i didnt have a thermostat in my stroked 340 and it wanted to get hot. so i but a 195 stat in it with a whole drilled on either side of it.this doesnt seem to have changed anything. should i take the center out of the stat? go with a cooler stat? im planning on getting my rad checked to make shure it isnt blocked. it will run at about 200-205 cruzing, but as soon as i stop at a light or slow in town traffic it goes to 210 easy. it HAS been very warm here lately, but my buddies 318 has been running around 160-180. what u guys think i should do?

What fan and shroud set up are you using? The thermo won't lower the temp. Thermostst opens at the rated temp and then you have full flow. All it does is get the engine up to a good operating temp quicker.

^^ That's not the whole story though. You could try a 180 thermostat and the temp would be regulated at a cooler temperature. Right now the purpose of the stat is to make the engine run at 195, which makes it easy to get to 210 in traffic. If you put a 180 stat in it, the temperature will regulate at 180, making it more difficult to spike at 200.

But yes a properly set up fan shroud can make a big difference.

i have an electric fan that runs directly off the the key, so its always running. a buddy of mine gave me a high performance stat with 3 holes already in it, and it says 160 on it. so for the time it takes to change a thermostat, im gonna try it. if not, im gonna do like i said and have the rad checked. but if u guys have anymore ideas or suggestions, i wanna hear them!

Your electic fan is not moving enough air to cool the motor. Most of those electrics don't. The fact that the temp goes down once you start moving proves that. You'd be much better off with a stock fan and shroud.

The stock fan will move more air at idle than your electric does which is why it will cool better. Also the shroud will control the flow of air better.

Most electric fans don't move enough air, most.