The other day I took my 84 TA down the street, when I got to the stop sign I checked my gauges and noticed my temp gauge was off the chart. I changed the thermostat yesterday in case that was my problem. The car sat for 7 years so I am guessing some of the gauges might be a lil screwy. Is there a possibility that over the course of an eighth mile run down the block at 25 mph that the temp would go soaring over 250? I don't think so based on what I've seen with other V8s. When I pulled the car back in I found that the car was not that hot, but I am not sure if there was anything flowing back to the radiator, I changed the Thermostat thinking maybe it wasn't opening. Is there anything else I'm missing here? The car has wide open exhaust for the time being too.

 

If the coolant temp was really that high, your coolant overflow would be boiling out. You can verify your thermostat is working by touching the upper radiator hose to see if it's hot, which means coolant is circulating through the radiator (be careful, it can get pretty hot). Most likely the engine isn't really that hot and it's just a faulty gauge, but I would stick another temp sensor/gauge in the car just to be sure.

 

Did you flush the whole system yet, or is it seven year old coolant in there as well. Start clean. Start fresh.

 

does the waterpump have a little drip from the bottom of it? if so the pump is shot and that can happen.

 

Engine was bone dry, might still be some old coolant in the heater core, but since it sat outside for most of that 7 years I'm guessing most of what is left evaporated. There is fresh coolant in there at the moment, and I've been topping it off as it runs to ensure that the system is full. (Never know if its full til the water pump turns)

 

BONE DRY!!! Doesn't sound right. Can coolant in a sealed unit(engine, rad) really evaporate like that??? If you have any leaks, your system needs to hold some pressure to work right and keep the engine cool. Even with Fresh coolant, I WOULD do a rad flush a couple of times just to make sure that your system isn't full of coolant sediment(which looks like sand) and clogging up your engine's coolant pathways, hoses, heater core and inside the rad....give it a thought, good luck.
"Start Clean, Start Fresh."-Lakeffect2 is right...
And you should do at least 2 flushes, to soften up the sediment and drain it out CLEAN.

 

OH, the other thing too is Air Pockets, that can cause high temps/ overheating.

 

What I ment was we drained the engine, radiator and all the hoses out when we did the swap. None of it was sealed during the process, even the heater core hose openings were open so because of the heat during the summer I wouldn't be surprised if coolant evaporated as during the whole process the engine and core and radiator were not sealed as they would be in the car. The only old stuff still in the system was in the heater core. I felt the hoses and it was warm and I had coolant in the overflow bottle this time. I had the car up to 55 mph today (was loafing like it was nothing too) and temp gauge stayed between 100 and 150. I think its the gauge being screwy and the thermostat may have been sticking. I haven't flushed the system yet, but I was going to when I got the chance. I take it you need to have the car running when you do it too? The problem is I don't have the whole exhaust system hooked up yet. I've been avoiding the little crap til I got that done. Also I'm still trying to find all the leaks if there are any left as well.