[awoodman]

I had some trouble with my 355 running hot, above 210degrees. I thought of all the different possibilities, but when I took the heads off to do something else, I noticed that the fel-pro gaskets had punch-out things that made the coolant passages larger, to match the size of those in the heads. Those were not punched out so there was only a 1/8" hole allowing the coolant to flow to the heads through. Is that my problem? Should those be punched out?

[DoubleVision]

Nope, they are made that way for a reason. The small hole provides somewhat of a pressurized means of coolant flow into the heads. Lots of things can cause overheating from vacuum leaks, lean mixtures, low spark timing, no spark advance, etc. And sometimes it takes alot of digging to figure it out.

[awoodman]

Okay thanks for the reply, i have alot of playing around with it to do

[CNC BLOCKS NE]

Which Felpro gasket

[KnightRider84TA]

my sbc 350 runs at 220 with a 180 thermostat always has due to lack of front grill. it shouldnt hurt anything, if it starts getting near 250 then you should worry

[awoodman]

they are fel-pro 7733pt2 gaskets. And thanks knightrider. Is this the correct gasket for my application? I built the engine last year, dont remember exactly how i chose these ones. I have a rebuilt 350 with between 9.5 and 10:1 compression ratio. bored .030 over, hyperutectic pistons, iron heads: EQ lightning-CC180BA. 2.02/1.60 valves, around .500 lift int/exh cam, ect. edelbrock rpm intake, holley 670 street avenger carb. I hope you guys can help out, thanks again

[KnightRider84TA]

you have the same engine setup i do except my heads are stock. my head gaskets have the large coolent passages and came with metal inserts that i could put in to narrow coolent flow. i left them out. i dont see have making the passages larger would cause overheating if anything it should help your engine run cooler. besides thats less work for your water pump and u migth free up 1/10 of a horse power!!!