I have a 62 skylark with a 215 4bbl. that runs 195 degrees down the road and 210-215 degrees in town when outdoor temp is 40 degrees or above. The motor runs 140 degrees when the outdoor temp is 30 degrees or below. I have replaced the heads with a pair of reconditioned ones, installed a new cam and lifters, water pump, 180 degree thermostat, all hoses, recored the radiator, rebuilt the carb. replaced the fuel pump and adjusted the timing in both directions and tried redline coolant helper. Nothing that I have done has made any difference in the engines running temp. The motor runs great. I am considering a larger aluminum radiator. I really want to stay away from going to an electric cooling fan. Any suggestions?

Don't worry about it. It ain't running too hot. 215 degrees in the summer time for coolant temp is not going to give you any problems. Most old GM guys will tell you that that's why the cars don't come with gauges from the factory. They don't want to waste time trying to convince the customer that the engine not running at the thermostat temp is ok. My '65 Rivy ran 240 degrees down the Interstate in the summer with the air on. Never caused a problem. Part of the problem is on the nailheads, and other engines is that the temp sender is not stuck in the engine at a place that accurately reflects what the true engine temp is. Also there are large variations of temp at different places inside the cooling system. What place would you consider to be the best place to measure engine temp? Who Knows, you could argue with engineers for days and they would all tell you some thing different. But I would repeat that I believe that your car is not running too hot. The too cold aspect of your post could be a lazy thermostat, maybe not closing all the way. If you have enough heat out of the heater inside the car I might be inclined to not get too worried about that either.

If it ain't boiling over, it ain't overheating! And unless it's stuck closed, the thermostat has nothing to do with it. If you're really concerned use a digital thermometer to check ACTUAL temps. The sending unit is notoriously inaccurate... just an indicator. These aluminum engines have a rep for overheating, but you've eliminated the problems normally at fault. Be sure and not use 100% antifreeze- 50/50 is recommended and 100% doesn't pump efficiently. Enjoy!:shifter:

I agree with the above comments, but have you tried a different gauge and/or sender??? It may be that yours are inaccurate...

To whom it may concern,

Double check the carburetor application along with the jet sizes. If you can install bigger jets in the carburetor do so. It will make a difference. If your gauge is correct, sounds like it's running too lean. Let me explain, a friend replaced a 350 chevy with a 400 small block chevy for pulling. He put a 700 cfm Holley on the engine. It ran hot, never boiled over and he tried everything under the sun to cool it down, except bigger jets in the carburetor. My brother has a 48 Roadmaster, his engine always ran a very high normal, one day he decided to rebuild the carburetor, it turns out he had a carburetor for a Super on his Roadmaster engine. I gave him a spare carburetor I had, and now the engine runs very normal temperatures, and he lives in Florida. I know it sounds stupid, but bigger jets do work. You need the fuel to help cool the engine down too, it takes a few minutes more to warm up when it's cold. If you can't get bigger jets, get a set of jewelers drill bits, and start drilling. You can get them at a hobby shop for model trains. First double check your temperature gauge to be sure it's accuate.

On my '64 Riv. no matter where I put a temp. gauge (mechanical) the engine temp. always reads the same. At the temp. sending unit in the right front head. The plug at the left rear of head. A thermometer in the cap opening of the rad.