Depends  on where you mount the sender.  I had mine on a 79 and mounted it
on the factory sender threaded piece by #3 and it never saw 300 degrees.
Mounted it on the #3 exhaust nut stud and it would get to 450 on steep hill
climbs(and get there quickly).  Mounted under the spark plug, it was
somewhere in-between those figures.  As Gene Berg said to me years ago, if
you spend less than $900 on your pyrometer, your readings will be
inaccurate.  The gauge numbers are more of a baseline than anything else and
only time will give you the experience as to know whether the engine is
overheating or not.\

Dimwitted Moose and Flying Squirrel
-----Original Message-----
From: Puzerewski <Puzerewski@email.msn.com>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 11:14 AM
Subject: Cylinder head gauge

>I have a cylinder head temp gauge on my 81, and would like to know what
>range of temps I should know to be normal.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>
>Adam Puzerewski
>81 westy
>74 beetle
>86 cabrio
>Vanagon Partsmobiles