Nope not stupid questions.... funny in a silly way though sometimes when you think about it. I know I had mine for a couple weeks, I just didn't have the time to thoroughly read the manuals.... heck I didn't know it had a spare tire much less that carrier underneath is where they hide the jack. And who would have thought that the compartment behind the passenger seat is for stowing the jack when you carrying the real tire in the carrier... duh I felt stupid too. But then I learned so much about the features and such by just getting some time to read it. Oh yes then I picked up the shop manuals, its really quite interesting sometimes to gain some understanding of the systems onboard. Of course then I had to investigate it, dropped the tire down checked the pressure ha ha ha guess what 0 psi, so now I remember to check it from time to time, spare doesn't help if it has no air in it. Plus the dry run gives you an idea of how dirty your going to get on the side of the road, yikes.
On the temps, my 93 LT1 runs in the mid 190's on both, hot summer days I've seen it get to 206/212 but never hotter. The digital seems more acurate than the analog guages. Although its a bit cooler now in cent. fla, after the water pump change, H2O has been right at 194.
Welcome to the forum!
Lani