New 350 ovehearing... or is it?

[Mr Handy]

I finally did it, I got my Jegs $1300 350 installed in front of a Muncie 465 and all the stuff that goes along with swapping from a turbo 350 and cobbled together 283 that burns a quart every 500 miles or so.

I swapped the cam for a summit 1102 cam before putting in the engine for no other reason than I wanted to. I am also running stock ram horns and a Street demon carb.

Everything went as planned... spent 4 hours fighting engine and trans mounts, then that last bolt for the Power steering bracket for 3 nights during the week... note to self, just unbolt the perches and use an alignment pin to get them back in.

break in went fine other than the gauge was reading right at the hot mark. Did the full 20 min break in varying rpm between 1200 and 2500 rpm after setting the timing to 10* BTDC. the engine never got hot enough to want to stumble or ping like I would expect if it was as hot as the gauge was reading. so after an inaugural drive up to the parts store 3 miles away for a fuse for the backup lights I decided to swap the thermostat for a different one. I always run 160* stats so I expect the gauge to read a little under straight up. tested the stat in a pan of water on the stove and it opened like clockwork.

Today after a weekend of cleaning the garage I decided to take it for its first longish drive as it never got hot enough to puke or tried to die and I could always put my hand on the rad hose and not burn myself. So I went for 20 mile drive and the gauge never quite got to the hot mark even when sitting at lights, until I got around the corner from the house. pulled in the driveway and sat for a couple minuets and I see red line, so I shut it down and go inside and find my point and shoot thermometer and scavenge a good 9v from my moisture meter (woodworker by day) the thermostat housing read 176* and the head at the temp sensor read 180*... I don't the temp sensor is working correctly.

Other than that the new engine and trans are awesome! there is something so satisfying about shifting gears...

Ok here are some pictures of the engine/temp and my clean garage!
Every loves pics.