Ladies and Gentlemen, etc.:
122s/B-18 w/SU's/M-40
To catch up, I have a mysteriously overheating engine and I'm once again offering my problems to you fine folks in the hopes that someone's been here before, or can help me out of here...
From the beginning: Flushed pressurized cooling system, replaced 4 thermostats (currently have the cooler 82 deg. C from the B-20, checked it opens, oriented correctly), water pump, hoses. Ignition timing set to 19 deg. BTDC, replaced batt., dist. points, cap, rotor, spark plugs at .028 and wires. Set valve clearances to .021 cold. De-gunked PCV sstem and replaced valve. Engine idles very nice but overheats in under 20 minutes. Driving, it will overheat in about 5.
Radiator hoses feel warm after thermostat should have opened, but nowhere near too hot to touch, or swollen (unlike a certain 73 lincoln whose ghost still haunts me, I can see that upper radiator hose like a tuna laying across that 460...)
Seems that all the heat is in the block. Drained the oil, and found it to be black after 5 miles on the road and fewer than 15 trips from the driveway to the garage (17ft), far too close to the consistency of water, and smelling slightly of the presence of gasoline, which confounds and terrifies me. This "oil" is also at the plug threads, except for #3. Does not seem to contain radiator fluid, nor does the anti-freeze bear any trace of oil.
So, my questions are:
Can I adjust the ignition timing any further to cool it off any more? Can I adjust the vlave clearances back down some? (Found them to be set by PO to between 016-018).
Could this be obscenely poor carb tuning? (haven't tackled those things yet)
Are there any possible entrances for fuel and oil to mix?
Would drilling an auxilliary pipe to introduce coolant to the manifold be masking a larger issue?
Should I ask for a B-20 for Chistmas?
Am I cursed?
Also: I'm curious about what one poster meant by a "bleeder for the upper radiator hose." I'd like to try this regardless of the seemingly normal operation of the cooling system, could I get more information?

Thank you all, once again. I hope to join you one day in your Volvoing.
-Sean.