So, three things failed right in a row on me a few months ago. First, while driving home, my tachometer died suddenly. No bump in the road, or pop, or anything to give a clue as to why it died, it just went from around 3000 rpm to 0 in a second. So I replaced the tach board, and it works way better than it ever did before. The needle doesn't wander around anymore, it's dead on. After I made sure that the tach was working, I popped the hood for one reason or another, only to see that the water neck was leaking all over the intake manifold.
So after reading a few sites about thermostats, I decided to get a 160 degree thermo instead of the 195. I also drilled two 1/8" holes in it to make it a "high flow" since I have a stuart hi flow water pump. I also tossed out the cheap chrome water neck that Bubba had put on (the chrome was flaking off the bottom), I went with an iron one instead for $10. After ruining 2 paper gaskets trying to get everything put back together, I got a PermaDry gasket from Napa, which I now swear by (I have a PermaDry on the oil pan too).
I go to start her up with the new thermostat, and the battery quickly drains down so that the starter won't engage. After trying to jump it for 10 minutes, I figure that the battery is totally shot. One trip to Walmart later, and I'm back in business.
I couldn't be happier, I just got back from a quick thrashing up and down the road, and the thermostat sits right around 150 degrees now as opposed to 200 that it used to sit at. I may be late to the party, but I'm finally ready for summer now.