Took it for another ride today. Aired up the tires which were all low. Tightened up a leaking hose from the water pump. No other leaks I found in my pre trip. While it warmed up I opened the bleeder on the heater core, and took a shower I didn't want. Coolant is still reading full. However, it only takes a few minutes if driving and the temp gauge just steadily climbs slowly until it's all the way to the end at 240. It begins to make a noticable ticking at idle when the gauge reads that high that t doesn't make otherwise. Opened the bleeder on the side of the block, I have coolant there. Pulled the pipe plug on the intake next to the temp sender, have coolant there. It doesn't seem to be holding in air anywhere. No coolant leaks when hot, no steaming overflow either. Held a piece of newspaper in front of the stack, no wetness or smell of coolant on it, no fluids mixing and no exhaust bubbles in the coolant at idle when cold, haven't checked when hot. About to go pick up an IR thermometer after I post this. Intake manifold certainly does not feel to be 240° as I can put my hand on it for several seconds before removing. Top of radiator is warm, bottom is ice cold after driving and gauge hitting 240. Pyro hit a high of about 1190, which is hits with absolutely no effort, as in as soon as I start getting into it to accelerate in any gear. Idles at about 400. Good oil pressure, good air. Idle seems to get a little wavery when gauge is reading 240°. I shut it down almost immediately, gave it maybe 20 seconds to idle as I touched things and listened. Hopefully the gauge is wrong but the way it's acting I thing it make not be. When I had the heads off I cleaned a lot of gunk and Sandy material out of the cooling passages. Gonna try flushing the system a few times. Oil isn't sparkly not does it smell of fuel so I think we're still good. I gotta bring my buckets of oil and coolant to the dump before I can drain whats in this thing. Any ideas or other things to check/look for would be great.
Also noticed the exhaust not is different, seems throatier with a very loud combustion note when accelerating, nit really sure how to explain, kinda wanna call it a banging/popping but that's not really accurate. It's rythmic and does not cause any hiccuping or feelable power loss.