I just started up a new crate 454. After about 1 min of running, the block began to smoke. Could this just be the new paint burning off, or is the engine not getting enough coolant? How do I tell if the water pump is actually pumping into the engine? I have oil pressure, but I'm not getting a reading on my temp gauge.

When you say smoke do you mean oil smoke or just paint burning off or is it water leaking some where? I just put a new 454 crate motor in, had a small drip from the fitting for the oil line to gauge just above the filter, quick fix. I ran my motor for 20 min. @ 1800 rpm as instructed to break in the cam everything went fine. You should have @ least a water temp and oil gauge before running the engine, very important. Harley

new gaskets,paint,oil ect. will smoke some upon first start up. this is normal.

that's what I was hoping, the smoke was coming from the entire block, not just one spot. thank you, I have a temp gauge, it starts at 100 degrees, how long should it take to regester a reading? When this happened, surely the block was hotter than 100, but I had no reading. Any suggestions?

make sure the block is not air-locked. either drill a small hole in the thermostat or loosen a fitting or hose that's high on the engine, make sure water leaks out. The thermostat relies on being in contact with the hot water to work. if it's air-locked it won't open until way too late.