What thermostat is recommended for the 350's, is it 160 or 180?

 

i am thinking that this is in the wrong board, but i believe it is a 195* thermo.

 

Depends on your setup. FI systems don't work well with 160* t-stats as the Coolant Temperature Sensor will only register the engine is up to temperature on hot days- meaning you'll be running in open-loop mode all the rest of the time (i.e. no input from O2 sensor and such- meaning you having fuel injection is meaningless- you'll be using too much gas and be down on power). If carb'd- anything will work- but won't work optimally. A thermostat only controls the MINIMUM engine temperature- so what this means is that if you use a t-stat on a cooling system that can't keep the engine at that temp (180* for example) your ability to tune the setup is inconsistent- on a cold day your engine will be at the minimum temp. as dictated by the t-stat (180*) but on a hot day you may be running 210*- now tune your engine effectively for such a wide temperature difference. Bottom line is you want to use a t-stat that your cooling system can maintain the temp. at on hot hot days so your tuning is consistent- if this means 195* then that would be the best choice. Even if your cooling system can't keep the engine at 195* on hot days, but at 210* or such- at least the temp. difference is only 15* min to max- meaning your tuning, while not perfect, will be more consistent than say 160* or 180* minimum vs. 210* (a 50* and 30* difference respectively). Put in a 180* t-stat and then wait for a really hot day and beat the car down the road and see what your maximum temperature is- and then change the t-stat as required.