Jim: I didn't read all of the responses, but I'll just tell you what I know. A good way to wear bores prematurely is run an engine cold. A properly operating thermostat will not cause overheating, but ensure the engine is at
operating temperature. The reason it's called operating temperature is that's the temperature at which the engine should operate. Run it colder and bore wear accelerates. I presume the only thing you want to accelerate is your Cobra.
