I live in Texas, and its been really hot around here lately; atleast high 90s. My car overheated a few days ago, and I lost my water pump and found out there was also a crack in the plastic piece of my radiator. After replacing the water pump and radiator with ac delco parts, I removed my thermostat and wired my fans to a toggle switch.

At night, with the AC off, my car will stay around 130*, and during the day with the AC on the temp will stay a little below 200*.

The car seems to be running good. What problems can I cause by running the car this cool? Should I reinstall the 160* thermo and leave the fans on the toggle switch?

All info is appreciated.

Thanks
Jeff

 

you need to have a t'stat for proper coolant ciculation. check my response to the Q submitted a short time ago, about an overheating camaro, to see how I solved a similar prob. live in Ft. Worth, Tx. stat is 180* fans come on at 190* car stays at 160*


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bought a wrecked(head on,bad)'84 Z28 rebuilt it in'92 parked it in
'93 and ordered a '93 Z28. Got tired of the 4th gen in '99 and sold it and begin swapping in '85 TPI converted to speed density. engine is all stock except for comp cam. body has '86 IROC nose peice,ground fx and IROC wheels/goodyear 245/50's. IMO this car looks and feels more "racey" than my '93 did. and I love driving it. BTW fuel injection is great I'll never go back to carbs.

[This message has been edited by JAMES POLEDNA (edited July 22, 2000).]

 

You wouldnt happen to have the link, do you?

 

second Q on page one (RUSSMAN)

 

Thanks man I just found it a second before you replied. I dont think that is my problem, while cruising on the highway the car cools down, its only in the city when it gets hot

 

bad idea to remove the thermostat, the coolant will not stay in the block and radiator long enough to transfer heat. or so i've heard.

 

Thanks James & Lucas, anyone else?

 

what percentage of antifreeze are you running? you cannot go any more than 50/50 or you seriously degrade the cooling capability of the water. anti freeze is not a coolant it merely changes the boiling and freezing points of the water. I usually run a gallon or less in my 3core in the Z....

 

It is about half and half

 

The only other thing I can think of is maybe the timing is a little retarded......A little under 200* is not bad, I know a lot of people that would satisfy....one other thing do the fans seem to be moving a lot of air?

 

Quick I can't remember what model or year you have, but the stock stat on 3rd Gens is 195°, the fans come on at either 220° or 238° I can't remember which, but you may be getting concerned for nothing.

These car are designed to run hot, hot, to reduce emissions and burn off excess gases. Although it is a good idea to reduce your stat a bit, the ideal stat to heat properly but not be too hot seems to be a 170°. 160 in some opinions is too cold (cept' for race applications) and 195 is too hot. So a 170/185 either would be good.

Then install an adjustable fan switch to lower the kick on temp of the fans to about 180°.

Further, check the radiator for bent fins, garbage, leaves etc., check the fluid as recommended, and make sure your air dam is in tact. With this done you should be set up.

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do you guys make your own fan switch, or do you buy them? i want mine to come on at 190*, but i'm not sure how to achieve this. is the adjustable temperature switch just adjust the engine temp when you turn it on, or does it adjust the the tempterature at which it switches on the fan? sorry if that is not clear, i'm just questioning the use of adjustable.

 

87-305, go to the tech section of this site. There you will find an excellent article written by Willie on how to modify your cooling system. He talks all about adjustable fan switches, toggle switches, etc.

 

The car is a 1989 305 TPI Camaro

Thanks