carbs and idle jets. Not sure what's in there, but I hear that I want idle jets of 50.

[tradisrad]

How can we get both power and lean burn out of our 914s along with cool temps. My 914 seems to run great, plenty of power, low head temps and low oils temps at a 12-13.5 to 1 AFR.

From everything I have read on this site, until today, I came to an understanding that I want my 914 to be rich. Bleyseng says to set the MPS on the rich side, the factory set the MPS on the rich side. I am confused.

I also have a '92 civic vx that goes into lean burn, and while I dont monitor temps I do know that when it is in "lean burn" I have no power, but great mileage. I do monitor the voltage output of the wide band O2 sensor the higher the output voltage the leaner it is running. This is all controlled by the ECU. For this car to have any power it need to be running rich and the v-tech needs to kick in at 3k rpm.

Link to suggesting a rich mixture