well i had noticed my car gets hot real quick and if drive my ta on the highway i have to put the heat on or else it will overheat.i have the thermostat out..it helped a lil bit.then i noticed that the lower air damn was ripped off.i went to a pontiac dealership and he told me all i needed was the center one the side ones dont do anything.....so y do they put em there???and after i get this magic piece of plastic that will save me from this hot summer should i put my thermostat back in or can i leave it out?? espicailly since i lan on putting a "chip" eventually?

 

The side flaps are more for aerodynamics, I believe. Nothing TOO functional, really. After you get the air dam back in I'd go ahead and put the thermostat back in too, otherwise you'll experience overcooling problems and gas mileage issues.

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

what temp 180 or 160 ???????

 

I just wanted to tell you that you are NOT alone with this problem. I experienced it until I screwed on a piece of rubber garden fence as a "temp" fix until i could order the part from the dealer. After i put it on my car hasnt heated up past 220* once! My "temp" fix has lasted almost a year with no problems so i dont ever plan to order the part. If you are on a budget you might wanna try what i did.
peace

 

The consensis is a 180 will give you what you want not to hot not to cool.
SSC

 

Use a 180* stat. The 180* stat will still give you a good increase in the cooling systems performance in hot temps but retain the quench area temperature for better mileage and performance. I have a 180* in my car and even in stop and go traffic in 95* F weather my car does not get over 180*. As for cooling system mods, I have an edelbrock Victor series Aluminum water pump, A/C condensor removed, second design air dam (it's a bit thinner and less obtrusive when working under the car than the first design one), 180* stat, and I guess the TFS heads help it stay cool a bit. The previous owner also wired both fans to come on at the same time so that also helps. But I had a 180* stat in my stock (mostly) 85 T/A and it never got above 180*. I guess the main thing is to get an air dam on it, a 180* stat, flush the coolant, and clean out those radiator fins!!! The radiator on these cars gets full of $hit in a hurry since it is a bottom feeder when it comes to air flow for the radiator. Just hose the thing out from behind with light pressure when it is cold with a garden hose. Or air pressure will work if you have access to it.

Good luck.

BTW - there is a tech article on cooling system maintenance on this website - check it out - it is very well written.

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1987 GTA L98 MD8 GH3
355 '97 Vortec 4-bolt block, TRW(suck) forged pistons 10:1 CR, TFS 23*, LT4 Hot Cam, Ported plenum and intake, SLP Siam Runners, Edelbrock TES, gutted Cat, Flowmaster, K+N cone, AFPR, TB bypass, AirFoil, !AIR, !A/C, !EVAP, ARAP, 2300 stall, Hotchkis STB.

 

one other thing ive noticed about my car.it seems like the only time i has any pep is on the highway.like the low end is real bad the off the line acceleration is real bad.i doubt its ever had a tune up and it has bout 91k on it i do a tune up im goin to do cap, rotor, plugs, wires, it has a k and n already is there anything else that i should consider doing?oh yeah how much of a bitch is the plugs on my car?its a 305 tpi

 

Plugs are pretty easy with the stock manifolds (not all that bad with headers either).

Yeah, I would do cap + rotor, wires, plugs, maybe a coil as well (depending on $$ situation).

I would also do an O2 sensor (Oxygen Sensor). They need to be changed every so often since they become slower to react to air/fuel mixture changes in the exhaust flow as they age. 'They' say that the O2 should be changed every 60K miles but I would say more like 30K with a performance car that sees a lot of WOT action.

You can also look at adjusting the TPS sensor. There is a tech article for the procedure on this site I think.

Change the fuel filter, trans filter and fluid, and flush out the rear diff and coolant and refill them if you want to as well. Basically at that kind of mileage you will want to freshen up everything that you can possibly do. It may cost a little for all of that stuff, but regular maintenance is a must - especially for a performance car that gets driven hard.

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1987 GTA L98 MD8 GH3
355 '97 Vortec 4-bolt block, TRW(suck) forged pistons 10:1 CR, TFS 23*, LT4 Hot Cam, Ported plenum and intake, SLP Siam Runners, Edelbrock TES, gutted Cat, Flowmaster, K+N cone, AFPR, TB bypass, AirFoil, !AIR, !A/C, !EVAP, ARAP, 2300 stall, Hotchkis STB.

 

Oh yeah....... do an oil change as well ....

 

i had one other question sorry to bother u guys.i remeber a while back i noticed silicone where the throttle body meets the plenum so i got gasket and when i took the TB off i noticed on the old gasket there a triangluar shape on the bottom of the gasket and the new gasket had it punched out.i put the new gasket in and did run a bit different do u guys know what flowed through the triangle?????

 

one other thing...keeping the thermostat out does NOT overcool the engine. It does not give it enough time to cool. in fact, it makes it run warmer almost overheating

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Ermm, no. If a thermostat is stuck shut, the car will overheat because there's no flow going to the engine.

If it is stuck open, or not there, there isn't any restriction in the flow, and it cools too much.

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

formula90 is right, leaving the thermostat completely out will "normaly" make one run warmer. If one is stuck open it still has some restrition which in turns slows the water to the "right speed" in the system. However, since it is stuck open when it goes below the temp. that it would normaly restrict it some more, it just stay open. This in turn allows it to go even cooler. I found this out the hard way.

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dgreene
'87 Firebird Formula 350 TPI, Ported Plenum, Adj. Fuel reg, gutted cat, catback exhaust, air foil, K&N air filter, chip,170 thermostat,Borg Warner Posi 9 Bolt w/ 3.23 gears....