RED97WS6

i've heard about putting one of these in many times but not sure if any HP and torque gains come of it or better performance. should i do this?? please i dont know much about these things so when responding act as if your talking to a moron. thanks in advance fellas

shbox

By itself, I would not expect much. Go to the end of this cooling system info to read about thermostats and cooling.

jaycenk

iTrader: (1)

get your PCM retuned for cooler fan on off temps and a 160 deg thermo.

blakez28

iTrader: (6)

How is the weather in PA? Do you only drive the car in the summer?
There are tons of threads about this, but to answer your question, yes i would say it can make a small difference in power. Tune the fans to come on with the new temp and you'll be set. I run a 160 thermo in mine with colder fans and I noticed a decrease in operating temp which is a good thing, for these 80-90 summer SC days.

shbox's site should be the homepage for any lt1 owner lol.

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

By itself it won't do much - it will just take longer to heat the car up. Coupled with earlier cooling fan operation though, it will give you a slight increase in power due to lower temps.

RED97WS6

you hit the nail on the head blakez here in philly its been 90 since mid may. and will be 85-95 whole summer and the in car temp thing is always saying 210 after like 15 mins of driving its disgusting because the loss in performance and power is SOOO noticeable. im glad i wasnt imagining it. and to the other things you's said retuned cooler fans and the throttle body coolant by-pass that i keep hearing ab out which seems to be the thing to do when doin the fans and thermo how much is each individual thing and al together and can a regualr mechanic do it?

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

I'd bring it about 30 minutes south of you and let me do it.

ZFreie

I would take him up on that offer!

BALLSS

a 160 by itself will just open fully sooner than the 185. the reason many run one is aftermarket tuning typically wants to run more timing so a cooler engine allows that thus making more power. programing the fans to come on at lower temps also is part of this tuning equation.

in short having the PCM tuned will allow a greater benefit by installing a 160 stat as opposed to just dropping it in which would have minimal effect if any without fan temps being programed to come on earlier

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

You'll notice the engine will seem to run a little better, smoother and such. It'll have less tendency to ping.

The higher operating temperatures the OEM's go with is for cleaner emissions reasons.

My car definitely runs "better" with the 160 thermostat and a tune to run the fans starting at 160 degrees.

I don't think you'll notice any real power gains though.

Overall, it is a good mod to do.

happysem

iTrader: (5)

Lol thermostat is literally like 2 bolts after you take the intake elbow off.

Jake_the_Snake

iTrader: (5)

i have read that a cooler thermostat will do little to nothing for performance. i understand that the increased temperatures actually helps the atomization of fuel. what you need is colder air, not necessarily a colder engine.

Shakerz1313

iTrader: (-1)

My car was always running hot as heck so I put a 160 degree thermo and reprogrammed computer with my hypertech and now it runs very cool all the time. I didnt notice much power gain but i didnt like my engine running so hot.

trilkb

iTrader: (4)

I Just talked to a tuner from PCMforless about the same things. I was going to run a 180* and they called making sure that was correct, i said yea unless something will benifit me more. They said they wanted to know because for the 160 they will adjust the timing differently. He said the difference (meaning when tuned) is normally around 7HP. I wanted the 180 for fall nights, the car doesnt see winter but the different in fan turn on temp made me want to do the 160, as well as the small horsepower increase.

If you just throw in the 160 it wont do anything but make the car take longer to heat up. It needs a tune.

bizerk1

what about if you have manual fan option due you need tune then>?

trilkb

iTrader: (4)

manual fan switches do not adjust timing.

IronOutlaw

iTrader: (4)

I dd my car year round. It gets pretty cold in GA maybe 20s at the lowest. Last year it got down to the teens. Im guessing with a 160' thermostat my heat would suck, but 7 horsepower is A LOT.

ZFreie

I meant having ramair TUNE the car for the 160* . I know its that easy, I have one my self lol

02v8ta

iTrader: (8)

Had this conversation before when i put a 160 in my trans am. Why would a tstat effect how fast your engine warms up? it's just going to open earlier. If you throw a 160 in without getting your fans tuned, like i did. It'll take alittle longer to reach that 195 or w/e the lt1 mark is. But getting up the the 160 temp, no? It wont run at 160 by itself and shouldn't prevent it from getting to 160 any slower....

EDIT: I think everyone was saying takes longer to reach normal operating temp, not getting hotter in general. Oops.

EDIT # 2: ONE MORE THING. is this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_1154wt_941

worth the price and shipping? Or just go with the duralast from autozone? Thanks guys

Hypertech

Hypertech has several presets for the fan on/off temperatures depending on which stat you choose. The following is stock: Fan 1 on/off at 227/218, fan 2- 235/228. Our optimized setting for a 195 stat is fan 1 on/off at 209/200, fan 2- 219/210. Optimized for a 180 stat is, fan 1 on/off at 194/185, fan 2- 204/195. Optimized for a 160 stat is, fan 1 on/off at 184/175, fan 2- 194/185. Thanks