Here's the deal...got caught up in the temperature thing...make a couple of laps...check the temp...too hot...richen a little...then a little more...oops, truck's runnin' like crap...

Well, this motor digs life at about 300 degrees, starts to come alive at about 265, at 297 nobody is hanging with me...about 320 it'll start to lean & I'll richen it or let it cool a bit...

So I ask you, at what point do I toss the friggin' thermometer and go with what my ears have learned?

hmm, Is your motor sealed up?, if not try and seal it up with some RTV

Yeah, it's sealed well...I went though it at my machine shop, it's tight as a drum.

Temps vary quite a bit from what I have noticed.
Run what makes your engine run best....My Collari ran best about 325* but got as high as 533*F by neglect once..... So hot it melted the aluminum header to the block and the springs melted through the brace.
Be sure its smokin...If you feel its running to hot try a cooling head or maybe even higher content nitro...that will make it run cooler.
CS

Well, you can stop using it anytime you like. I never tune to a temp. However, a temp gun can be a good tool so I wouldn't toss it out, just leave it in the toolbox until it's needed.

if you tune by temp.. you will have a boring life.. i just see so it doesnt go over 300+
well you are already there.. new engine? what engine??
checked the needles so they are airtight?

As long as there's good smoke you should be fine. There's too many varriables to say what temp works best. Use temp as a referance if you don't you will be chasing needles all day.

Or so I thought....resealed the HSN assembly, this time very meticuously.

Surprize!!! Cool as a cucumber. As a matter of fact, about two full turns on the HSN cooler...something was leaking somewhere. 265 was as hot at it would get, that was with a nearly empty tank & a long romp through thick alfalfa after missing a turn.

Perhaps in the future I'll check what you guys with experience recommend first...live & learn.

higher nitro doesnt make it run cooler it just allows you to use a cooler glow plug and your able to lean it a bit more. Tuning by smoke is about as relable as tuning by temp diff fuels diff smoke amounts.

Ive always used my ears as well as smoke to tune my truck. Nothing better unless your really bad or new to nitro...[8D] Temps are critical in break in tho, even though ive never owned a temp guage[:-]