9COILEDSERPENT6

I have put aftermarket murray thermostats in both my 96 and g-friends 01 cobra, which i later found out murrays are junk thermostats. So i went to ford and bought motorcraft t-stats for both cars. Only problem no ford dealership in MO had a t-stat for a 01. But they had them for the 96 so i figured hey it's pretty much the same engine and a t-stat is a t-stat so i bought 2 for the 96cobra and tried it out. Here is the problem, it work fine in the 96 and wont open for the 01?WTF! i mean come on its the same thing what the hell could it be! Do i really have to buy a stat for the 01 specific?