ok I had built my 350 for my car. it ran fine. then I lost my cam shaft. I replaced the cam/lifters and I had a new set of heads for it, better springs bigger valves. now that I have put the motor back together I am having a prob with the coolant. I bought a gauge to put in for the water temp. its in a pod on the a-pillar. when I take the car for a drive.... like 2 miles. the temp gets up to about 250. I have not had this prob before.

the last time I built the motor I had put in a new t-stat so I did not change it this time it only has about 50 miles or so on it. I am stumped as to what to do. the fan does not come on till about 220 to 230 or so. I don't know if the gauge is bad or if i mesed something up. the hoses get so hot that you cannot really touch them. thanks for any advice.

 

First check coolant level and did you completely bleed the system of air?

 

at first I thought that i did not. I did run the motor for less than a minute and then I opened the cap and put a little more in. when I ran it after that I was having the coolant gush out the cap opening.

Another thing. I noticed that I had more power from my old heads and a wiped out cam than I do with these heads and a new cam.

 

Here is post I made on another thread:

I'll tell my story for what it's worth. Ever since I bought my 87 camaro I had cooling problems, mostly related to the electric radiator fan. The temp sensor failed, then the relay burned out. This caused me to go through a couple fan motors. Over the years I kept having cooling problem, especially after installing my big cam, big head engine. I removed the air conditioning components, including the AC condensor which allowed more air flow through the radiator. I also set up the radiator fan motor on a dash mounted toggle switch. I had to watch engine temp closely. Not the best situation, but the car was not a daily driver and it got me by the next few years. Last year I was looking for parts at the junk yard and came across an 82 or 83 firebird. This car came with a belt driven fan. I had thought all third gens came with electric fans. The radiator shroud went home with me that day, along that car's non AC heater box. I installed the parts with an aftermarket lightweight flex fan. Now cooling problems are GONE. The belt driven fan gives all the cooling air flow I could ever need. Granted one advantage is that I have a manual transmission, meaning no trans cooler.

This is my long winded way of saying there are other ways of getting more air flow without creating special air ducting. My solution may not be for you if you are not a belt driven, 4 barrel, no AC, automatic power nothing, guy like me. TPI guys go ahead and build your air dams. If you're like me, search the junkyard for an early third gen car to pull parts from.