Thermostat Advice - What should I do?

[Mr Hardware]

Hey Gents

So i've moved house. Driving to work from my old house saw me get on the highway only a couple of kays from home, which meant the car got up to operating temperature (bang on 'O' for me) within a few minutes, and it'd stay exactly there for the duration of the 35-min drive. I think from memory when i'd put my cluster into diag mode it registered as 86deg at operating temp.

Now i'm much closer in and my trip to work is about 12 or 14 minutes. Average moving speed wouldn't break much more than 40kmh. As a result, my falcon doesn't even get close to operating temperature by the end of the trip. Like i'm talking it only gets to the 'third' line (the last one before you get into the letters).

From my hazy understanding, this poses three problems
1. Engine will run rich because it's spending so much time cold
2. Less wear occurs at operating temperature, so getting there quicker is better
3. Poor heater performance!

I wouldn't at all be surprised if my thermostat has had the middle cut out of it, it is an ex-cab after all (736k on the clock).

So i suppose i'm looking to replace the thermostat. Can someone please advise me on which temperature one to get? I know there's been some discussion in the past about them and the little bypass thingo and whatnot so can you tell me what the conventional wisdom is on them these days?

Also I bought another AU on the weekend. I'll post pics later.