I am planning some upgrades and found some confusing information about engine temperature.

It said that using lower temperatures/thermostats hurt engine and especially it's bearings.

It is true? Should I use 180 degrees instead of 160 (upgrading chip too)?

 

Where did you read this? I personally have a 160 degree thermostat in my car, and the chip turns the fans on sooner. My car also has an oil cooler and I run Mobil 1 5W-30 oil.

She runs nice and cool and strong as an ox. :)

 

There are some discussion about it in alt.autos.corvette

 

Here is one source to review:
http://performanceunlimited.com/docu...tempguide.html

 

The recommendation I've heard is that if you are a weekly racer, go ahead and put the lower T-Stat. If you are more of a daily driver leave it stock.

 

I have a 175F in my for like 5 years.
It runs at around 170F in nice and cool weather, around 190F in 80-90F outside heat. Used to have the SLP Ram air setup until a few days ago, but I removed it since in 90F heat the temps were rather high so I took it off and now it is pretty cool again.

 

The 160 thermostat question has been beaten to death on the C4 tech portion of the forum. GM supplied either a 195 or a 185 original thermostat to operate the engine at a temperature for minimum emmisions and to allow the use of a smaller radiator (most of us believe). The radiator will not be able to get rid of heat fast enough to allow the 160 stat to control the coolant temp except at high speeds and during cold winter days. Most of the time the 160 stat will be wide open and the operating temperature will settle at a temperature the same as when a 185 or 195 stat is also wide open (somewhere around 200 to 240 depending on conditions). Engines operating at 160 will not heat the oil enough to quickly evaporate condensed water and the oil will have a shorter life and make sludge. Thermodynamic theory predicts lower hp from an engine operating at 160 compared to 185/195. Continental Motors ran tests on a small engine (25 hp) they manufacture and ran the engines WOT at temps from 160 to 220 and measured hp, specific fuel consumption, and tore the engines down after many hours of operation and measure cylinder wear. They found that increasing temps caused increasing hp, decreasing specific fuel consumption (more mpg), and lower engine wear. One CFer tore down a V8 after 100k+ miles with a 160 stat and found almost no wear. Another CFer did a dynomometer test with a 195 and 160 thermostat and found no difference in hp. Several CFers claim better performance at the 1/4 mile drag strip with a 160 stat and believe that it is due to lower temperature rise in the inlet air passing through the intake manifold which coolant is in contact with. One CFer bypassed his coolant flow through the intake manifold and admitted it didn't make a difference in 1/4 mile performance(it should have if lower inlet air temp makes a difference). CFers that had a meeting with Gordon Killabrew at the Corvette musuem asked about the 160 stat and Gordon recommended using the stock thermostat. Gordon is a retired GM engineer that was intimately involved with the C4 during production at the assembly plant.
I think most CFers that install 160 stats do so because they believe their engine temperature will not soar like it does in hot weather and low speeds or stopped when they have the 185/195 stat in place. Some CFers have admitted
that the engine temperature soared even with the 160 stat.
Its your car and you can install none or any opening temperature thermostat your heart desires. My 87 vette will always have its 195 stock thermostat and I hope this discourse helps you decide which thermostat you will use.