Reading some tips around in the web to increase lt1 performance, someone advise to replace the 180 t stat with 160 t stat to delay the injection.

Any experience about it? A little bit cold in coolant could make a benefit, summer especially,

Also i was been without t stat until this afternoon, typical coolant temp at 140-150 car appeared a little bit better. More torque n power

 

The 160 will open sooner than the 180. I run a 160 and have the fans re-programed to turn on sooner. The thermostat will have no bearing in the rate of injection of fuel. Performance increase will not be measurable.

 

I just installed a 160. Only reason I did is had temp issue in traffic but I am very happy with the 160 I just installed.

 

I have had 3 cars with LT1s and 160* thermostats. I have had zero problems from any
of them and have driven them from the Texas gulf coast (sea level) to Pikes Peak in Colorado (4,302 meters). It does help to lower the fan temperatures if you can.

 

Not the injection rate, but someone says about injection time


http://www.carsandparts.com/Articles...r-from-the-lt1

Here they says

 

The only problem with a 160 stat is in colder weather the temp won't go much past 160 degrees, which is way to cold to run an engine, summer time is not a problem...At 160 degrees you get excessive engine wear and the moisture wont be removed from the oil...I don't know how cold it gets in the winter where you live, but where I live it gets below freezing quite often......WW

 

While running a 160 vs 180 T-stat may induce higher engine wear, you'd be hard pressed to tell or measure the difference on your average street engine. I've run both for decades and have never measured more wear on the 160 engines vs 180.
Moisture in the oil is a valid concern but again, your T-stat (coolant) temp is not the true indication of your oil temp.
Oil temp needs to theoretically be around 212 F to evaporate moisture- A 160 vs 180 T-stat really won't affect it that much unless you are driving in below 0 F temps.

 

Winter usually from 52 to 28..
Often close to 52, some days 32,
Depends from many factor, here where live I can go from see to the mountains in 20 car mins.

So have many different temperature in a smallest mph range

Think anyway that 180 is the right one for me

 

After reading your linked article closely, they had a 2 HP gain using the 160 stat and adding a cooling agent to the coolant. My guess would be that there would be about a 50% split between the 2 HP between the stat and the agent. Again, this is not something you will feel when driving. IT does say that when the engine gets HOT that the computer will change the timing. It does this to reduce the ping or knock and this would reduce HP by a small amount.

 

T-stat has nothing to do w/injection timing, and the HP gains from a stat alone are meaningless.


Seen this posted many a time, and the following is my sentiments...

Except that I'll add this: water DOES evaporate at temps below 212*F. Not as fast, but it does evaporate. So running with oil temps at 190 isn't necessarily detrimental unless all you do is short trips. Additionally, oil typically runs hotter than coolant anyway.

My anecdotal evidence? Boat engines -the hardest working gas engines I can think of. Most run around 150*F - 160*F. They do this under very heavy loads, relatively high RPM (compared to cars), and they do so for thousands of hours.

In short, I think the comments about increased wear and water in oil are not real world concerns. Kind of like the concerns you read about engines running over (say, for example) 220*F -that isn't detrimental either. I feel the higher stat temps in cars vs. boats are 100% due to emissions and fuel economy criteria that boat mfg'ers (and us, for the most part) don't need to meet, or care about.


SO, if the HP gains from a stat are effectively meaningless, and the wear and tear of colder running temps is effectively meaningless, then what to do? IMO, if you have an engine that is sensitive to detonation, (like an L98, for example) I feel that you can gain a meaningful advantage by running a colder operating temp and adding more timing. The TIMING gives you the power (in a case like that) -the colder temps allow your to access and exploit that timing. I don't believe the LT1 is sensitive to detonation though; GM claimed it makes the same 300 hp on 87 octane as it does on 91 octane due to ABITS (tighter timing control). Plus, most people don't have a way to control or exploit timing on an LT1 anyway (w/o getting into chip burning/tuning), so simply throwing a 160 stat at an LT1 is pretty pointless. I'd stick w/the stock 180 stat. In fact, in my own LT1, that's what I've done.

.

 

probabily you was right high temp t stat is just for emission and fuel eco

Here we have 95 or 100 octane only

 

I am of the opinion that the engineers who designed the engine are pretty smart dudes they put the factory temp tstat in because that's where it runs the best. If your engine never gets to operating temperature it doesn't run as well Of course we're all smarter than the factory engineers.

 

So how does your car run when you first start it in the morning? You know...until it's fully warmed up? Mine runs fine.

 

Your only half right.
Another reason for the high temp engines is Govt required emissions management.
But seriously, its been proven time and time again that a lower tstat temp will not change the operating temp of the engine.
Your driving conditions might not allow the engine to fully heat soak so your indicators are lower temps.
Only until you drive the highway for an hour will the engine find its maximum operating temperature
It only controls when the t-stat opens

 

The thermostat determines what the MINIMUM operating temperature will be.

The load on the engine and the efficiency of the cooling system determine what the actual operating temperature will be. If the cooling system can't hold the temperature at the thermostat temperature then it will run at a higher temperature.

...And that's exactly why changing thermostats will not change your engine's operating temperature.

The ECM riches the mixture when the coolant is cold (like the old choke on a carburetor), so the engine might run a little rich for longer than necessary with a cold thermostat.

 

This is why it's important to have a thermostat that will keep the engine at a reasonable temperture and not let it run down to 160 degrees or below in cooler weather...My vote would be for the 180 degree stat, this won't allow the engine to get to far below 180 degrees in very cold weather, but will allow the engine to run around 175 to 180 degrees in hotter weather ( if the cooling system will allow it to run that cool ) , best of both worlds......WW

 

It will change the operating temp under many conditions -and under MOST conditions where there is good airflow through the radiator. "proof" of that is earlier in this very thread. albeit with some rough grammar:
^ So the OP's cooling system, in his operating conditions reaches equilibrium at around 150*f. Any stat that opens at a higher temp than that, is going to set his operating temp at or near that higher temp.

It doesn't take an hour on the highway for an engine to find it's max operating temp. More like 10 minutes or less.

 

Therefore..... there's more to gain with an airfoil, cut airbox and TB water delete.

 

The way my cooling system is setup is as follows... I'm running a Dewitts radiator, a Dewitts high speed fan, a 180 degree stant superstat, and my fan is set to come on at 196 degrees and go off at 180 degrees...My cooling system was put together to keep my engine at between 180 degrees and 196 degrees at all times... My system won't go below 180 because the thermostat will close to bring the temps back up, and it won't go above 196 degrees in any circumstances because the fan will drop the temps back to 180 degrees very quickly...Anytime I'm moving over 35 mph my temperture stays at 180-182 degrees constantly...This is total regulated temperture control.......WW

 

A 16*F range of operating temps...That is excellent control and management of your cooling system.