Bought a 3 row aluminum radiator and a custom chip and was told by the guy who made the chip to buy a 160 thermostat. Do I still need to buy a cooling fans with or is the chip going to control that?

 

He probably programmed the the chip to have the fans come on around 175 or 180 and go off around 165. A 160 T-stat just starts to open at 160.

 

Your question make is sound as if you do not have cooling fans? Do you have one electric or a clutch fan? Find out what temps they were programmed to turn on and off at.

IMO, if you haven't used the three row radiator yet, exchange it for the two row. I ran a 3 row and a two row radiator in my 383 manual Camaro with no difference in temperatures. The point that many people debate is that only the first two rows of the radiator do the cooling and the third row is not cooled because of the hot air coming from the first and second rows. If it was a three row cooler by champion/Eagle (same one just relabeled) it is the same thickness as the two row, meaning the two row has larger passages.

The 160* thermostat is overkill and will not do anything positive for you unless it is in a drag car where it helps to be that cold. 160* coolant temp will decrease your mileage. 195* thermostat is perfect for these cars. I run a 195* with the dual fans and the car even in summer suburban Chicago traffic I haven't seen a temp exceed 220* from the heads or ~210* from the intake. If you run cast iron water pump and heads and have an auto and live in a desert state you could run a 180* but I would still argue that a 195* with properly programmed fans in a working coolant system will be fine. Matter of fact, if the air temp is below 50* the coolant temp in the intake won't even get above 195*, the fans never even need to turn on. While moving the coolant temp will sit at 180*.

If you drive that car with a 160* thermostat (and the fans programmed around that) in the winter you will have only luke warm heat and the engine and it's systems will take a loooong time to heat up.

 

Thanks for the reply. New to this but found very helpful. What I meant to ash was what temp cooling fan switch should I get. Not sure what temp on the chip is programmed to will fined out tho. Had a craked rad so I searched eBay and found the 3 row aluminum race rad with 2 12" fans for 200$ so couldn't pass it up. Installed it and the fans with a new 195* stat and was running 235 ish at idle with both fans on, first fan at 226 and second 235ish. So I know that was working right. Ran 200 while driving but when I returned and turn off the engine it start to boil in the bottle and pour out the cap. So stupid me I went and got a 16lbs cap which is right for stock rad but not for aluminum. Needless to say it started leaking from the fins. Got them to replace it so kinda stuck with it for now. Two weeks ago I read about these chips they make so I called hyper tech but they couldn't make what I needed so they recommended me to a custom guy. Got a 350 manual formula which I guess they didn't make in 88. Anyways the programmer told me to get a 160* stat guessing cause the chip will find out for sure. Only drive the car about 4-5 month out the year May-September so not really worried about the heat being hot. Was just wondering about the fan switch. What to get? If I get one that turns on later will it even the tem out having the 160 in. Where do I go from here? Ready to drive my bird!