senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

I have a 160 in the car now. I'm wondering if I should change it so coolant temp is not so low this time of year. Its already 40s in the daytime.
Would my current fan settings work with a stock t-stat if I decided to change it?

My fan settings with a 160 t stat...
low spd on 194
low spd off 186
high spd on 198
high spd off 194

What's you guys opinion on this?

black79transam

I have the stock Tstat in mine and never had any problems. Due to my DD taking a crap last year I had to drive my Ws6 into January in Wisconsin.

Awake455

Don't forget there's a 180 available for these things. It's a good bit warmer for the heater yet takes some of the edge off to reduce the chance of hot spot-induced detonation.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

With a stock t-stat, I don't think your low speed fans will ever cut off, once they've cut on. I say this because the stock t-stat is a 187°F unit, so it would be almost impossible to maintain anything lower than that under normal, post-warm up conditions.

You could go with the 180° unit mentioned above, or you could modify the fan settings.

I'm personally not a fan of the 160° t-stat, at least not in my climate, even during the summer. LS1s seem to make best power with coolant temps in the 19x-20x range, in my experience. Of course, those that have a lean tune with very aggressive timing, and/or forced induction, might be stuck with needing cooler coolant temps to keep detonation away.

demonspeed

iTrader: (7)

This is essentially why I settled on keeping with the stock stat while running bolt ons. Perhaps I'll swap to a 160* when it's time for a donkey-dick cam. Sound advice, as always, RPM.

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Fan setting would need to be changed.
Maybe I will try a 180.

I think like you do. I never wanted a 160. The builder/tuner put it in when doing the heads and cam job. Never even told me he was doing it lol. Oh well. It was almost 50 out today and on highway coolant temps were 170s. Street driving it did get up to 197 once.

So how well do you think the 180 would work with the current fan settings?

mjs1012

iTrader: (36)

Joe, I still have a stock Tstat and my fans should be around those settings and when im driving Ill see the same temps youre seeing. On the highway ltll drop into the low 180s and on the street in traffic the other day I saw 201. This is with the ls1 radiator not the lt1 like you run

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Thank you sir.

Only on very cool/cold days, and at steady cruise, will coolant temps reach an area close to the rating of the t-stat (having that bigger radiator might help with this as well.) So you might notice that the fans will run pretty often with that low speed cutoff temp.

FWIW, at steady cruise in temps above freezing, I've never seen any of my stock 187° t-stats allow coolant temps to get lower than about 190-192°F as seen on the scanner. A 180° t-stat should get just a bit cooler under the same conditions, and possibly moreso in even colder weather.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I put in a 180* when I replaced my water pump. I really didn't notice a difference. But I did notice a big difference when driving my friend's T/A with a 160* on a very cold day. It took an abnormally long time for it to get up to normal running temps. If you're living in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, south Texas, the desert, or southern California, I think a 160 would be fine. Otherwise 180 or stock.

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

What's the lowest fan settings I can get away with for the 180 stat? I want my current fan settings to work with it.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I have used these settings before for a 180°, and the fan cycled on and off like it should, under all weather and driving conditions:

Low speed fan on @204°, off @198°
High speed fan on @210°, off @205°

You could probably drop all of those temps by several degrees and still be ok, since you have the bigger radiator (I did not). If you set the temps too close to what the t-stat is able to maintain, then in the hot weather you might find the fans running pretty much any time that you're not moving.

I would have them cut off no lower than the low 190s with a 180° t-stat.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

What temps are you running with the cooler stat. That's pretty vital info here.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

good question. your temps should be warmer than the tstat youre running.

i run mine with a 160 and heat and drive ability are fine.

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

This time of year city driving will see up to 197 then all the way down to 185 which is what I'm not really concerned about. Highway or even lower speeds (45mph or so) I'll see low and high 170s. I don't think I'll even worry about it. I might just park the car till april.