Cylinder head temp?

Just hoping someone can give me some advise, im building my first blown methanol injected hemi, its an early iron hemi with Aluminim heads, the block has been filled to help it survive, but the heads are water heads, i was wondering how i would know if the heads were getting to hot, do they reach a point where you run the risk of ruining them? sorry for the novise questions, but i only ever see guys putting their hands on the front and rear of the head when warming it up.
If i knew a ball park temp what this could be my plan was to use a infer-red heat gun while warming it up and to do the same temp everytime, and keep on eye on the temp all the way up to staging the car. any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for the space on the site.

 

Head temps

The "hands on the head" method is pretty accurate, but if you want some numbers to go with it;
1. If you can hold your hand on it and not pull away it is less than 150 degrees.
2. If you can't hold your hand on it because it feels like it will burn you, it is 180 degrees or more.
3. If it leaves a blister with the touch you have overheated it, and your heads-- as well as your hand -- will need service.

Everyone has their own "particular" temp that they shoot for, but if you start in the 150 degree or less range, it will give you a place to work from.

 

Sorry, but just to confirm, even after a run if the heads are between 150-180 its all good?

thanks for the heads up

 

Yes, but this is also one of those things that everyone approaches differently. If you are bracket racing the car you might not want to be as aggressive as someone who is heads up racing. When our bracket car is running like I like it, we build 20 -30 degrees on a pass, but it can cool back down while idling so this is a temp change from starting line to finish line when shut down and given a few minutes to soak.
I have had tuneups that built almost no temp on a pass, but that is not what I aim for.
It would be nice if someone else added their $0.02 to mine though, more info is better.

 

cylinder head temps

We usually warm the engine up between 3-5 mins or til the heads get to around 145-150 degrees. After a run they usually will be around 130- 145 checked at all four corners. That will show you also how close you are to a good tuneup. As long as each corner does not differ more than lets say 10 degrees you should be fine. Check your manifold temp after the run it should be about 110-120 degrees after you go through the lights and shut it down.

 

Thanks guys, exactley what i wanted to know, i really appreciate your advise guys

 

I have had tuneups that built almost no temp on a pass, but that is not what I aim for.
It would be nice if someone else added their $0.02 to mine though, more info is better.










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If the heads are bare aluminum, you would want to paint a small black dot on the spot where you will be checking the temp with your infer-red gun.

 

hi everybody!
just a question regarding filled iron block/aluminum water heads:is it ok to fill the heads also?
i m building a blown alcohol mopar big block wedge,and been advised 2 different things:
-fill the heads as leaving them as is would build too much heat around the combustion chambers.
-find a way to have coolant in them to lower temp around chambers,epecially the "middle" ones that have a tendancy to heat up faster.
any ideas?
thanks a lot