Getting my 31 to run right.

[Licensed to kill]

So, I got back from town and, after reading the posts about jet size, I thought I would tear the carb apart again and look things over. For the record, I didn't rebuild the carb, the previous owner did. He owned the car for 10 years and never drove it out of the yard. I have another carb here for parts so I thought I would compare jets. As near as I can tell by wire micing the jets (sort of) they appear to be the same-ish. The old jet was marked "19", the new jet no markings. I took a welding tip cleaning set and ran one through the old jet a few time to clean it up and decided to try it in place of the new one. I also blew brake clean through every orifice and took the GAV apart to check that out as well. Everything LOOKED pristine in there but looks can be deceiving. So, put it back together put it on and the engine fired immediately and sat running smooth with the GAV out one full turn an the idle air at 1 1/2 turns. Took it for a drive and it ran better than it ever has since I've owned it. Not perfect but pretty good. HOWEVER, in order to get it to run relatively strong, the GAV needs to be turned out about 2 full turns or more. That suggests to me that perhaps that jet is not flowing enough and the GAV has to make up the difference. While i have a ways to go it's looking encouraging. Another thing, it started to blow anti freeze out the cap and the motometre went up to the bottom of the "running temp" circle. Not sure what to make of that as this is the first time I've seen the motometre register anything and it's my understanding that they are not to be relied upon. Also, when it started to blow coolant I was about 4-5 miles down the road doing about 35-40 MPH wide open and when I saw the coolant realized that I had left the advance lever in full retard (DOH). Advanced the timing on the way back and got it up to almost 55mph. When I got back to the shop, it did not seem to be overheating but it also didn't look like any coolant came out the overflow. That tube may be plugged. Still having trouble getting a good exhaust seal from the manifold to the pipe also.

[1crosscut]

Your making good progress. Water coming out from the cap is not necessarily an indication of over heating but of a poor seal on the radiator cap and possibly over filling. If over heating the coolant should be pushed out of the overflow tube not the cap. Easy to check to see if the overflow tube is plugged.
Coolant can be pushed out of the radiator under load if a head gasket is leaking.
Best way to be absolutely sure what the temperature of the coolant is to get a dial meat thermometer and place it directly into the top of the radiator into the coolant. Maybe it is just me but having one in your Model A tool bag is a must.
Lots of folks use the laser thermometers to read temps. They are okay but useless if the battery runs out.