Fairly new 472 Hemi, 10-71 BDS blower, new Be Cool rad, electric water pump, electric puller fans and 180 deg t-stat. After idling for about 5 minutes temp goes right up to 210. Upper hose is cool to the touch, lower hose is hot. Top of rad is also cool to the touch, bottom is hot. Can the water pump possibly be wired to run backwards? Or maybe a bad t-stat? Not real sure on the timing yet, a lot of hand made parts (lower pulley spacer with timing marks). Thanks.

take off the cap, and look for water flow. if the upper hose is cool, i'd want to see water flow first. try running without the thermostat and see what happens. worse case scenario, remove the pump and run it, and verify the direction of the impeller is the direction it's actually spinning. if it's running backwards, reverse the wires.

Thanks for the replies. Pulled the t-stat and tested it, doesn't open til almost 200 deg. Water pump seems to going the correct way. I think I may have a bad t-stat. I'm going to try to get a 160. Also may have air trapped under t-stat, might try drilling a burp hole in the stat. It's just such a pain to r & r the t-stat with the pullies an belt and no room to work.

A stat (unless it is bad) will not cause a heating problem. It cannot control temps above the stat rating. A 195 stat will not be open till near 200 degrees and that will not hurt a thing.

180 Napa Superstat.

Good luck cooling that thing with electric fans, lol

You need to work on the tuneup, not the cooling system.

If the top hose is cool and the bottom hose is hot you've already found the problem.
It's not moving water.
Take the top hose off the radiator and turn on the pump. Does water come out?
If not, pull the thermostat and see if the pump pushes water out the top of the pump.

The only other culprit would be the bottom hose sucking shut but if the bottom of the radiator is hot water is moving through it.

Thanks again for all the replies. This is my first blown motor, and my first Hemi. I think we got the overheating thing licked. We replaced the stat (tested it 1st), and set the timing to about 20 deg. It seems to run at around 190 degress now. I think we need to play around with pulleys now. Too much boost! 15 lbs at idle!!

15 psi boost at idle is a nice start.