Thread: Aluminum 406 cooling problem

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Hello all, having trouble keepin' my huffed aluminum 406 cool. After initial start, the thing will heat up to about 220-230 degrees before the thermostat opens. It'l drop back to 190 and just creep up from there and stay at 230 degrees. Got the timing set at 15 before TDC per the B&M Tech Man. Checked the thermostat buy heating in a pot, opened at 180. Also cheched my gauge the same way, temp indictes correctly. I'm sensing the coolant temp on the passenger side of the intake manifold about 3.5 inches from the thermostat. Suspect the aluminum is pulling so much heat out of the engine so very quickly, that the coolant at the thermostat isn't warm enough to open it. Was thinking about installing a 160 to 170 degree thermostat, but that goes against normal overheating logic. That should drop the opening temp to 200 to 210? One other thing, the other engine I was running with the blower was all cast iron at 352 cubes, I had no cooling problems even in 105 degree ambient temps. That engine would rise to 200 and back to 180. Any input would be great!