NAAllTheWay

okay so a couple questions....1.) if you have a 160 stat with the engine actually run at 160 degrees? or does the stat just open there and the engine will still run a little warmer? 2.) how much power can you expect to gain over a car that runs consistantly at 185 degrees? 3.) worthwile mod? (not driven in winter)

1BAD_LS1 Tunes

iTrader: (8)

No the engine doesnt run right at 160*... I dont think there is much to be gained at those temps, the ls1 likes to run a little warm.

Remember, if you get a different thermostat you will need a tune to get your fan settings set.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

A 160° stat will *start* to open at 160°, so once the engine is fully warmed up, you can expect running temps to be no lower than about ~170° no matter how early you turn on the fans (custom tuning needed to do that). If you don't change the fan settings you can expect the exact same coolant temps as you currently have at idle, but steady-speed cruising temps to be in the ~17x° range.

With no other changes? None.

Nope. Unless you plan on some sort of forced induction. IMO, an NA LS1 will run it's best times with the engine temps in the 195-205° range. Cold engine temps don't make power, you want a nice hot combustion chamber for best horsepower. The thing you want to keep cool is the intake air charge. Some people like to run a colder stat to try and acheive that cooler intake air charge, but the trade off is less than ideal combustion chamber temps. This pratice does make some sense with intakes that are prone to heat soak (LS1/LS6 intakes are not), or when working with forced induction and any risk of detonation can be a serious problem.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

I agree with everything except this....I have no idea where OP is from bc no one puts location in their avatar anymore, but down in the south, you will never see those cruising temps. With a 160 stat and stock fans settings I was running 230+ in the summer. With revised fan settings I'm down to 195-205.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

LOL, good point. My post was based on northern type weather, where even in the summer we rarely see temps anything close to the south. Last summer I had to wear a coat on July 4th.

Just to clarify though, what I meant by steady-speed cruising was basically highway driving. I agree that if it's at all warm outside, you probably won't see coolant temps that low in normal city driving with traffic and stoplights, etc.

WS6-R

iTrader: (1)

you can always run 60/40 or 75/25 coolant/water and water wetter.
It will run a lot cooler.

good luck

FUN LS1

I did this mod on my LS1, but I'm not going to bother with it in the LS6 I'm installing now. The only benefit was that it caused me to set the fans, which kept it from running at the aforementioned 230* in the summer (VA). With the 160* stat I set up the following:

Low Speed Fan (#1)
ON: 195
OFF: 185

High Speed Fan (#2)
ON: 205
OFF: 194

I could have made a little more overlap of the operating range, but it works pretty well this way. I'll use something like this for the stock LS6, but with about 10 degrees warmer settings and at least 5 degrees of overlap on the ranges, so the High Speed Fan doesn't just keep flipping on and off in traffic..

Optimus_Prime

iTrader: (4)

I installed one to help with the 100 degree autocross days. As far as power goes you get the same effect as taking the change out of your cupholder.

NAAllTheWay

wow, theres a whole lot more to it than i thought, but thanks guys for your time, think i might pass on this one....