The thermostat is for minimum operating temp, too cold an engine is bad news. Every water cooled car on the road will run warmer than the stat depending on conditions that doesn't mean the cooling system is inadequate.
Uhhh, no. My junk doesn’t run warmer than the thermostat rated opening point. Was at a buddy’s house yesterday. He runs a 160 degree thermostat. On 90 degree days it stays at 160 because his cooling system is correct.
His brother has the same stuff in his rig. He is going from a single 4 to a tunnel ram so the intake was off when I was there. He has about 5 years on the engine and it’s clean like new inside. It runs at 160 all day long too.
If you want to make horsepower you lower the coolant temp. If your engine runs dirty after that you need to work on the tuneup.
Of course, if someone believes that their carbon footprint makes a difference, then maybe keep the coolant temps up. And give away some power. I don’t believe that so I run my stuff colder.
If an engine runs better with higher coolant temps it needs a better tuneup.
