Gordon Nichols posted:Also, I've found, to my chagrin, that using a laser-pointer thermometer can really be ambiguous because of the reflectivity of the surface being probed. For example, I used mine (an expensive Fluke) on the ducts of my gas heater and found that the difference in indicated temp between a painted steel housing and the raw aluminum duct 2" downstream was about 20ºF !!
Panhandle Bob posted:What next, tire pressure gauges, congress, the UN? Must we challenge everything?
I hate to be the guy who tells everybody Santa Clause isn't real, but laser-pointed infrared thermometers are the bane of my work existence. They look so very high-tech and idiot-proof, and everybody loves them. But they are horribly unreliable for everything but a few specific tasks, and are at best a rough measurement of everything else.
Every supermarket in America has somebody wandering around with one, shooting product wrapped in cellophane from 4+ ft away, generally when a case is in defrost. 3 times out of 4, somebody will call in for service when there's nothing wrong. In my world, internal product temperature is what matters, and the gun measures the surface only (and does a really poor job of that due to the reflectivity, etc.). I hate them all, and wish they would be banished forever in supermarkets.
However-- I carry one in my on-board kit. Why? Because there is no quicker way to determine a lot of things than to lay on your back and shoot each exhaust pipe coming off the heads. This isn't for me, as I monitor all 4 cylinders, but it is for everybody else, who generally have no idea which idle jet is plugged. As a rough diagnostic tool, they're really cheap at about 20 bucks on Amazon.
Gordon Nichols posted:Ed brings up a bunch of great ideas to check, more or less in order of probability.
I'd check most of what Ed has offered, but you may find that nothing he suggested helps, @Kevin - Bay Area. I've had many, many different combinations of engines in my speedster(s) since 2000, and here's what I know: the standard 1776- 1914 put in CA-built cars for many, many years run hot. What you are experiencing is running hot. I'm pretty sure it's the combination of an Engle 110 cam, stock heads, and a non-extractor exhaust. Jim Ignacio doesn't have this problem with his Kirk-supplied 1914 because he's got an A1 sidewinder. The inexpensive exhausts are often the equivalent of having a potato shoved in your tailpipe. I would recommend the installation of a good exhaust, and I'd bet your problem goes away.