I installed a rebuilt engine back in February. I originally had a 305 but I put in a 350 this time around. Aside from the car idling poorly there was never any issues with it until recently. Long story short, one of my cooling fans stopped working so I ended up finding out the connector on my fan switch was no good. It was a Sunday night when I discovered the problem so all the stores were closed. I ended up grounding the wire so the fan would stay on all the time. So now that I have both fans working again the engine is running hot. It's fine while driving but when im just idling or stopped in traffic the temperature climbs. I was in a taco bell drive through last night, the temp was fine when I got there but by the time I got my food it was much hotter than it should have been. It was a long line mind you, but the temp shouldnt have been as hot as it was.
Also, when the engine is warm and I shift from Park to Reverse or Drive the car jolts very hard into gear. It doesnt do it so violently when the engine is cold though. I have transmission cooler lines going to my rad, could that have something to do with it?