My thermostat is on the upper radiator hose. After I finish my rear bumper this will be my focus for this summer. I will find a solution and report back to you guys.
Also, my truck never completely dies. The only symptom it has is that it the engine feels like it looses fuel for about 3 seconds. Just when I think I should pull over on the side of the road, it comes back to life and I continue on. This is on days over 75 degrees. Also after hot drives and I park it for 15-20 minutes, when I try to start the truck I have to floor the gas pedal to get it to start.
Here is a regular example of my issue: I was driving on the hwy at 70mph+ for 30 minutes. I pull off the hwy to go through a drive-thru. After leaving the restaurant and pulling out on the road, 1st gear is fine, second gear it loses fuel and jerks and sputters. Right when I think that I better pull off the road comes back to life and drives somewhat normal.
Reads like gasoline in the carb's float bowl is getting to hot, I assume this happens more in warmer weather than when it cold outside
Not sure if they make a carb spacer for the 2.8l but that would help prevent that
Also I would run a 160degF thermostat on the lower rad hose instead of the 180degF, that can help also
What happens when you shut off a warm engine is that the water pump and fan stop running, so engine bay starts to get very warm at the top
And the top of the intake, where the carb sits, starts to get very hot as well, the gasoline in float bowl will start to evaporate pretty fast not boil but close, lol
So when you try to restart there is not enough fuel left, as you crank the engine fuel is pumped in so it can re-start
Same with idling in a line up, but some fuel is left so engine doesn't die but not enough fuel so it stumbles when you open throttle more
So spacing the carb away from the hot intake metal or reducing the over all temp(cooler thermostat) can help
There is also "vapor lock" when mechanical fuel pumps are used
The fuel from the gas tank to the mechanical pump on the engine is at 0psi, so the metal fuel line gets hot enough where it pass by the exhaust pipe the fuel inside can "vaporize" which blocks fuel flow to the pump, it expands and pushes fuel back into the tank
"Back in the day" we used to use wooden cloths pin clamped onto the metal pipe as heat sinks to bleed off extra heat, lol