...BURP...sorry, I may have misread/miswrote what I meant...I was referring to the temp gauge on the dash, which I believe is not oil temp. Sorry for the burp...however, that guage seldom gets over 185.

Not many stock instrument clusters include oil temp. Most are water temp. Also, most of the big block marine motors have a 160 degree water thermostat. If you are seeing 185 on that guage, you would be either having a water blockage (weeds or something of the sort) or a guage/sending unit malfunction. I can run my engine as hard as I want, and never see anything over 165 degree water temp. Only difference between the two engines, is yours cooling. But i would imagine still should be in the 160's.

I also have a sunsation with a 496 mag ho and I’m currently having the same issue with water temp being normal but oil temp gets hot while running hard. Was issue ever resolved?