Safe operating temp for 225 V6

So my '67 CJ is just about ready to be put on the road, however, the original temp gauge is not working. I plan on installing an aftermarket guage with the numerical temperatures on it instead of the
C and H. I've been running the jeep up and down the driveway to get a feel for it and get the juices flowing, but it seems to be getting extremely hot for just the short 10 minutes or so that I run it. I don't want to cause any damage to it by over heating, so when I do install the temp gauge I wanted to find out just how hot these engines run. I was told some engines were designed to operate at hotter or cooler temps.

Thank you

 

I believe in the 180 degree range. Put a new thermostat in it if you have doubts

 

"ready to put on the road"? If you've just overhauled the motor it can run hot as it breaks in. Especially if you're not driving on the road.

My driveway wouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure about yours. Without any details all I can offer is it should run close to the thermostat temperature either on a level road at moderate speeds or standing at idle.

 

It's a new thermostat. When I filling the new radiator I installed, I let the jeep idle for some time to get some of the air pockets out and make sure that the thermostat was opening correctly. After about 8 minutes of running the water level dropped a good bit. It did this twice, I topped the radeator off both times, I'm assign this drop in water level indicates that the thermostat was opening correctly.

thanks for the reply, 180 degrees sounds good to me, but judging on the heat the engine is giving off, I'm sure it's running hotter than that.

 

No CJ Joe, no overhaul on the engine, it was running fine when I bought it, so other than Changing water pump, fluids didn't do anything to it.

 

If you are not running a fan shroud that will make it run hotter.

 

Yep, no fan shroud, those things are hard to find

 

You could make your own shroud. My 231 was running 200-230 degrees on the trails. This was with both a stock 4 blade and a 16" electric fan and no shroud. It was suggested to me to shroud the stock fan. I came up with this:



I haven't had it out yet this year, but idling in the driveway for 45 minutes didn't get it hot enough to turn the electric fan on(set at 190 degrees). There's a full description of the shroud build here:
http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?93838-Finally-Got-Going-on-My-60-Build/page6

 

I built one for mine out od sheetmetal, similar to Heatseekers^
Used cardboard to mock it up...it was actually not too difficult to build, and made a HUGE difference in operating temps.

 

Looks good, I may have to just do that.

 

I run at 200-210. Im getting the impression that that is too hot.

 

I did some research in the service manual I have and it says that the Dauntless V6 has a normal rating of 190* and the thermostat should begin to open at a coolant temp between 180* to 192*, and fully open at 202*
so I'm sure your running temp is fine 68BuickV6.

 

Thank you!

 

Not to hijack the thread, but I also have installed an aftermarket temp gauge using an original style temp sensor in the intake. Its been reading up to 280 F. New water pump, thermostat, gauge, sensor, timing chain/ cover, the works. Could it be that the aftermarket gauges just dont read the resistance from the sensor properly?

 

Usually, when you buy a gauge, it comes with a matched sender. Not all gauges use the same resistance range. I'm betting you are getting a false reading.