So it sounds like a electric pusher fan is a bad idea. Anyways I think the 69's Darts stock electrical system would not handle it. In short, I've already tried pretty much everything thats been mention above so far. I've upgraded the radiator to a 3 row with 1/2 tubes. Upgraded the fixed 18 inch fan from the stock 213 to a 224 with more pitch to pull more air. Yes I have a fan shroud attached. The fan blades are about halfway into the shroud and about 2 inchs from the rear of the rad. I have a Flow Kooler water pump, with a bottle of Water Wetter added. I have a 160 degree Napa super stat. I have the timing advanced to 10 degrees BTC. Engine's compression ratio is between 9.5 and 10.0. Bored 40 over. Motor has a mild hyd Comp Cam, 230 intake 236 exhaust @.50 The lift is .488 .491 The motor also has a Edelbrock Performer intake and a Edelbrock 800 CFM carb with a heat spacer between the two. I even started running Ethanol free gas, but nothing seems to help much. I'm at my wits end trying to get this car to run cooler. I'd like to see it run under 195 degrees in the heat. Is that to much to ask? Please give me your advice & your thinking. Thanks.
Your numbers make me first question the accuracy of the gauge and or the efficiency of the radiator
Be aware that all radiator cores are not created equal and that can lead to one pulling their hair out. The factory produced many big block cars with 22" radiators and they cooled just fine. Likely due to better thermal efficiency of the cores back then. 50+ years later we have what are SUPPOSED to be the equivalent but is far from it thanks to the bean counters and manufacturers trying to make it better, cheaper, and faster. THOSE three together BTW are not possible.
STEP 1. The first thing I would strongly recommend is measuring the temp with an 1/8" sheathed thermocouple and a digital meter.
They can be obtained fairly inexpensively on ebay of amazom. A lot of the DVMs have jacks for thermocouples.
Put the thermocouple as close as possible to the thermostat. You can get extension leads and place the meter in the car while driving around. Compare the T/C readings to you existing gauge. NOTE: Do be aware there are different types of T/C's and you have to get the correct type for the meter and extensions or you readings will be skewed.
Why a T/C? because they are extremely sensitive and
ACCURATE. I have seen new "QUALITY" aftermarket gauges be off by as much as 50 degrees. The warmer it gets, the further out calibration they seem to go. Does not matter whether they are mechanical or electrical. The T/C does not lie
Step 2. Drive the car around preferably with a passenger to record the readings.
IF the T/C concurs with the gauge you have eliminated the gauge as a possible problem and can move forward with resolving the temp issue.
Per your postings you have already thrown more $$ at the problem than the above suggestions would cost and have resolved nothing. I am not beating you up but rather trying to help. 30 years of R&D pushing the envelope on existing technology taught me, you have to first gather the data, then analyze it, categorize it and proceed from there.
Throwing parts at an issue with out analyzing / diagnosing it is like going to the casino's
A perfect example is in this post
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2953501/low-oil-pressure.html#Post2953501If you choose to do the above, report back and we can go from there.
