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I know I don't know as much as many members here, but I just don't like 200 for our cars. I know that new cars run that hot but they are designed to run safely on the edge. EFI, knock sensors, computer spark control to retard timing, etc..

Personally, I don't want mine going over 180 if I can help it. I took my big block charger on a road trip this summer, sat in 3 hours of stop and go traffic to get a total of about 20 miles. It got to 210 in stop and go. No, it didn't puke and overheat, but I still didn't like it. I'm trying to come with some solution to get it to run cooler at idle. as soon as the car moves, even 20-30 mph, the temp drops right to 170 where my temp sensor is set (electric fans running off sensor)



True, a lot of reasons why today's engines are able to run a lot hotter comfortably has to do with new technology, materials, etc...Even if youre still running an original untouched engine from 40 years ago I think anything under 180 is not nearly warm enough. For example I know on my 72 demon's stock temp gauge, when the temp is at about 180 the needle has barely moved, at about 200 its right in the middle. I just did a quick lookup on thermostats from a few different engines back then and they all said 195 was the OE thermostat temp. Whether thats right or not I couldn't tell however.

An engine thats not fully warmed up is going to cause some problems. As inefficient as internal combustion engines are, they are even less efficient at cold operating temperatures. Youre going to see worse gas mileage since the colder than engine is, the richer the mixture has to be and youre going to see less power because of that.

Worst of all, cylinder wall wear increases the colder you go, especially under 150 degrees and under 130 is when rust occurs rapidly. For every gallon of gas burned, about a gallon of moisture is created in the cylinders. That combined with unburned gas that gets by the piston rings into the crankcase and forms acids that wear parts and form rust, making it important that the engine reaches a hot enough temperature to combat that.

In my opinion I wouldn't run anything lower than a 180 tstat. If you have electric fans make sure the turn off temp is higher than what your tstat's rating is.

Sorry for the long post and not trying to attack you or anything, just figured I'd share some info with you that would maybe make you not worry about those temps youre seeing. 210 degrees is perfectly fine IMO