My cossie has been steadily running hotter recently, up around 96-97 degrees since fitting one of MSD's hotter fan switches.

When it was Stage 1 it used to run a steady 90deg on cruise, would sometimes hit 95 after a blast or in traffic but the fans would always kick in, bring the temp down then cut out.

I put an RS500 cooler on it and that added a degree or two but recently things are notably hotter - I'm sure something isn't right

Whipped the cooler off today and ran it up to temp so I could feel the rad - there's no cold spots just a very slight temperature gradient across it, I'm satisfied there is nothing seriously wrong with that.

I'm happy there are no airlocks, I know how to bleed the air out, heater is nice and hot too...

All I can think of is the water pump or the headgasket. Car is running T34 0.63AR and 803s, 28psi spike and 25 at the baps. Gasket is a so called Group A. I've got slight cracking on the header tank but have seen loads worse.

The car has never overheated - would I be OK to whip the head off and bung an EEC4 Escos gasket on without getting a skim? If memory serves the head is at, or close to the minimum thickness.

Cheers!

Neil.