daz_au

So I have been driving the 327/300 (all stock original motor) for more than a year now. The temp gauge always sits at the "1/4" mark half way between 100 & 180, only ever saw it approach 180 once on a hot day, but it never moved past there..... until last week !

Now the car quickly comes up to the 180 mark and hovers around it much of the time... I parked the car for about 20mins and came back, when I started it, the gauge was at "3/4", but after driving off moved back down around 180....

I checked with IR gun, top of radiator, thermostat housing are actually at 180, much of the intake is too although some spots were closer to 200.

So, all of a sudden my temp gauge is dynamic or am I actually running hotter than before.... hard to say !

65GGvert

The temperatures you are seeing now are more typical than what you read before. If it agrees with the IR gun, even better.

appaloosa 0012

GreaseMonkey

Mine in my '64 flips occassionally. As stated in a post I had a week or so ago, I went to a car show about 3-5 miles from my house and before I got to it the car was registering 220-240 on the temp gauge. Had me concerned. After the show I fired her up, the gauge ran 180. I I.R.d the engine and all the temps were below it. The next day I took a 2 hour drive both ways, and the gauge never moved off of 180. There was approximately a 2 hour gap between each way.Go figure.

daz_au

Yeah I felt a bit better after I got home and pointed the IR gun at it. I was a little concerned that it read around 210 after the brief stop, but I guess realistically the temps at the top of the motor would climb straight after shutting it off right ? I had never seen the gauge so high !

gilbybarr

180 is the right running temp....that is what my 327/300 runs ever since I put in the new DeWitt's radiator a few years ago.

65GGvert

If it makes you feel better, GM changed the gauge in 66 so that 210 is straight up and down in the middle of the gauge instead of 180 (as it was in 65) without changing anything else. It was because it almost always read above 180 and drivers were concerned. Mine reads 180 in cold weather and about 210 on the interstate in the summer at around 70 mph. If I slow down, it eases back down toward 200. If I sit and idle for a long time in hot weather, it will climb above 210 until I start moving again. It always climbs up for a while after shutdown, that's normal too.