Brew02 WS6

iTrader: (2)

Can someone tell me where I can purchase the shim required to mod my stock thermostat to open at approx. 175 deg.?

Brew02 WS6

iTrader: (2)

Someone has got to know this...........

JRcamaroZ28

iTrader: (41)

If your talking about the little shim thats in the LS1/LS6 book you can find them in the plumbing section of a hardware store w/ the brass fittings

JR

WS6 RULES

My 2002 has stock 180. I'm not going to worry about 5 degrees.

Brew02 WS6

iTrader: (2)

I thought stock was around 195? I wouldn't worry either if it's at 180 stock.............

robertbartsch

You can buy the simms at Martha Stewarts's place (K-Mart). In my case, it was Alcoa - tin foil.

I took the housing apart and jammed some tin foil in the housing cup holding the spring shaft. I re-assembled the therm and installed it. It works fine.

robertbartsch

You realize, of course, that you loose power when the motor runs cooler, right.

Most do it to avoid knock... even this is questionable since the fans will continue to turn on at the same temperature anyway... ...not a good solution unless you also change the temperature at which the fans turn on (LS1Edit)....

I went back to the stock therm recently and no KNOCK problems at 11.4 to 1 CR ...so I will keep the stock unit and make more power...

StevieZ

iTrader: (3)

How do you figure that?

Brew02 WS6

iTrader: (2)

I dunno about jamming alum. foil in a thermostat housing. I'll spend a couple dollars on a bronze shim if I know what and where to buy it.

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

BAD ASS TA WS6

iTrader: (5)

Actually, it is the opposite. You will gain power with a cooler running motor. You trying to say that when I run my car across the desert my motor will be making the most power? The reason an engine is set to run (ours in particular) at 210 degrees is because an engine is emissions effecient at higher temperatures. When you start your car in the cold, your burning more fuel and thus, creating more pollution. My point is colder air is more dense and yeilds more power, and this statement is

Rob

promod1955

iTrader: (44)

If you watch nhra or ihra pro stockers, they start there cars at the very last minute and hurry up and do there burn out.... back up and stage. Ya never see any type of pro car warming up do you? hotter spark may make more power but a hotter motor is not hidden hp.

robertbartsch

...I thought i saw some posts on this with dyno testing showing that the stock therm was best ...

..in any event, I think you may find some diverse views on whether the cooler therm will produce more power...

Weezzer

These cars do loose power when they run cooler because the aluminum heads don't retain the heat from the combustion process as do iron/steel heads. Cooling down our engines results in less efficient (meaning less complete) combustion of the air/fuel charge resulting in power reduction and increased fuel usage, not to even mention anything about how the expansion rate for aluminum is much higher than for steel - this can result in certain engine parts not expanding to the full engineering design rate/size (even a couple of thousands of an inch less expansion can result in accelerated damage) because the engine is running cooler as opposed to the stock thermostat temperature. This condition can lead to increased wear from excessive friction.
The vast majority of engine damage and wear is done right after start up when the engine is cold.

Contraire Mon Frair, tis thee that hath spread
Your whole premise is contradictory;
You first say it will be more efficient if its running cooler, and in the same paragraph you discuss how when its cold it burns more fuel.
It is not burning more fuel, it is using more fuel but burning it less efficently because the engine isn't hot and the combustion process is shortened and incomplete, if your statement were true, the fact that colder air is more dense would mean a cold engine would burn LESS fuel instead of more.

robertbartsch

Weezer:
I'm impressed; thanks...

Anyway, I went back to the stock therm after a head and cam swap. My compression is now 11.4!!!

I tought I would have pinging on pump gas but NO Problem.

I switched earlier to a low therm to avoid pinging; when I pulled the heads the carbon build up was bad. ...I think the carbon started when I installed LT headers.

Anyway, I put a LS6 valley cover on now so little or no oil is getting sucked into the intake....

PS ...a lower therm does little anyway since the CPU controls the timing of the fans anyway, right?

Doc

iTrader: (9)

Hey Weezzer, I do not want to make war here...I am trying to follow you and what you said was making sense until I read your sig- if your theroy is correct then why do the TB bypass mod? Seriously I have been debating the therm mod to do or not to...

Weezzer

The throttle body mod is totally different and unrelated to the engine operating temperature analysis mentioned above.

With the coolant running thru the throttle body, it makes the throttle body the same temperature as the engine (you don't want this if you want performance), thereby increasing the temperature of the air charge thru conduction and convection radiation transfer, this then enters the cylinder. The colder the air going into the cylinders, the higher its density is. A hot air ballon rises because its air inside is thinner than the surrounding air, thereby causing buoyancy, as everything tries to reach equilibrium, the balloon will rise till its density matches the surrounding outside air. In other terms, there are more air molecules in 1 liter of cold air than in 1 liter of hot air, more air = more efficient combustion (if the engine is at operating temperature). This is the same principle of a supercharger. More air thru the supercharger or turbo = a better burn charge, tho sometimes with more air you must use more fuel to balance the ratio, tis why you have to have bigger injectors for turbo and supercharger use if you have BIG BOOST.

BTW this is what ferrets do if ya don't watch out fer em:

Doc

iTrader: (9)

Cool dense air good, horny ferrets bad

WS6 GreeN

I've read where the best operating temp for the LS1 is around 175 degrees. Don't know if it's true or not but I recently installed a 160 degree tstat and will atap on the dyno this coming weekend to see if it helps or hurts and post my results after comparing temps with previous pulls.

sawedoff

iTrader: (3)

You are absolutely correct on that one. I run some of my track cars as high as 205-210, and do pick up horsepower.If you run them higher you start having probs, with ignition system difficulties. When you run an engine too cold, you're just dumping energy into the cooling system. On my race engines, that have low drag rings, like the LS1 has, ring seal is even better, when I run these temps. A good quality synthetic oil is paramount, preferrably something that has a high flash point. You will need to do other things to watch for detonation. I use Evans waterless coolant, and that has helped. With the all aluminum engines, that's not that difficult, and they're using EFI to boot, so that really helps avoid detonation.