At first I thought I had a overheating problem, but now I'm not so sure I do.
I have a new Auto Meter electric gauge with the sender in the rear of the right head. The temp gauge reads 230 deg after about 8 minutes of idling from a cold start.

Using a infered heat sensor, what kind of external head temperature would I expect to see at the rear of an aluminum head on a newly rebuilt 383 after it's warmed up and idling.

Using the infered temp sensor and here is some readings I got after 8 minutes idling from a cold start.

Intake manifold below t-stat 123 Deg.
L rear of I manifold at NPT plug 117 Deg.
L cyl head at NPT plug (front) 225 Deg.
R head at temp sender (rear) 260 Deg.
Lower rad hose at water pump 120 Deg.
Auto Meter water temp gauge 230 Deg.
Are the external head temps a cause for concern, and should I put the temp gauge sender in the intake manifold and forget about it?

Thanks for the help.

Roger

Roger
I would suggest moving the sensor to the manifold for a truer reading of coolant in the engine .... there are many post in here about tainted readings from the head location
the I/R gun will give you good readings at the t stat housing ... you should see a 20 to 30 degree drop in temp at the lower hose connection of the rad
Don

I run two temp gages. One in the intake and one in the head. Head is about 10* hotter on mine.

Thanks guys.
Like I said I don't think I have a real problem here. I think I put the sender in the worst possable place. I have another sender comming that I will put in the manifold and will connect so that I can toggle between either location. Without the I/R gun and only the temp gauge to go on I was to scared to just run it until the temp gauge stabelized, or not.

Thanks again