I have a stock 94 Z28. When traveling at highway speeds the temp always stays below the middle line. But when at idle, the temp gauge goes all the way to the line just before the red, it will never go into the red but it gets very close. When the fan kicks on, it only brings it down a little, not even close to the halfway mark. Is this normal?

 

Normal.

They let these cars run hot to improve the emmisions. 160° thremostats and reprogramming or a manual fan switch are very popular mods.

 

some other ways to drop temps are to get a tranny cooler and an oil cooler mine never goes above 190 sitting in traffic in a 100 degree day

 

And if you don't feel like a manual fan switch, JET makes a kit with a temp switch and a wiring harness that plugs right into your exixting wiring. The temp switch screws into an unused hole in your pass side head. The whole thing works automatically and will turn the fans on at the proper time to prevent the high temps at idle that you describe.

Jim