running hot?
 

Just bought a 65 289 4 spd that, to me, runs a little hot. My father in law ( who is a ford man) says he remebers these cars reading a little hot on the temp gage and that my car was doing just fine. He checked the engine and said it wasn't abmormally hot and said the fliud was just luke warm after the car had ran for quite a while. Im in traffic often and wanted to make sure before I end up on the side of the road. (This is a daily driver being 90 miles one-way to work). So my question is, do these cars usually read a little warm on the temp gage? It reads a little above half-way on the gage, which has a new sender, but when I crank the ac and leave the car to idle, the needle starts to climb. I was also informed that the car has a 4 core rad. Thanks guys.

The 289 is well known for running hot for a lot of people. As was suggested in another post, I would have it checked with a second guage before thinking something is wrong with the motor. That being said, I had a 289 that never ran very hot at all. If you are concerned, think about having the radiator "roded out", get a new radiator cap, and think about a new water pump along with a good flush of the engine. Has the engine been rebuilt? Sometimes people have problems with hotter running engines after a rebuild (289 problem).