What should my temp gauge be reading?? I had been running the truck without a shroud and it was getting a little hot 210-215. I went saturday and got a shroud from the JY because I figured thats what the issue was. But on the way back to work from lunch it still got up to 210. Round trip to my house and back to work is about 20 highway miles with two redlights. IIRC I put a 190 degree thermostat in it because thats what I read on here to use. I did a search before posting this and I see that rebuilt engines may run a little hot for a while. The engine probably has about 400-500 miles on it, if that many. I just don't want it to get too hot and mess something up. I don't have a clutch fan on it, just a stock regular 17" fan and the fan fits half in half out of the shroud. I tested it too by putting a piece of paper in front of the radiator and it stuck so the fan is sucking air through. I also read I may need to check my timing I think when I was having carb problems the mechanic messed with my timing. I don't have a timing light to check it with so I may run by there on my lunch tomorrow and ask if he messed with the timing and get him to put it back to 8 degrees BTDC if he did mess with it. But in all my searching I could not find what temp is normal operating temp when everything is working correctly.
I just found this down in the heating and cooling section! I guess I should have searched there too before I posted.
Does this sound right? So my temp should be around 210??

Normal operating temp should be between 200 and 215 with a 190 'stat.

This is what your engine was designed to do. Dump the 160, you're just screwing yourself.

Steve

 

Your engine temp will depend on many things, engine tune/condition, thermostat operating point, cooling system capacity/efficiency being the main ones. Cooling system capacity and efficiency depends on a number of factors, one being ambient air temperature. What this all means is that your temperature should be somewhere between the thermostat operating point and 230°F for normal engine operation. Over 230°F means attention to the cooling system is required. I like to see my temperature near my thermostat operating point which means the thermostat is determining the engine temperature not cooling system capacity.