[wizard]

Well, I guess the Mr Dumas moniker will be around for a while.
I could keep quiet but there's a lesson here worth passing on.

DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING AND DON'T OVERLOOK THE OBVIOUS.

I solved my overheating problem today and it's embarrassing to admit that there just wasn't enough water in the system.

Before I was ready to pull the heads, I knew I wanted to take out a line that runs from a "T" in the puke tank to the exit side of the radiator. That line also continues over to the top of the thermostat housing. It's obvious that this setup is designed to assist in filling the system. I rationalized that after the system was full, some water could flow directly from the thermostat housing to the exit side of the radiator and thus not be cooled.

To make a long story short (longer?), I did the romoval and during the refill process, I wound up putting more water in than I took out. So to check things out, I removed the temp sensor in the intake manifold water passage, and still no water there. I wound up adding another 3 quarts of water (tedious process)before I got water out the hole. An adequate test drive in 80 deg weather and I held a steady 180 while cruising and maybe 185-190 at a long light. (I said in my previous post that I had a 160 but after thinking about and seeing my readings I believe it's a 180.)

Moral - No matter how smart you are, you can be stupid, really, really stupid.