OK - Great! So I should be OK here in Grass Valley if San Fernando wasn't a problem. I'll plan on taking a weekend to check hoses and belts and water pump (seems like it's working fine) ...flush the coolant and think about re-coring the radiator with same densely packed fins not a cheap aftermarket...and setting up an actual temperature gauge that clearly shows temp. (and puts my mind at ease.)
This is probably a stupid question but does the heater core have anything to do with cooling? does that need to be cleaned or looked at? I was fixing the fan motor and was surprised that coolant flows into that thing...I've been working on Corvairs for the past ten years (air cooled) and never had to deal with heater cores in my modern car (91 toyota)