Matthew91-Z28

I mean if your stat opens at 160* wont this be the same as running with no stat ? In 90-100* weather, I seriously doubt I'll ever cool it down to < 160 to close the system and cool the water in the rad.

You''ll always having flowing coolant and no time for it to cool off in the radiator, just like an open stat.

bygblok

iTrader: (3)

even a 160 stat will have enough resistance to flow to cool the water. Leaving it out has no resistance at all and will cause heating problems. I run a 160 year round here in Pensacola and never have any problems with heat.

Tobias05

160* stat here in NC, no problems. I do believe my reading is slighter low, as to the sensor is in the intake, and not the head...will swap around when practical...

84z28350

The whole bit about having no T-stat is supposed to be a myth.


Im yet to see any proof that it is or isnt a myth though...

Apeiron

The whole "no time to cool" thing is nonsense. If that was true, the coolant would be flowing too fast to heat up in the block, too.

Matthew91-Z28

Yeah....I'm not sure which way I feel about it. I just thought it was a contradiction in arguments and wanted to bring it up.

You always hear how well the 160 cools but yet it flows constantly and everyone argues that the fluid must have some time in the rad to cool properly.

I see your point, bygblok, about there still being some resistance to flow with the 160 than having no stat. With the 160 being fully open, it seems you still get enough resistance that the coolant is diverted to the water pump to flow back through the block, and enough flow to make it to the radiator for cool down.


And when you think about it, the two bottlenecks where resistance is greatest is in the stat and in the rad. All rads should have some turbolators inside that cause the fluid to roll around and mix so you get all the fluid to touch the cooling fins. No matter how open the element, coolant should never just flow through the rad any more quickly, at least not by much.

Pressure is lost as it goes through the rad due to energy lost as heat is dissipated and velocity decreased.

Damn, I think i just argued myself into buying a 160* stat, as soon as I flush fill my ****ty coolant.

Green89IROC305

just remember that the thermastat only controls minimum operating temperature and that the temp rating indicated the temperature that it starts to open and not the temperature that it is fully open at.
ex: a 195 thermastat starts to open at 195 and is fully open at about 210-225 its usually about a 15-30 or so difference. and installing a lower temp thermasta is not beneficial really because it does not provide the proper restriction of coolant flow so although your temp gauge may say for example 190 or whatever thats only the temp of the coolant and not the temp of the engine. so the engine block itself can actually be much hotter like around 240 for example and that is much to hot for the block.

so baisically if the coolant is allowed to circulate to fast it cant absorb enough heat from the engine and you start having issues like hot spots developing as well as pre-ignition and detonation and excessive carbon buid up.

LT1FUN

My stock 195' thermostat seized on me a few weeks back's and the engine ended up overheating.

All I had laying around at the time was a spare 160' thermostat from my LT1. I threw it in and it's been the best "mod" of done to my '88 IROC yet.

Previosuly, the car would run between 200-220' with the stock stat. Way too hot in my opinion.

Now with the 160' - it's a world of difference. The temperature NEVER goes above 160-170 max. Regarless of how long I'm ideling in traffic or how hot it is outside. The car runs much cooler than before and unless I'm imagining it, the car feels noticibly faster as well.

When winter comes around, I'll install a new factory replacment (195') but from now on during summer use, 1t's 160' for me.

formulafanatic

i went to replace my stat about 2 months after i bought my 'bird, and it didnt have one it. i never had a problem with overheating, but i also noticed only about a 5 degree increase in temp on the gauge, so to me the stat should stay in.

bygblok

iTrader: (3)

the only motor I don't run a stat in is my race motor. It doesn't care how long the coolant stays in it. The rest of them all have 160's except the new avalanche. We left it alone(for obvious reasons)

ZEEYAA

I had a problem with on on a street car with no stat, it was a 1972 SB vette, I didnt know better and thought not thermostat would work better because of no restriction. I also had a set of 3.90 gears in it so it reved pretty good going down the road as it only had a 3spd auto. The nice thing was it took a long time to heat up but when it did it just kept getting hotter and hotter, well I fixed it with some moroso thermo shims and played with them unitl I got it just right. Thats one of the reason those NASCAR,s run such a big pully on the pump, to slow water flow down.

Norwood

iTrader: (1)

"A common misconception is that if coolant flows too quickly through the system, that it will not have time to cool properly. However the cooling system is a closed loop, so if you are keeping the coolant in the radiator longer to allow it to cool, you are also allowing it to stay in the engine longer, which increases coolant temperatures. Coolant in the engine will actually boil away from critical heat areas within the cooling system if not forced through the cooling system at a sufficiently high velocity. This situation is a common cause of so-called "hot spots", which can lead to failures."

This is straight from the horses mouth. Read more about it here:
Stewart Components - High Performance Automotive Cooling

PhantomFE3

when getting my motor started up, i had a 160* thermostat in there and it got too hot. since ive taken it out and run no thermostat the temp stays right at or around 190* in this 90+ degree weather. and right around 170-180 when im cruisin around at night in the cooler weather

Norwood

iTrader: (1)

Starting up a brand new motor is going to run hotter than normal no matter what you got in it, and a good thermostat will not be a restriction when open.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Installing a 160* stat is the best thing I've ever done for my cooling system. And contrary to what people believe, everything will operate perfectly without reprogramming the computer.

rx7speed

I agree. the only thing I can see with not having a thermostat is possibly reduction of pressure inside the cooling system on the compressed side causing localized boiling.

but the whole it flows too much water?

why do they make high flow water pumps?

Vader

How does a two-tier thermostat from an LT1 fit in the water outlet for a Gen 1 SBC?

ZBRA

Myth or not... I ran a 160* t-stat paired with a Hypertech low temp fan switch in my '91 Z28 all year for 7 years strait and it never overheated.

This was both, during our 100* summers and our 95* winters.

LT1FUN

It fit without any problems. I wrapped 2 layers of teflon tape around the outside of the thermostat and it fit in nice and snug. No leaks and no cooling problems what so ever since then.

Worked out great.