The old rodders theory (that I grew up on), was to try to keep that carburated engine in the 180-185 range on temp. if you keep the underhood temps a little cooler, the carb will also be a tad cooler & that does help performance. I think 160 is too cold on the temp, but 175-185 is ok in the summer heat. With that said,I doubt that you will get that sb to run @ 160, by swapping the stat tho! You will find that you may drop a little on the temp, but will notice that it takes longer to warm up. I do run a 160 stat (highflow) in my 383, & she runs tween 170 & 185 (off/on for the controls on the elect fans). The new "fuelie" stuff is a different animal, they can run higher engine temps,(and need to for the emissions controls, sensors,ect)without the fuel perculation problems that the old carburated engines had. Also, the computer will retard the timing if they try to detinate.....a totally different game , with different rules
L