alright i picked one of these babies up and it came with a gasket.

sooooo exactly whats this bad boy gonna do for me? the guy at the parts shop told me to stick to stock and not mess around cuz the cpu won't work properly at colder temperatures? does this mean i gotta change my cpu?

and how the heck do i install this thing?


[Modified by dmalhi1, 8:18 PM 3/11/2002]

 

From what I've been told, a lower T-Stat is good for those who race a lot. If you are strictly a street driver, it won't do much good.
I'm too tired to try and explain it right now :sleep:

 

the mechanic doesnt know enough about corvettes to tell you anything.

Although i wouldve went with the 180 in your climate, you dont have to reprogram anything, but you will need a chip burned to turn the fans on earlier to accompany the new thermostat (otherwise it does no good).

When you take off the accordian in front of the TB there is a hose coming from the radiator to the intake manifold, the thermostat goes in there.

AND GET A SHOP MANUAL

 

:lol: so you are telling me i bought the wrong tstat? crap i will go get the 180 tomorrow inplace of this one.

and i guess i'll do the chip bit whenever i add bigger hp goodies.

and oh yeah shop manual.... :( expensive i got the haynes it doesn't say much so i forget i own it ;)

and thanks for outlining the steps i thought thats how you do it but i wasn't sure. i always doubt myself. anyhow since i'm opening up a hose from the radiator doesn't that mean coolant will be spewing all over the place? should i drain the radiator then do the tstat then fill it back up??

 

IF you are really lazy use a turkey bastor to suck out some of the fluid in the rad (depending on style of rad a piece of tubing stuffed down the rad and just suck the coolant out) and put in a clean container, this way you can lower the coolant lvl without alot of hassle since the upper rad hose needs to be drained it will usually work very nice ( have done this alot in shop class works on alot of cars) then just pop off the parts, replace with new and always replace gaskets and/or O-rings if they have, use a torque wrench to re-tighten everything and refill the rad, you may need to gently burp the system but should be a smooth easy job with very little spilt coolant.

once you are done you will wonder what was so hard about it!



[Modified by Delta, 8:22 AM 3/12/2002]

 

:lol:
i bet i will say that
but i got to do a TB Bypass and gut the maf

 

I purchased the stat and chip to keep the engine cool. Down here in the south in traffic the engine was runnning 220+. This is too damm hot! With the chip and the stat is stays about 195 in close traffic and 160-165 on the interstate. I do not think IMHO there was any performance gained. It is a good mod.
:seeya

 

I have the 160 Thermostat, the Performance Chip, and one of my fans coming on at 175. Rarely does the car get above 200.

 

Throw the Haynes manual away before you screw something up by following his directions. Save up and get that shop manual. You should drain the radiator to install the tstat, your system could use a flush anyway.

 

I changed my thermostat a few weeks ago. One of the bolts was frozen, took me hours to get it out without breaking it, I was not about to drill and retap. Be careful and use anti-seize when you install.
I went with a stock 195 for now and I'll see what happens when warm weather comes. I do believe you have to change the chip to gain an advantage.
I'm going to look on E-Bay for used chips. might save a lot.
Barrier

 

[QUOTEThrow the Haynes manual away before you screw something up by following his directions. Save up and get that shop manual. You should drain the radiator to install the tstat, your system could use a flush anyway.[/QUOTE]

yeah i never use the haynes manual anyways what a bunch of garbage.
and i was going to do a coolant flush but when i opened the radiator cap up the stuff was still clean :( oh well i can do the tstat another time but i guess i should go exchange it for the 180* one as you recommended.

 

cool thanks for the info i'll check ebay too ;)

 

You don't have to get a chip for a lower fan turn on temperature. Install a lower temp fan switch and connect the green wires on the fan relays. This will turn fans on at 200 and off at 185. Their availible from ZIP for $18.95.

 

I have one question about lowering the operating temp on the Vette. I read somewhere that they used the higher temps to burn off any water or contaminates that get into the synthetic oil. Will lowering the operating temps affect the amount of water and contaminates that get burned off? I hate to see the higher temps on my vette also but since mine is a driver and not a racer will it be any advantage to lowering the temps? Ok that was 2 questions not one but I don't want to screw my engine up just so I can see lower temps.

Thanks in advance....

Boots

 

you need to get it up to 170-180 to burn off condensation/water vapor in the engine and get rid of some sludge in the oil and keep it at that temp for a little while, anything lower than that will damage things. Down here, even a 160 wont keep my temps from gettin 180-190, fans on or not. I recommended him get a 180 because of the colder climate in Canada.

 

The oil temperature tends to run 10-20 deg above the water temperature so burnoff should occur in the oil with a 180deg stat.

 

it wont hurt anything, might even make the car run cooler. you dont have to make the fan come on sooner, it will come on fhen it needs to. i used to take the stat out of my 72 in the summer to keep it from runin hot.

 

oh come on its not really that cold up here in canada :D
you americans think we all live in igloos don't ya :jester

 

The radiator will not get rid of heat fast enough to keep the engine at 160 F except in the winter time. Your cooling system was designed to operate the engine at or near it original thermostat temp (195 for early C4's , 185 I think for later C4's). Excursions to 220 at stop lights won't harm your engine. My 87 has 175 k miles and recently had a head gasket leak and I did a lot of upper engine work and the engine looks almost new. The aluminum heads were FLAT! Turning the fan on early (factory turns on the main fan at 228 F) will help reduce temp excursions and even better is to clean out the debris caught between the radiator and the air conditioner condenser. I blast water backwards through the radiator and then blast water down the gap around the radiator cap and it made a difference. I'm too lazy to take the radiator cover off and clean the front of the radiator. Also, I just installed a Stewart water pump with all my recent work and at idle , the fan comes on at 227 and goes off at 210. With my factory water pump, it would stay at about 228. The Stewart pump has 41 % more flow and this allows for adequite cooling below 35 mph. I'm looking forward to this summer and I probably won't be using my fan override switch much. The 160 stat opens sooner than a stock stat and your engine temp will still soar to the same temps it went to with the stock thermostat. Its the radiator that gets rid of the heat, not the thermostat!!!!
Put a stock stat in, clean the radiator, turn on the fan at about 200 F and the next time you need a new water pump, install a Stewart pump.

 

heh alright..... anyone need a 160* tstat and gasket? only 10 bucks CDN! :lol: