Those of you with a 302?

[MaxKlinger]

Well I have a 302, and it runs hot. Normally 1/2-3/4, my dad said it should run about a 1/4, what does your guys run?

I added the after market gauges 'cause I didn't trust the stock gauge.

Stock gauges don't give you any useful information. You can't go by "1/4" or "3/4" of the way across the gauge, because they're arbitrary. There are no units. There are no numbers. It's complete BS. You can only have this discussion if you have an actual temperature value to compare. I don't care if it's on the Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin, or Rankine scales; you need to specify a temperature.

[sideoilerfe]

I'd say, check the temp with a gauge inside the radiator while running. You'll notice a change when the thermostat opens up. With that reading you'll know if you're hot or not. You should be at least 180 degrees, no lower.

[69rangerman]

When I rebuilt my engine I put the old radiator back in after being rodded. It ran hot and even puked a couple of times.

I'd replaced everything else during the rebuild, and installed a 180 thermo and mechanical guage in addition to the dash guage. I was hitting 3/4 or plus 200.

Decided to bite the bullet and get a new radiator. Autozone had a direct replacement for not too much (90-120? $). Once I burped it after the install it heats to 180 on the guage and stays there no matter what.

The engine is .30 over with a hotter cam, and 4bbl.

I guess i'd go to the trouble of:
Checking rad for bubbles (possible compression leak)
Checking rad fluid for temperature with thermometer.
Removing and checking or replacing t-stat (but boil it first with thermometer in pot to verify it meets it's rating)
Installing a mechanical guage even temporarily to help diagnosis.

The above at the most will only cost 40.00 or so and time.

If the engine is wore out you could be blowing combustion temps past rings and back into crankcase/oil.