Temperature Question: Did I cause any damage?

[78silver]

I did a tune-up a few weeks ago on my '78 SC and when re-installing the alternator pulley I made the classic mistake of re-installing with less than six shims. After which I drove the car for a couple hundred miles eventually noticing that the pulley was spinning off center, wobbling a bit, and ultimately frozen to the fan. I've since disassembled, ordered a new pulley, hardware, and belt but have been wondering what damage I might have caused besides potentially putting added strain on the alt. bearings.

During the time I drove the car with the alt. pulley spinning off center, I noticed that the temperature guage was far from the red line but above the half way point. I'm still a newbie and have not put that many miles on the car since I purchased. I haven't done any other tests based on actual engine temperature but did read that the engine temperature is typically higher than what the guage shows.

My question is, was I running too hot and did I potentially cause any damge. What should the guage typically read when fully warmed up?

[Deschodt]

I don't know what damage you might have done to the alternator itself, but temperatures wise, don't worry one bit... As long as you're not in or near the red, you are fine. I'm around 1/2 way up the gauge on each drive home these days, and above 1/2 way each time I'm on track with the SC, more like 2/3 + in fact, and the car now has 178000 miles of being that way so it can't have hurt too much !

You can see temperature marks if you look at your gauge from the extreme right side.... they're hiding !!