Overheating woes/ 91 ka24de/ need suggestions...

[mosr20]

Here's the scoop....

car is a 91 ka24de coupe & is gutted..... has lightweight flywheel/ur pulley/intake /exhaust/b&M shifter

EGR is removed/aiv removed/cc removed/swirl valve vac lines behind the head removed and most all lines under tb removed as well to clean up the engine bay.....

Heater/ac system removed..... (heater hose is re-routed back to itself on the back of the motor)

car was overheating on occasion...... more often it was running at 60-65% of normal.......

Solutions I've tried so far.....

I put a new Nismo colder thermostat in......

I put a new sr-20 Koyo Radiator in and re-routed hoses to make it work with the ka-24

I took out the stock clutch fan/ installed a dual flexilite fan for cooling......

problem still persists........ even w/fan on constantly......

I'm thinking it might be the water pump......

top hose & top of radiator get VERY hot while the lower part of the radiator remains cool......

even the thermostat housing is able to be touched w/ temp at 60% which should NOT be the case......

It's almost as though the thermostat isnt opening...... but it did the same thing with the old thermostat..... (and I boiled the old junky thermostat and it opened just fine so it can't be the thermostat....)

I'm thinkin the h2o pump isnt moving the fluid against the stat in order to make it open.....

any suggestions are appreciated.....

I'm tryin the H2O pump next

Thanks~

Damon

[180fan]

Sounds like a blockage or busted water pump. If it's just the upper one hose, i'd be tempted to say it was the thermo but you're saying you've put a new thermo in as well. One thing you may want to make sure you're not doing is putting too much RTV on. Another thing to try is pull the water pump off and grab a garden hose. Pump water into the engine and see if the water flys out the other outlets.