'66 Valiant Running Hotter than Expected

It never over heated but it was getting there. Like I said if I had the AC working it would have been game over. I’ll have to carry the IR gun or put a temp sensor in it next year. The motor will be more broken in and looser by then too. This is all reminiscent of the trouble that I had with the Coronet in the heat. I thought I could avoid that with the aluminum heads and the four core radiator. I had good luck on the duster with the Toth heads and four core radiator. That Car never gets hot ever. The gauge was right at the max normal range when I was at the off ramp red light after cruising for 80 miles an hour three hours. Once I hit the highway it would come down to about 3/4 to seven eights of the way to the max normal range. The Duster in the Dart typically have a hard time, even getting up to the middle of the normal range
So you are going off the factory gauge with no numbers on it and it isn't overheating and it is a fresh engine that hasn't really been broken in yet? That all sounds pretty normal to me.