428SCJ coolant operating temp ?

[RICK LAKE]

Mark Deluca The Edelbrock is a high flow water pump. You may have one if the pump is for a car with AC. If not who knows what you got. Temp for the motor. 160 is too cool and causes the thermostat to be open alot more than you want. You need the motor to also heat up the engine oil for it to work at it's best operating temp. A 180 thermo will let a little more heat into the motor and also works the other way by letting the coolant stay in the radiator longer to cool down more. The ture test would be a hot day in traffic and see what happens. Racing my motor goes to about 185 and the thermostat opens and the temp drops 20 degrees in a hurry, about 10-15 seconds on the gauge. After a 20-30 minutes of racing, the temp is right around 185-190 max. It depends on how hard I am driving the car and if I am in hi rpms all the time instead of shifting to a higher gear. I would start with the water pump first and see what change there is. Put he old stat back in too. Rick L. Ps every motor is different, and they each have their own happy spots, like temp, A/F ratio, Carb, Airtemp, etc. Living breathing thing.