what is a safe water temperature for an LT1?? Mine gets real hot but it never overheats for some reason. It has been as high as 225 and it ran fine and when i shut it off it had no overheating symptoms. It has an electric water pump and a big aluminum radiator(180 thermostat). I dont understand why it gets so hot?

 

The stock primary fan on temp is something like 220-225.
You do understand a 180 stat is the stock temp?

Beyond that I think K.I.S.S. is something that needs to be repeated around here a LOT.

Keep It Simple Stupid, people cause themselves a lot of grief by replacing OEM parts just because they are OEM without bothering to learn that the OEM spends millions on R&D while the aftermarket spends millions on advertizing. Don't get me wrong the aftermarket has some good stuff I just think people don't give the stock stuff enough of a chance and endup spending money on the wrong area.

 

I did not replace the thermostat bc it was OEM. I had a 160 thermostat in it and someone brought up the fact that i may need to go back to a 180 bc the water is not getting cooled well enough in the radiator to keep the motor cooled. The motor is in a 91 RS and has the stock fan that was in the 91. The fan runs all the time and so does the water pump. I was thinkin that maybe the water pump is spinning backwards. Other than that I have no idea what is making it run so hot. Oh and when I put the stock thermostat back in there it took longer for the car to get hot. But it still eventually got there.

 

they are designed to run at this temp from gm to give you the fuel mi. listed,less temps give more performance and less fuel economy,having said that on to the fix,totally flush the system,i add 1gallon of antifreeze,1 bottle of royal purple ICE,top off with water.get a performance chip,most of all i always add the dual fan set up.the factory radiators will work but i recommend an aftermarket like be-cool,griffin etc.

 

I have a griffin radiator and a big electric fan. but I have never tried to use royal purple ICE. So they are supposed to run 225??

 

is short yes...that is the factory programing from GM for you. My car does the same thing....but it never overheats.