engine overheating

I'm having a problem with my car overheating and I've replaced everything I can think of except the waterpump and temp gauge. I've replaced the radiator, thermastat, clutch fan, temp sensor, rad cap, but it still runs with gauge almost pegged. I can only run about ten mins. if I'm lucky. The engine is a 351w. Any thoughts or ideas are greatly welcomed. I want to get it running so I can do the Pony Trails in Bellevue,Wa. I wouldn't consider it the way it runs now.

Thanks Bret

Have you removed the radiator cap and stuck your finger, or a thermometer, in there to see if it's hot or are you relying strictly on the temperature gauge? If the engine water is hot but the radiator water is just warm I've vote for a bad pump. You should also be able to just look at the water to see if it's flowing.

If the water is flowing and it's boiling hot you might want to check your timing.

Does the car have a fan shroud? A shroud will help direct air into the radiator.

I don't know if this happened to anyone else, but when I first got my HCS, the previous owner was not a maintenance buff. I had a bad overheating problem. I fixed it by two things. The radiator was about 1/3 clogged so I replaced it. Also, I pulled both heads and cleaned the water jacket passages with a coat hanger. They were just almost completely closed up with gunk (technical term) on each banks forward passage. They must have never changed coolant. :'(

It could be many other things as well, each already discussed.

Great idea. I had forgotten all about the return holes in the heads. That will heat up an engine real fast.fd

The same thing seems to happen often to the oil retun holes on Ford small blocks. People forget to clean out those holes when they have the valve covers off. It's usually little pieces of the valve seals that get brittle and flake off and get lodged in the return holes, then the gunk just keeps building up around them. I worked on a running 289 that had absolutely no oil to the top end. Every lifter and pushrod was plugged, so were the return holes. The person couldn't figure out why the oil pressure gauge was reading so high! It was probably run for a couple thousand miles like that. Scary stuff. Plesae remember; Clean oil is our best friend!!

Well, I checked the timing and its right where it should be. The water in the rad is hot. I went the cheap route first and put in a new thermostat and it cooled down considerably, only gets just above the halfway mark on the gauge. I'll drive it awhile and see how it goes. Thanks for all the good info.

Bret

What is the normal operating temp range of a (fairly) stock 289? I looked all in the engine manual and could not find it. Mine runs 160 to 210 (maybe 220) degrees. Casey

I had always believed 190 - 210 but I don't have anything to back up those numbers.