1985 cooling upgrade q's
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 346
Likes: 3
1985 cooling upgrade q's
I bought my 1985 Corvette about a month ago or so and so far I love the car. It runs and drives great but I worry about the temps on it. I watch the guage and it seems to run 180ish on the highway but in traffic it will heat up to 205-218 range, on a 80's degree day. I know they are designed to run hot due to fuel economy and emissions but I'm a worry wart when it comes to my cars and would like to keep it a little cooler. I should mention that it has the Z51 package wth the heavy duty cooling package.
Is there a simple upgrade I can do to make the fans come on earlier? I don't want to splice into the wiring harness if at all possible as the car is a low milage mostly original corvette.
Is there a simple upgrade I can do to make the fans come on earlier? I don't want to splice into the wiring harness if at all possible as the car is a low milage mostly original corvette.
with hooked
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,079
Likes: 1
From: Niagara Falls ON
Those temps are normal for your car. The car is built to handle these temps.
If you want to improve efficiency then clean out the rad. You won't believe what can get in between the rad and the ac condenser. This is a morning or afternoon task and it only costs you time.
If you want to keep the temps down you can put a 180 t-stat. There will be lots of discussion about this in terms of how the computer will react and so on. If your cooling system isn't working efficiently then the t-stat won't matter much if it can't cool itself.
There are kits through many Corvette suppliers that will allow you to install a switch to manually turn on the fans. There are switches that can turn the auxillery fan on at a lower temp. Usually for the main fan to come on earlier you have to change the chip in the computer, which also requires a different t-stat.
Like I said, the temps you have are normal. Keep the cooling system running efficiently and you won't have any problems. The car has lived this long based on what GM engineers designed it to do so it will be fine.
If you want to improve efficiency then clean out the rad. You won't believe what can get in between the rad and the ac condenser. This is a morning or afternoon task and it only costs you time.
If you want to keep the temps down you can put a 180 t-stat. There will be lots of discussion about this in terms of how the computer will react and so on. If your cooling system isn't working efficiently then the t-stat won't matter much if it can't cool itself.
There are kits through many Corvette suppliers that will allow you to install a switch to manually turn on the fans. There are switches that can turn the auxillery fan on at a lower temp. Usually for the main fan to come on earlier you have to change the chip in the computer, which also requires a different t-stat.
Like I said, the temps you have are normal. Keep the cooling system running efficiently and you won't have any problems. The car has lived this long based on what GM engineers designed it to do so it will be fine.
