overheating 440---could the head gaskets be on wrong???

Not to sound too dumb----but what do you mean by heat riser???? I have installed the valley pan metal gasket where the heat crosses under the carb are blocked off....

On the passanger side exhaust manifold the is a flapper that's called the heat riser. If it's closed it will block of the exhaust flow on that side and up goes the engine temp.

Not a dumb Q at all, I learn here every day. the heat riser is the flapper valve on the outlet end of the pass ex manifold but w you having a blocked gasket that would take care of most of that potential heat source. When you start it how soon is it acting up? What do your plugs show? Water flows into the lower holes in the front of the block and flows around and to each cyl from front to rear and goes up into the heads via the holes above and below the cyls then circulates and exits the head(s) at the front of the heads into the large hole in the front block deck & a short turn to the 2 large top horizontle holes at the front of the block & into the pump housing. If you pull the heads I'd block the large hole at the rear of each block deck and drill a 1/2" hole in the deck and heads between cyls 2 & 3 between the head bolt holes (& punch a hole in the gasket) as this is the hottest area w 2 ex valves being paired side by side but I dont want to encourage you to do that at the moment as there is something else going on here

Thanks for the info----------as far as the heat riser goes---------there is none on the passenger side manifold....the set of manifolds I have, had the riser taken out at some point...

OK no heat riser. Is the timing in the ballpark and what do the plugs look like? On adding an additional cooling passage on each deck/head it is needed between cyls 3&5 and 4&6 sorta between the outer head bolt holes (I'll have to post a pic). The 2&3 I posted was meant to mean between the 2nd and the 3rd cyl rearward from the front (on each bank) which is very misleading. Almost forgot, does it heat up around town or on the interstate or both. EDIT add a 1/2" hole between these 2 head bolt holes but upward in a triangle

What kinda fan??? I knew someone that chased overheating problems and it was as simple as a bad clutch on the clutch fan...Would run hot down the highway and really hot in traffic and vapor lock...Could be something simple and not "motor" related. Radiator cores pinched off from leaks and not cooling as much as you think??? Any cool spots on the radiator when the engine's hot? Just a few ideas....

It seems to be better on the interstate at highway speed, but once slowed down in traffic is when the vapor lock situation starts....As far as the fan goes-----I have a 7 blade big pitch after market direct drive fan-----it pulls air through the radiator like a vacuum cleaner.....

Do you have a fan shroud?? makes a huge difference at low speeds!!

My new motor was running hot, what made the single biggest difference was a Milodon high volume water pump. for what it's worth

I fought for years to get mine to cool..26 in rad 3 different types of cooling fans 2 different radiators ,,would be cool in traffic but heat up at highway speeds..Finally a guy had a radiator out of a Ford V10 pickup,,I made it fit,and with dual cooling fans it has a hard time getting to thermostat temp..I cant get it to run hot...most of the time I don't even use the fans, only when stopped in traffic...

Have you put a thermometer in the hot coolant to see actual temp? Does the coolant circulate looking in the rad with the cap off?

Mismatched pulley set?

Shroud?

Timing?

That POS Eddy should be OK on the mix not being too lean. Still good idea to look at the plugs.

I 2nd a Milo or Eddy high flow pump. I use the Eddy, have on two BB's. Can't get them hot.

With a candy thermometer or a good mechanical gauge I'd find out exactly what your temps are (on the hiway and in town). Take the stat out for 1 day (the slower warmup wont hurt you just for 1 day). check for timing in the ballpark. Have a radiator shop suck up some rad coolant into the bottle and see if the blue fluid turns yellow (indicates a combustion leak) or if you have an emissions testing station close by have them stick the probe into the top of the rad & see if combustion gasses are present (you'll know in seconds). check for a vac leak (not sure the best way to do that). What do your plugs look like. You have a 5 row rad

Is your new radiator still clean?
Was your block hot tanked?
I had a 383 block that sat for some time with the water galleries exposed to the air & once I started the engine & warmed it up scale started coming out & blocking the tubes in my top tank. I didn't think to check the radiator for some time as I had just re-cored it so I blamed everything else first. I had to get the tanks removed, core rodded re-soldered & I fitted a filter sock on the top hose nipple(& along inside the top tank), which I took off & cleaned every couple of weeks until all the scale had gone. Then I removed the sock & everything was back to normal.
I don't think the "rebuilt" engine I bought was hot tanked!
The scale in the block would not have helped with the cooling either.

The radiator still looks clean--there doesn't seem to be any scale build up.....
Does anyone know if there is a difference between a water pump in a 440 motor that has a/c vs. one without a/c???? if so--where can I get one??? I was told the regular pump has 8 blades and the a/c one only has 6 blades to push the water......Thanks again for all the help!!!!

Thanks for the help, but I may have stumbled upon the real problem.....from another post on this blog----it would involve the Edelbrock 750cfm carb #1411......according to the other blog---this carb SUCKS!!!! is this true????

Yes, its true

Could this be the reason my car runs hot-----lean condition from a P.O.S. carb???

You didn't say what kind of waterpump housing you were using, but this might be an interesting read. He had an over heating promblem with the top of the motor becoming hot.
Sorry, I can't get the address to post. Go to the engine section. It is locked as the third post down.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,60599.0.html