'66 Valiant Running Hotter than Expected

After I loosened up the ring gaps, my Eddie-headed 367 has run at least;
> 3 different cams from [email protected] > 223> the current 230; and
>Compression ratios from 10.7 to 11.3, currently 11ish; and
> with accompanying Cylinder Pressures approaching 195psi; and
> five different carbs from 500> 600> 750s> the big Thermoquad; And
> three different intakes; and
> I learned a thing or two about tuning distributors and timing; which btw is now 14 idle/28Power@2800, slowing to 32/34@3400; with 22* in the can. This lets me run 87E10 full time.

> But none of those things budged the temp-gauge significantly, except fixing the tight ring-gaps; and,
BTW, I run an ancient 26" A/C rad in a 22" opening, off a 73 Swinger 318 auto, at 7psi. Even the patches on that 50 year old rad, have patches.
From memory, it's a 2 row.

NONE of this is bragging.
I'm just relating to you, what worked for me.

Here's the thing; my engine runs the KB107hypers, and
The catalog suggests;
a skirt clearance of .0015> .0020, and a ring-gap factor of .0065
which on a 4.04 bore, works out to .0263.
When I picked up the block from the machine shop, the builder had already set the skirt to .003, which really pissed me off and I told him so too; cuz the whole reason I chose the Hypers was for the advertised tight-skirt running.
Well that didn't work out so good for me, even with the "loose" pistons.
When I freshened it up at the end of the First summer, after fighting overheat the whole time, I added another half a thou skirt clearance, so it ended at .0035skirt. And at the same time, I readjusted the rind gaps to KBs "towing" ring factor of .0080 which comes to .032/topring. Now I was really pissed.
Well, that finally did the trick! No more hot running.
And I was able to undo some of the tricks I had to do over the previous summer, to keep the engine alive.
and it turns out, that it was really good for fuel mileage too,
and a few years later, with the 230/110 cam, the car went 93mph in the Eighth. So .... I had to go back to the builder and eat crow; I hate that.

So bottom line; with the KB107s, what worked for me was;
skirt of .0035, and
gaps of; .032 top, and I think I did the Seconds at .029
which was half way in between the two gap-factors.
I'm pretty sure that, I couldda left the skirts at .003. It might even have been ok with less, I'll never know. and Yes, it does rattle on cold mornings, just a bit, for only a few seconds, but I have to almost listen for it.
Happy Hot-Rodding.