Thanks for everyone's help. I think it's time to find a shop to take a look.

It will work fine not sticking out.

Don

You gave up too easy. This is an opportunity for you to learn what you have...

Don

You're right Don. I went ahead and install the sensor in the rear of the head, fill her back up and got all the air out of the system and she's maintaining 185ish!!

I'm gonna drive it around the block once the weather cools down a bit here and I'll keep you posted.

Am I crazy to think that maybe having the sensor right below the steam return would mean steam was going over the sensor and making it read that high?

Maybe. I have to admit I don’t know and I would not have expected moving it to work that well. Good job!

Owning these cars is an exercise in learning. It’s part of the fun imho.

Don

Welp, I took her out once the sun went down and it's still climbing towards 250 degrees. Ugh, thought moving that sensor helped but I guess not. Gonna see tomorrow if maybe I've got air in the system.

How are you filling the engine/radiator? There are a couple of different techniques for helping avoid the "trapped" air issue. I have had good luck with filling the engine through the upper hose in addition to filling the radiator method before connecting that hose to the radiator. Keep adding it slowly until it is totally filled, you might encounter some air bubbles, but keep going until they are gone. You can also either raise the front (or rear, cant remember which one) while running will also help burp the system while running.

Thanks for the advice! I'll try those methods today.

Raise the front as high as you can.

I have good luck keeping air out of the system filling it with one of these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Lisle-2....c100005.m1851

Don