Forgive me for being so ignorant, as I should of noticed this before. Anyways, ever since it has been so cold here in Ohio, every time I travel anywhere I warm up the car for at least 10 minutes, that way the car is nice and warm when I get inside and the engine temperature is around 190-210. I have almost always done this without exception, being as my car will obviously run like crap when it's just started, popped into gear and just starts running as is being so cold.

Anyways, I've been doing this so long it's become so natural,and I have gotten used to how the car pulls and what-not when the car's heat is up to those temperatures. Anyways, the other day I decided, what the heck, I'm not waiting another 5 minutes for this car to heat up (it was taking FOREVER and I didn't have my coat!). So, I took off when the engine temperature was around 160-180, and you wouldn't believe how hard the car pulled!

Acceleration was ridiculously phenomenal for my lil 3.1, as I've become accustomed to the car's acceleration, but it was almost like I could feel a 15-20% difference in power!

Now, on to my question, as spring arrives, would putting a 160 or 180 degree thermo really work to keep my temperature that low, so it will continue to pull that hard? Heck, if I would've known the car pulled this hard, I would've already put that thermo in there!

Now, although I have driven the car several times for various reasons when it is really cold, the difference wasn't as noticeable as letting the car warm up, THEN driving away when it's at it's 160-180 degree range.

Either that, or my car for some reason decides to pull harder on some days, and decides to relax and take it easy on others. Hard to tell though, as I baby the car constantly.

Does anyone who has the 160 or 180 degree thermo's notice that much of a difference, or is it just me?

 

The car will tend to have more power when using colder air. Installing a 160-180 t-stat over the summer will help a bit, but nothing like what you experienced. Its the air coming in your air intake, not your actual engine tempeture that gives the engine its "added" power.

 

A custom chip will allow you to alter your ignition and air tables so that your engine will run like it is cold outside even though the temperature is hot.


I don't like it when people say how fast thier car is when it is cold because the effect only lasts for a couple of minutes until the engine warms up and it doesn't reflect how your engine operates the majority of the time.

Besides, everyone's car "pulls" a little harder when its cold so its not like your car is going to be any faster than any other car because the other cars would "pull" the same ratio as you would.

 

Your car runs stronger because when its cold the ecm is in open loop. This gives it extra fuel untill its warm. Like mentioned a custom chip can do the same but it does have a dramatic effect of fuel economy in closed loop if it gets there, but whats 2mpg less in a 3.1? IF you run in open loop for etended periods of time you will foul plugs and oil will deterioate faster.

 

my fan runs on a toggle switch and almost never leaves 100 degrees..i dont see a power diff.....

 

I also noticed that when the oil psi greater than 40, the car goes a bit faster than when the psi is 40 or less.

 

Well when you step on it the oil pressure should always go above 40 Dev...unless something's wrong! Cold engine idle, I got 40+ PSI. Warm engine idle, I got fluctuating between 20 and 30 PSI, but mostly 20-25. When I stepped on it, it'd get about 60 PSI.

 

My idle varies fomr 20 - 40 psi depending on the temperature. After idle and at a temperature of 180 degrees, my psi stays at around 42 even when accelerating. The psi doesn't raise to 50 or 60 unless I go past 3,000 rpm.

 

I forgot that not everyone constantly put their car at WOT like I did.... It was just too slow for my liking. The V8 now, I hardly ever go WOT..it's too fast to go WOT...1/3 pedal will accelerate as fast as the Camaro would at full pedal. If I went WOT from a stoplight I'd be sideways all the way down the street until I hit 2nd gear and then I'd be doing 50-60 mph before I realized it. Man with that 4.10 rear you wouldn't believe it...it gets through gears like a 6 speed even though it's an auto!

 

I don't go wide open throttle until I I get past 25 mph. If I take off from a stop light at wide open throttle, my rpm's jump to 4,000 and then rapidly inrease to 5800. The engine screams a high pitched note, which scares me so I try to avoid that by letting off so my rpm's don't go any higer than 4500 rpm.

90% of the time you will find me cruising on the hiway and in the city doing the speed limit at 2200 rpm or less. I have no need to get to where I want to go as fast as possible, of course when 6 Cavaliers, Civics, Minivans, and family cars start to pass me up constantly, that's when I get the need for speed.

 

It's hard to contain yourself sometimes isn't it? Problem was..all the Civics and stuff wanted to go when I was in my Camaro...and half of them could beat me... But now that I have my 5.0, not a single person will even rev at me. Nothing. They're afraid.....

 

Yeah.. I'm still realizing just how infrequently I hit WOT these days.. but yes, with the 6, I was at WOT constantly.. same with the L6 mustang I have sitting over here.. it's just not fast enough at part throttle, but the v8 is just *too* fast at anything more than 50% for street use... glad I'm not the only person who's felt this way

 

I never got the pleasure of driving a V8 car all the time. The times I did, it was nice to have decent acceleration at part throttle. The V6 seems like it has to work really hard just to keep up.



Having a 2.8l is sort of like being a 4 year old and doing the 600 meter dash with adults. They could jog and still beat you.



I like V8 cars, but in the future, I would hope to get a 12 banger. those extra 4 cylinders seem so exotic and exciting. It's also kind of interesting that most 12 cylinders are the same size or smaller than American V8's.

 

Yep...those small liter V12's have no stroke so they can hit some decent rpms despite the extra 4 cylinders... And Tech...yeah, the V8 is way too fast to hotrod around. It just gets up to speed too quick...no use for WOT except showing off, at the strip, and getting on the interstate with no one in front of you...whewee is that fun. Did it the other day...by the time I got on, the car that was right next to me before the lane merge was a distant dot in my rear view.. *** I must've been doing about 95..all I know is, my tach was pushing past 5,000 rpms in 3rd gear (auto, so it's a 1:1 ratio) with the 4.10 rear. Man, that was fun!

Was it just me or did your guys V6's seem to be almost EAGER for WOT? Mine was odd..it didn't like slow accelerations. 1/4 pedal reacted almost the same as 1/2 pedal. 1/2 pedal acted like 3/4 pedal. The thing was damn pedal happy...

 

for every 10 degree drop of intake air temperature the engine will pick up 1 percent more power within reason.