What should my lt1 be running?

Oil temp
oil pressure
water temp
Vaccum
A/F


And is a 160 thermostat worth it on an LT1?

 

Well LT1's in Fbodies do not get the Oil Temp Sensor like Corvettes did, but the PCM when scanned does show a listing but again, Vette only.

Pressure- to me if your running in the 40's hot at idle in gear(load) your doing good.

Water Temp- If I recall that is a dummy guage but as long as your not over stock or on the other half of the guage sweep your fine, the guage should not be flucuating. Also depending on the owner, it could be all stock, or they threw in a lower temp thermo, and had the fans come on at start.

Vaccume- I am not sure, again depends if the engine has been modded

A/F- Ideal N/A Command should be 12.8 at WOT, depending on tuner, the good ones can have it running leaner on part throttle from idle to 2.5k and have it drop down when you go WOT.

As for the Thermo, I have done it all. To me if the tune is correct and the engine is healthy, your fine with a stock one. Due to the aluminum intake heat soaking, people put the cooler one in but I have seen nearly no diff as for as any hp or track #. If your not getting Knock Retard then its not making that much of a difference. Also I have found is a car that is over cooled, or stays in open loop longer tends to lower your MPG. Also emissions CAN be effected if you need to go on a sniffer.

 

x2 except I say you are okay around 20psi hot idling with your oil psi. Ive never been in an Lt1 car that idled over 30 psi idling hot.
My grandpas corvette with 70000 miles is at 30 and my 130000 mile camaro sits at around 20 both running 5w30.
My old firebird was at around 15 with 10w40 and was still kicking when I sold it.

I thought the LS1 cars came with a dummy water temperature gauge and our cars came with real ones?

 

Water temps will be around ~160* on the freeway and ~220* sitting idle not moving for a while.

Oil pressure should be ~20psi at hot idle (spec is anything over 7psi I think) and ~10psi for every 1000 rpm is good.

A 160* stat is worth it, but reprogramming your fan settings is much more beneficial.

 

I am going off memory of my old 383 LT1 in my 94 Camaro. As for oil PSI I think your right but for a fresh rebuild with a HV oil pump, it should do the readings I stated.

 

I've seen oil pressures varies greatly amongst LT1 cars. You'd be lucky to see 30psi idling when it is hot. I've seen them dip way down to around 10psi at an idle, and that is normal, even in the GM guide. The thermostat is beneficial only if you get the pcm tuned for it. If you do get it tuned for it, your car will run a lot cooler.

Vacuum-no idea

A/F- ideally like someone else said 12.8-13.0 at WOT. At part throttle it should be 16+ when you are cruising. Anything lower than that is simply wasting gas. When there is no load on the motor there is no need to be at 12.8-1. All this stuff only applies to N/A applications.

 

An HV pump is not necessary.

 

^Agreed. New stock pump or std pressure/std volume replacement with a GM white spring is usually all that is necessary.

 

from what i have been told the 93's came with a true temp gauge the others did not. Mine reads at about 150 while driving on the highway and about 180/190 sitting at idle. I also believe that i was told the 98's came with a true gauge.

 

my oil pressure was around 45 cruising when i got it, changed to pennzoil 10w40 went to 60 almost 80 wot. idles close to 40 hot now.

 

like stated before ideal is 10 psi per 1000 rpms. GM had them at a higher than that though. So if you are around that or higher than you are fine.

 

I am not speaking of the Necessity of the HV Oil Pump, that is what the motor was built with back in 2002/2003, the Dark ages.