Tolerance of water pump play?

In post #17, I said I'm running a 195 hi-flo.
By IR gun, I found a spot on the stat housing where she runs 205*F, the hottest anywhere. I put a black dot there with a marker and used it as the reference, for all subsequent measurements.It doesn't seem to matter how I drive her, or what the ambient temp is, that spot is stuck on 205, and no other spot runs as hot.BTW, my top end is all orange-painted aluminum. I really like that stat. The engine seems to make a good amount of power at that temp, cuz she went 93 in the 1/8 at 3457 pounds, with just a 230*at .050 cam. I ain't touching that stat.