Ours seems very similar to Paul Fordy's readings, after about 45 mins we then creep up to a needle's width away from red though. We then switch on the electric supplementary fan which the previous owner fitted to the front of the radiator. Temperature 'stabilises' between there are Paul Fordy's pic - although does fluctuate for no apparent reason.
Removed our radiator yesterday and took it in for a recore this morning. There's been a previous poor repair with some filler type material which might be blocking about 20% of tubes.
On removing the radiator I discovered 2 news things about our Commer
1) It has a wind deflector but this was loose & vertical - I'm guessing these needs to be fixed at 90 degrees or so 'scoop' up more air into the engine bay.
2) Part of the choke mechanism is bolted to the radiator !
I'll see what difference the new core makes and post results.
Next steps will be to get our tune right, as I think we're running slightly lean which won't have helped our temp.
Will look at the temp sender wiring too as it doesn't look in a great state - might bypass with new wire as a test to check result.
Also after 34 years there's always the possibility the electronic temp sender / temp gauge are playing up. Unfortunately I've mislaid my infrared thermometer at the moment to test this hypothesis
