Last night I see coolant on the intake near the thermostat housing. It was late so I drove over to O'Reilly's to pick up a thermostat. This morning I attempt to install the new thermostat and find the old thermostat is wedged into the housing and not flush with the manifold. I pried it out and found it to be a 160 degree stat. After these two abnormalities I figured a ride back to the parts store was justified to pick up a new housing.
I replaced the housing and am now using a 192 degree thermostat based on the parts store employee's suggestion. He said 160 is crazy low for a big block.
I idled car for over a half hour and temp stayed between 185 and just under 200 - plus no leak!
Here is a picture of the spacer I removed that was between the manifold and the thermostat. (Now in trash)
