figured id make a nice little argument/theory here. I go to NTI and today we learned about coolong systems. me and the teacher started talking about 160 degree thermo for fbodys.(he drives a 10 sec t/a) he said a 160 thermo will shorten the life of your engin......... here are the reasons... the engin being tricked into not getting as hot as it should causes the computer to put more fuel in the combustion chamber which causes it to run rich. also the oil in the engin acts at a cleaner for any kind of forign material that might get in the engin. the engin usually would burn some of these materials out but with the termo it doesnt get hot enuff which causes dirtier oil. it also causes the oil to get sluggish which cause lubricating problems. the main thing he said and which makes the most since to me was that on the piston walls, if looked at through a migroscope would be reall course. when the engin gets to its normal temp it causes the metal to expand causing the walls to get smoother. in the long run he said if you dont get it to the temp it likes to be at that the piston rings will wear out and this will effect the life of your engin..... he explained it a little better so i may have left some stuff out. but i wana get evoroynes opinion on this theory. if you think about it, it mkaes some sence....

 

I personally think LSX's should be near 190 to make peak power and VE.I've also read many articles over the years on wear occuring at a faster rate when not up to operating temps.I know from racing many a high RPM SBC that temp was critical to consistancy.I like to leave the line at 160* and go thru the traps at 180*,leaving to cool would quicken the car by a few .01's.
Food for thought.........the 04 Z06 trapped a high 11 after a HOT LAP.

 

Well, here's my take on it and I do run a 160. I agree with his points about wear. But the thing is, most people assume a 160 Tstat is going to keep the car running at 160 degrees. Thats not true at all. It only means the stat will open fully at 160.

In my experience, with the 160 stat, running the car at highway speeds in outside temperatures of ~60 degrees or more, the coolant will sit right at 180, sometimes a hair above, which most people say is right around the ideal operating temperature for an engine. This is with an autometer gauge, not the factory idiot light gauge we have. Getting off the highway and driving around town, it will quickly go up to around 190-200. Fans come on at 197 for me so it seldom gets hotter than that.

At the track between moving down the staging lanes, and then doing the burnout, I'll be right around 180 at the start line, and usually when I'm coming down the return lane, the fans will kick on at some point.

My car sits most of the winter, but if I take it out on the highway in 40 degree or lower air, then it will stay around 165, which I agree is too low.

I also have the FTRA, which blocks off the radiator somewhat, so without it I may run a bit cooler. Usually if you do run those types of intakes, FTRA, SLP kit, SSRA, etc, they advise you to run a lower Tstat since you do lose a bit of cooling capacity.

The other thing to remember is usually the oil temperature is about 30 degrees or so warmer than the coolant temperature. So its important the oil regularly gets up to about 210 or so to boil off any condensate or other contaminants that may be in there.

So my advice on the 160 Tstat to people is if you're in warm weather, don't heasitate to run it. If your going to be driving in cold weather for awhile however, swap the stocker back in.

 

Bolton98 Interesting point I see where he is coming from. And, I also agree with NhraTA01 it don't run at 160 it run about 180.

 

I got my best time after back to back runs.

 

same here, when i let my car cool off the best ive ran was a 8.8 in the 1/8. after 2 or 3 back to back rund when it gets up to where is should be (fans arnt set for 160) i have ran some 8.8-8.7's

 

This is a very informative thread. I was also debating on a 160* thermo but i drive it every day winter & summer. I dont want ti have to put the stocker back in just for winter. I want something i can run year round.

 

In my LS1/ RX7 I put a 186 degree thermostat in it. Seemed to be a happy medium. I plan on having my PCU tuned to turn on the fans at 195 degrees.

 

I run the 160 for summer cuz it gets hot as crap here (in terms of overall heat + humidity which is an absolute killer). In the winter I have no problem swapping back to the stock T-stat, it's about an hour job at most, which is worth the engine running cooler in the summer.

 

It's a good *theory* but like stated above the actual operating temperature will be warm enough for even the stock PCM calibrations to remain in closed loop which will in turn not trick the computer into doing anything out of the ordinary.

I have heard this argument before since older cars used to have problems with cooler thermostats causing the ECM's to revert to open loop while driving. Thus causing rich conditions, excess carbon buildup, high emissions, and bad gas mileage. The PCM's used today are significantly more sophisticated.

 

A 160 d thermostat starts to open at 160 degrees. other then that your information sounds good. The temperature will gennerally be about 20d warmer then the temp on the stat on a gas engine.

 

What's with all this thermostat swapping? A thermostat doesn't control your engine temps, the fans do. I run a 160* thermostat and just change my fan settings if need be. If you run a 160 with stock fan settings, your car will still run stock temps. The only thing the 160* will do is take a hair longer to warm the engine.

 

my 160 therm sees about 180-183* while crusing around town 176 on the HW