New wrinkle.
Today I went for a 15 mile drive and the temp spiked to about 120 on the freeway with the fan running. Limped home (temp never got below 115) and pulled into the garage just as the overflow tube puked about a gallon of coolant. With the engine off, I could hear the coolant boiling and the gauge went to about 250. No problem cleaning up the coolant. Dog licked it all up when it cooled down. Now I need a new dog too! (just joking).
Now what? I have a hunch that this isn't a timing issue. I'm loading it onto a flatbed and having it checked out at Danmar Autobody in Costa Mesa. They did the install and hopefully they can shed some light on the problem.
It has always run on the warm side, but today it boiled. Could there still be an air pocket that wasn't burped out? Or am I looking at a gasket problem.
Oil is clean and there is no coolant coming out of the pipes.