Jay, I am largely in favor of electric fans for a number of reasons. One is vibration and life of the water pump. Water pumps are no longer easy to find and they're costly...plus today's pumps are in many cases junk. That OEM fan blade is anything but nicely balanced. I've owned some that were terrible.
Your thermostat was designed to regulate water temperature and that's a good and an important thing. Please keep in mind it doesn't set the maximum temperature but only the minimum temperature. So it is a guarantee a 180 degree thermostat will let your engine temperature get over 200 degrees. Not that 200 degrees is that bad (as has been mentioned).
But a few will disagree (some vigorously) on the mechanical fan thing and I'm just here to present another viewpoint. If you go mechanical with a shroud, please remember to keep 1/2 of the fan blade inside the shroud and 1/2 outside of it for best efficiency. If you go electric, please get a good one. SPAL fans in my experience are the best you can get. I can tell you my experience has been an electric fan will keep your engine temperature at a more constant level. Good luck!
