I have a 302 in a 66 coupe. I am finally finishing up a restore on this and just got it running - I didn't really touch the engine as the guy I bought it from said it worked fine when they parked the car 5 years ago[]. He said it was bore .040 over and ran like hell so I didn't tear into the engine. I torqued the heads put a Melling high flow oil pump, Frontrunner serpentine kit, Edelbrock intake, Barry Grant carb, Mallory HEI,Northern aluminum radiator withpsyclone electric fanand re-wired with a Ron Francis kit.

I was having overheating problems trying to use the "probe" sensor and finally broke down and bought the Ron Francis "ice-box" sensor(cost $126 after shipping[sm=boohoo.gif] but working great and very easy to install). Iput in a 160 thermostat to help get the coolant starting to flow as it slowly opens (tested this inhot water prior to inserting) as well. My baby is no longer overheating - the gauge seems to vascilate a bit between 35-45% of the way between hot and cold extremes -- when I measure with a laser infra red monitor from Sears, it is showing 180-190 degrees.

What is the correct operating temperature for my302? It is runningrich - black soot and some black smoke if revving the engine alot (I haven't got into tuning the carb or dialing in the timing yet)- if I let the temp go to 190-200, will it help with the black soot or is this purely a air/fuel mixture issue (or a combination of both)?

I was having a heck of a time figuring out the overheating problems with the probe and getting the fan to work so I am very relieved and looking forward to getting this tuned, it sounds great (I put in a 2 1/2" JBA header back exhaust and it sounds hungry).