Sideways Thermostat in my 350

[73kay]

Title says all, its a 104 in Austin and I have been chasing down overheating issues in my 76 c10. At first I thought it was just because I was using a cheap autozone radiator that came with my 250. I upgraded to a 3 row ebay all alum. radiator and it was marginally better. Then I was thinking that my clutch fan was in far in enough into my shroud, but after removing the fan to install a spacer, I noticed when I looked into my intake water outlet that the thermostat was almost on it's side. I was like what the hell? The housing I got from advance doesn't seat on it and is too wide, the intake seats just fine. Im gonna go to the junkyard and get a real one and not the cheap crap. Wish I took a picture to show you guys. Any of you guy ever have that happen to you?