ive only had the car for 2 months or so now and i asked the previous owner if he had put a 160 in it and he said no and he said he didnt know if the previous owners did either. i dont think it does but i could be wrong.. anyways, i did some reading about it because THAT was my first thought and they say that the temp should still be ~20 or so degrees higher than the temp of the thermostat so even a 160 degree should run 180 and my gage shows 150-160 consistently. these guys said that its probably just the gage not reading right. im going to check the ohms and compare it to that list of temp-ohms corrolation on shoebox website whenever i get a chance.

edit: this one if anyone is wondering: http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#ect

 

I was refuring to when I had the lt1 I had did that an may have been reason for head leak but more then likely worn seals over 20 years an engine reveing .now now its 180,an the fans cool it down to about 158,i know some guys get as close to 210 as possible with high performance engines in raceing more heat is more power .though 210 is near boiling on a hot day mabey 190 ,but that was one thing we made sure of was the right temp sencer for the fans,my old lt1 block is being built to 383 an this guy likes raceing on the weekends,an so part of it lives on,i got one of those laser temp gauges to check the top hose that's gives the best reading an carry it with me an check it hear an there about $20.00

 

What I was taught as a generic concept.

Heat causes wear, It terms of engine life there is NOTHING good about heat except it makes pistons, cranks and rods a little more ductile. As things heat up they grow and they shrink back. This will fatigue materials over time. The higher the temps go the more fatigue. When a engine fails right after it over heated it is normally one of these fatigue items. These failures become more common as the car ages.

When a cylinder fires a large percentage of heat is drawn into the cylinders. This is energy that does not make it to the wheels. The hotter the cylinder wall is the less heat get sucked in and the more energy that makes it to the wheels.

Why not build a super hot engine?
What Ever Happened To Smokey's Hot-Vapor Engine? - Hot Rod Magazine

Balancing heat vs wear in the engine is a major factor in engine design.

Older engine ran colder. They did this because they did not care as much about silly things like fuel mileage or efficiency, they where more worried about wear and fatigue.

Modern engine run hotter, but the modern designs and alloys are much better at handling wear and fatigue.

Thermostat opens at a given temp after that your coolant system determine the tempter the car maintains. If you have a good cooling system and the car is moving the thermostat may close to keep the car hot but even in the best cooling systems that should only be in cooler weather.

It is common for thermostats to get stuck open.

Never trust a factory gage to be accurate, Also low gage reading can be caused by air pockets in the coolant system.

The boiling point of water is not a factor in a pressurized coolant system.

 

In complementing Gorn's Concept,
thermostats BEGIN to open at stamped temperature and are fully open at around 8°-10° higher.
Stove, thermostat, pot of water, thermometer.
Suspend t/stat & thermometer in the middle of the pot of water - both diameter and depth/height of water in pot and crank up the heat.

 

I think heat an time wear the seals more then the componets ,I think seals are an engines worst enemy next to heat an cold .for cold though they sell block heaters ,I think they can make gaskets way better then they do ,my opion ,I know one thing my car loves 50 60 degree days better then 70 to 90 degree days. it just does ,yes heat ,then there is idle ,so engines with highway miles last longer then those driven in a lot of traffick ,again at idle they take on more heat ,then at highway speeds ,I dont like city traffick ,if I come to a road block I shut my engine off

 

The boiling point of water is not a factor in a pressurized coolant system.[/QUOTE]??>
that is very interesting gorn I learned a lot hear ,can you tell us more on that ,like that I hear that some race cars like funny cars get up to like 230 degrees couse heat is HP too ,elaborate mabey ,I was just giving my opion on the heat thing an engine failure ,the guy who put my engine in ,puts rebuilt or used engines an like Toyota an other car makers ,an more times then none its a blown head gasket ,or warped heads ,like mine head gasket ,I got a lot to learn from you thanks,oh I got to sasy nothing seems to work better on the heater hose as far as accurate temp reading ,then the Nifty little laser temp gauges they have now ,mine turns on around 185 180 then off at 158 an I would guess to say gauges are not set to be off bye 20 degrees only if its old worn out I guess those lasers are only supposed to be off 1 to 2 degrees ,an I have used it atleast 10 times on mine very concistent readings too,,oh the 160 thermostat should NOT be used I was told after I used one on my car ,then ended up with blown head gasket ,though I don't think that was the couse .when mine went I was doing a burnout in a parking lot that I should have got video or picture of ,my water light came on ,then about 10 month later we found out about the blown head gasket ,it was very slight ,with no water in oil tough engine ,but was close ,yes I pounded the lt1 an I got to say it was a trooper to have ran that long after , the light would come one go out an so on ,so that why I think seals are the worst enemy along with friction heat too

 

I have the 160*F t-stat installed with the tune set for it. My temp gauge gets to 160*F (first mark) after it warms up. Makes enough heat for where i live and i like how the car runs. Im thinkn i want to try regular 87 octane this winter and see how it drives. Owners manual say mid-grade is ok w/o rapid acceleration. I tried that with the hotter stock t-stat and it would buck and surge on the freeway ramp trying to get up to speed.

No plans to go back to higher temp t-stat.