Experiment with it. If it's a 10:1 iron headed motor, then engine temp is definitely something I'd pay attention to. 180 may work fine for you. Tune up, the pump gas quality, and the camshaft (cylinder pressure), rear gear, trans, and weight of the car all play a roll.
There are a couple of mine here that I run a 160 in but the car doesn't actually run 160. One example is my 69Z, it has it's born with date coded radiator, a copper 3 core, and completely stock cooling system, clutch fan, shroud etc... It's an 11:1 iron headed motor I'm running on pump. Engine temps run right at 175 degrees most of the time. Throughout the summer when ambient temps here were over 100 degrees the engine would run in the low to mid 180's, which isn't all that bad really. The only time I've seen it run just under the 170 range is early morning cooler temps.
Basically this cooling system just isn't capable of keeping this engine at or near 160 when ambient temps are in the normal daytime range here. But hovering around 175 works in this case. However it's certainly not an engine I want to force to run at say 195 with a 195 stat.
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