Water temp?

[mbflemingkf]

Just got my '54 Kaiser Manhattan back from the shop after having the head gasket blow at less than 300 miles.  They had the head shaved and retorqued 3x to 40#.  The car is running great; best its EVER run.  just asking the group what is normal on the water temp.  I have an "add-on" under the dash temp guage and when driving, it stays about 175-177 degrees.  When i stop, even for just a couple of minutes, it raises to 190-200.  It even went to 205 one time but always goes back down once the car gets moving.  Is this anything to worry about or mostly normal?

[51Deluxe]

I think 200 degrees  is a bit on the high side- I dealt with this (high temps when stopped) on my car in this thread:


http://kfclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,5989.0.html


You may not want to go this route, but adding the fan to mine solved the issue.

[mbflemingkf]

Has anyone else tried one of these flex fans?  First time I've heard/see of it.  Thoughts about my temperature rise?  Should I be concerned?  What about a radiator fan?

[joefrazer]

A rise in temp at idle usually means the coolant isn't flowing fast enough to do its job. Either the radiator flow is restricted, its fins aren't dissipating the heat, or the water pump impeller is worn. A plugged block will manifest itself in overheating at any time so I don't think its the problem.

I had a Cadillac that did the same thing and it was the radiator...the fins had corroded to where they didn't dissipate heat. I replaced it and that ended the problem.

[84RabbitGTI]

My '51 Kaiser is doing the same thing.  Scary.  I cringe every time I get stopped in the Seattle-area's I-5 traffic.  It seems to have gotten worse lately. 
Could it be related to having had the motor bored out?  Mine is at 30 over, according to the rebuild shop. 
At least it hasn't vapor locked since I tightened the fuel lines and only use no alcohol fuel!       
I'm going to start with having the radiator re-built.
While running in 85° temps through the center of Oregon one year, I used one of those 'laser' temp sensors (from harbor freight) and compared my car with the three others running with me.  They were all within one degree of each other, around 175° if I remember correctly in the same circumstances, even though their temp gauges were wildly different from each other.

[51Deluxe]

Mine is at .40 over, which is a no no according to some sources, but some others are running bored out engines and have for a long time. Supposedly it can make it run hotter. My radiator has already been done and there is literally nothing left to troubleshoot. I think the temp gauge runs on the high side, when I unscrew the cap and there is no pressure whatsover, seems to me it is not running that hot.