California 914-4 2.4 with front oil cooler runs too cold in Seattle Options

[98101]

I just bought a 914-4 from California with a carbureted 2.4 motor and a Patrick Motorsports front oil cooler. Here in Seattle it doesn't run well at part throttle when it's cold. It seems to take a long time to warm up, and even then the highest I've gotten the oil temperature is 80C. The oil pressure gauge reading also takes a long time to come down. Complicating matters, it's a new engine and the previous owner hadn't dialed in the carbs to his satisfaction.

The car has the bellows air thermostat installed and I observed it in the cold "do women know about shrinkage?" position. Is there a way to tell if the flaps are working properly without taking off all the engine tin?

The Patrick Motorsports front oil cooler kit includes an oil thermostat. Per the previous owner it's installed where the oil lines return to the engine. I'm not sure how this works exactly, but I would have expected it to take the front oil cooler completely out of the loop until it's needed. Is this a correct assumption? Is there an easy way to test the oil thermostat?