OK WE FIGURED IT OUT!!!!
Went to Oreillys and bought 180* bypass thermostat, and new gasket. Took the old one out. It WAS installed correctly. Took temp sending unit out of intake, and heater hose from the water pump off. Filled with coolant and when it ran out of the holes and hoses put them back on.
Fired it up and it ran up to 180 and the thermostat opened, we then had to add another 3/4 gal of coolant. We then let the motor warm up and let the thermostat open up a couple of times. Shut it off and walked away. Came back when cooled off topped the coolant off and it ran for a long time and never offered to go over 185*.
Long story short... The engine was terribly air locked and might have had a bad thermostat. I'm taking the POS back to Oreillys tomorrow to get my money back.