I just put a griffin rad with a Derale 16" fan (2175 cfm) and it goes up to 200F.The engine is not lean, the timing is ok and the thermostat working (160)...
What is your fan size and cfm?

 

i have the same radiator as you and same exact fan and mine still goes up to around 200-205 degrees. But I have a pretty stout engine to so I dont know. Also I am not running a thermostat.

 

There must be something else wrong then. 200* is fine. Its not too hot. Check to see if the lower hose has a spring in it. It could be that the hose is collapsing under throttle. Is your fan a pusher or puller? It should be a puller. Nice upper hose setup BTW. I am putting a flex hose on mine cuz it kinked when I put in the griffin. So, if you used the stock bottom hose then the hose is somewhat kinked after the install. Get one with a spring in it. Make sure you have no air bubbles. I also installed a high flow pump as well.

 

My fan is a puller ,i dont have a spring in my lower rad ose but have no kink on it at idle (but still goes hot),my wather pump is a stock piece and i d ont have air or bubbles on the system.Could the plate each side of the hood lock could be a kind of wind blocker so when i am running the air d ont goes over the rad??

 

I would still get a hose with a spring in it. I am not sure what plate you are talking about, but any change in the way the air flows into the car would cause it to run hot

 

I put a other fan 14"derale with the 16"one so now i got 3525cfm.The temp is way cooler (180-190)but not the way i whant it...it looks like a cfm thing!!??!!And hers the plates that i am talking about.I made a plexiglas pieces that block the holes.

 

did your car orignally have a serpintine belt set up, and if so Are you still using the Same Water Pump, I am not sure what year it was but they went to a reverse water pump on some serpintine setups. I am not quite sure on years and stuff but I have see people have a reverse cooling Water pump Turning the wrong way and not doing its job correctly. any way 200 isn't to worry about espically if you have Headers be cause the extra heat generated by the headers can cause a false Temp Guage reading. get a second guage and put it in the intake and see if it still shows hot.

Just my .02

 

The plate is fine. That plate actually bwlongs there if you removed your airbox setup. I took mine out and put the original one there from an 84 carb Z28.

 

By looking at the pics you posted, it appears that you have a fresh engine in there, no??

Anyways, I went through this saga myself. Dropped in a 400 about 2 months ago, and it DID NOT want to run cool. Except in my case, the temp would hover around 230 degrees with the electric fan always running. I went to a new Griffin radiator and high volume water pump and it helped, but still ran up to 220 degrees before it settled out.

Since then I tweaked my timing around a bit and discovered it makes a HUGE difference in how cool or hot it runs. Now mine will initially reach 200, then settles down to 180-190.

Just a thought.

 

For the pump it is a standard rotation...i was using it on a previous engine that was ok...for the plate i will look if i can get one from my local junkyard.My engine got 2 years + this one with the vortec head swap and it was always run hot.I know it loock weird but my initial timing is set at 2 and my total is 24deg if get more it start to ping even with 94 octane (my damper did not slip)

 

That Rad shold be more then enough. I have it. had it on my 383 and barley broke 200%.

I have dual 12in. Fans pulling through it. w/ tranny cooler up front.

 

I think i found the problem...The carb was lean so i jet it up and now it alway stay at 160deg thats is awesome!!! Thanks evryone