Hmmmm
Just looked in your gallery again and you are using the same units I have on my Shelby and had on my Unique, both with 427's. The thermostat should be 160 to allow the engine to come up to temp and then allow coolant to come in to bring the whole system up to 85 degrees C/185 degrees F range and keep it there. Except for spikes up when you go from hard running to a quick stop in traffic it should range like this Chart:
Degee C Degree F
75 167
76 168.8
77 170.6
78 172.4
79 174.2
80 176
81 177.8
82 179.6
83 181.4
84 183.2
85 185.0
86 186.8
87 188.6
88 190.4
89 192.2
90 194.0
91 195.8
92 197.6
93 199.4
94 201.2
95 203.0
The differences are for ambient temperature ranges, if it is 65 degrees out the engine will run cooler than if it is 90 degrees out our cars like us feel the temperature of the air we are running in.
Once you turn on the fans it should come back down to the 85-90 Degree C range, if it does not, as you have indicated, more airflow at lower speeds is needed. I included Centigrade and Fahreheit temps since I did not know what gauges you are using.
I know my engine is running right when both the water and
oil temps both read 80-85 C. that is when the 160 degree thermostat is open all the time and things are working as designed.
One mans opinion,
TR