Just put a new (to me) 350 in my camaro. New 195 degree therm. Car won't warm up when driving. It will warm up if it's idling in the drive way. checked the therm and it is closed when car is cool. heat doesn't work anymore either. Any thoughts?

 

Nobody?

 

Sounds like a thermostat that is stuck open to me. I have had that problem with cheep autozone thermostat even when new. I have also had the opposite problem.
Start the car and squeeze the radiator hose that goes into the thermostat housing to see if you are getting any flow. This should not be happening until the thermostat opens at 195 degrees. When the t-stat opens and water starts circulating, the hose should start getting warmer too.

 

Thermostat isn't stuck open. I've checked that and used two seperate brand new thermostats. What is worring me now is that I can't account for the friend I had helping me. There were a couple of things that I asked him to do and he said that he did and I found out differently. There is a possibility that one of the rags we used to plug intake ports and water ports in the heads as we scraped the gaskets was left in there. Would that cause my problem? I'm 99% sure that I got one heads worth out. There's always that chance though. I keep thinking that maybe water isn't getting to the thermomater in that head.