I have a 71 350 Camaro. I replaced my old 195% thermostat with a new 195% thermostat. Now my engine seems to run hotter then before. It now runs around 210-215% when prior I would say 195% max. I was told not too worry about it 210 is fine but I have a hard time looking at the temp closer to red.

I considered swapping it again but not sure if I am worrying needlessly. So what is the optiimal temprerature for my car?

 

The temp you are getting is not really bad, but a 190 stat in a 71 sounds a little high, I seem to remember that 180 was common back then. Also make sure there is no air in the cooling system, and you may want to check out the temp gauge for accuracy.

 

air in the system is totally possible. how did you refill your system?

running at 160 is best. if your cooling system is working ok that shouldn't be a problem. do you have a mechanical or electric gage? I've chased everything before and then found out it is a bad gage(not sender but gage). a common problem is that people try running too cool a thermostat than their system can tolerate so the car runs hotter. a good remedy and example for this is:

say you run a 160 thermostat and the car can't hold it. the thermostat will stay open too much and the car might run at 200 because the system never gets to close. you switch that with a 190 and now the system has time to stay closed for a while (because it can handle 190 under proper conditions) and will hold 190-195 all day