If I remove my thermosta, will my car run any cooler? The only thing I am afraid of is that the collant will rush through the block so fast that it will not transfer heat very well, so the coolant will stay cool, but the block will be hot. Anyone ever tried this?

 

If you remove it completely you should put a restrictor in it.
It basically a disc with a hole in it.
Moroso makes these, but I think you'll be better off with a 160-180 degree stat.
-Rich-

 

i removed mine for awhile. of course it took the car a long time to get up to 160*, but once it got to 160-170 i would tunr on the electric fan and i would stay there. every now and then in stop and go traffic in heat it would get up to 220*. also when ever it got up to a temp i could never get it to cool down any cooler. for instance, the car gets up to 160* and i turn on the fan then in some heavy traffic with a lot of heat the car gets to 220* i couldnt get the car any cooler then 220* unless i shut it off and let it cool, not even if i was crusin down the freeway. a water restrictor would have probably helped that. i just drilled 2 .25" holes in my 160 stat and i like it way better then no stat. it gets up to temp way faster and if the car gets hot in traffic i can cool it down better

 

Yup, I did the same thing to my thermostat. 'Cept mine's a 195, cause the TPI doesn't like to run too cold. The car runs at a pretty constant 210, so it works. Here's a pic.

 

Ward,
If your car has no grill and gets air to the radiator from below, then an air dam needs to be in place. Many people take these off, or don't even know they were there in the first place, and have cooling probs. I have a stock 195° thermostat in my 89 305with the air dam in place. My temp stays from 184-196° while driving. Stopped in traffic it goes up, but within a minute of moving again the temp is back down to normal.

 

Not a good idea to remove the themostat try installing a 180
deg one or get a fan switch.

 

Actually, the coolant will transfer too much heat away from the engine so it will not come up to operating temp and run rich all the time as if it was just started. The thermostat stops the free flow of coolant until the engine and coolant in it reach the proper temp.

 

The engine needs to run at a constant 140F else it won't ever run in closed loop mode. Basically it will think its in open loop and run a rich consistent fuel to try to heat up the engine. TPI's need to run on avg 200+ to be at optimal efficiency for emissions. The reason you run it cooler is to keep the charge of air as cool as possible before it hits the chambers so you can have the max amount of O2 per volume for more power. Running a colder stat is the best way to go for more power. 160 in my opinion is too close to 140 that it increases the odds of switching back to open loop. GM makes a 170 stat but I think 180 works the best for me. I live in a colder climate, summer temps on avg 180-200 highway to traffic, winter just holding onto 180 which is enough to keep the interior warm for me. I may go back to a 195 stat though on my next change as with my cold air induction setup, its not as major a concern for air feed as it used to be for me.

 

Well, I went ahead and bought a 160* thermostat and put it in, but I also flushed out my radiator and engine block, and now I am running 1 gallon antifreeze and the rest water instead of 50/50 mix. I decided not to run with no thermostat when I realized what was causing alot of the problem. The last time I installed a thermostat, I accidentally put it in upside-down, with the copper element pointing up (oops). Im pretty sure that wasnt helping.

BTW, I do have an airdam, but not the factory one, I have one from an RS Camaro because it hangs down really low, and does not require the plastic fender underpinnings to be in place to hold it up. It hangs down pretty low and looks a little like a giant squegee, but it works really good.

Now when Im cruising around it stays at about 160 degrees, and when I have the A/C on it stays at about 180. Not bad for an old copper-brass radiator with a belt driven fan (flex fan), huh?