For over 60 years, the Chevrolet Corvette has set the standard for American performance cars, both here and abroad. It’s our nation’s vehicular diplomat, a shining example of what “Made in the USA” really means. It is the mechanical embodiment of the American Dream, an achievable yet competitive sports car that can keep pace with vehicles exponentially more expensive.

It is a car so ingrained in our culture that it has even produced its mythology, especially when it comes to the heart of the Corvette – the engine.

Over at the Corvette forums, user toobroketoretire took to task some of these myths as they relate to the popular C3 models, though many of these myths transcend generations and are still passed on as facts about modern ‘Vettes. Here are a few Corvette engine myths that jumped out at us as particularly egregious.

Just leave it alone.

Perhaps the most mind-boggling myth that some Corvette owners still believe is that it’s somehow necessary to drill holes in their thermostats.

As with most myths, it makes sense taken at face value, with the notion being that more holes mean more coolant circulating the engine faster. But, once the literal floodgate of the thermostat is open, the coolant quickly fills up all the channels, and those extra holes don’t do much, if anything, to make the motor any cooler, much less any quicker.

Worse than that, drilling holes in your thermostat will hurt your engine’s ability to warm up in colder weather. By letting the coolant past the thermostat before the engine reaches operating temperatures, it is being cooled down before it needs to be, which means the heater core takes longer to warm up too.

You’ll only be hurting yourself and your ‘Vette. Let’s not forget, a colder engine also uses more gas.

Along the same lines, Corvette engines don’t have naturally “air pockets” that need filling anymore than other cars and cooler thermostats don’t mean an overall cooler engine. Regardless of when the thermostat opens, after a while the engine is going to reach a certain temperature.

Adding a high-flow water pump can bring engine temperatures down, but for stock engines the only reason to have one is if you have a larger radiator, live in a very hot environment, or if you have a lot of plumbing for the cooling system because the radiator is at the back of the car.

That said if your Corvette is having overheating problems, a high flow pump that reduces cooling cycle times can be the way to go.

Set the timing to 30 to 32 degrees @4,000 RPM for pump gas.

Another popular myth, albeit one with some truth behind it, is that Chevy engines need 36 degrees of timing at 2,000 RPM to make maximum power.

If you’re running racing fuel (100+ octane) on an aggressively-tuned motor, sure, that extra timing can translate into extra power. But for your average street car, the extra timing doesn’t mean much, if any power gains, even on 93 octane, which is why the timing is set at 30 to 32 degrees from the factory.

In the same vein, there’s been a persistent myth that you need to shim the distributor to prevent timing fluctuations, but the reason behind the shift in timing almost always has to do with a loose timing chain.

Another myth that has stuck around since the C3 era is that Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valves kill horsepower; however, under wide-open throttle conditions the EGR closes completely.

So, true that during normal cruise conditions your horsepower levels may suffer a bit but when it matters, the EGR valve truly isn’t a factor. Similarly, indexing spark plugs may net a couple of extra horsepower at WOT, but the extra effort probably won’t make any difference for your E.T. or trap times.

Those are the myths we can get behind. Some other myths are a bit more controversial, such as whether or not driving in a figure eight pattern after changing the differential fluid is necessary or not.

Unfortunately, the Internet can be as much a hindrance as a help in separating fact from fiction, but we hope we’ve helped out a bit.