Who's got the good stuff?
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 16
Likes: 4
From: NC
Who's got the good stuff?
A lot of posts about inferior quality parts but I'm not finding too many about great quality / value parts for my '93 LT1 / ZF6.
Had a miss under load and as I suspected there were stalactites growing in my distributer cap (non vented) I've seen cap / rotor sets from $30 to $300 not sure what to order. Same thing with the water pump which did have stains around the weep hole. Seems quite a few have had bad experiences with the new GM pumps. I typically use OEM parts on this car but.....
Last question , can anyone explain or post a schematic of the cooling fan circuit? It really kinda sucks having to turn on the AC while stuck in traffic in February.'
Had a miss under load and as I suspected there were stalactites growing in my distributer cap (non vented) I've seen cap / rotor sets from $30 to $300 not sure what to order. Same thing with the water pump which did have stains around the weep hole. Seems quite a few have had bad experiences with the new GM pumps. I typically use OEM parts on this car but.....
Last question , can anyone explain or post a schematic of the cooling fan circuit? It really kinda sucks having to turn on the AC while stuck in traffic in February.'
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 16
Likes: 4
From: NC
IMHO that is the exact reason! A Chevy small block (especially with aluminum heads) was never intended to run that hot. GM engineers were more interested in EPA regs than longevity when they set that spec. The engine likes to be on the hot side and normal operating temp is about 195. I'd be much more comfortable if the fans kicked in at 200-210. 230 is too close to catastrophic overheat and leaves no margin for an error or component failure. Bad stuff happens quick!
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
Awe geeze!! Not another inaccurate "interpretation" of what the "GM engineers wanted". Likewise, with what SBC's....."like". It's an engine, not a person. It will run along, "happily", all day long.
So, what you want to do is treat a psychological problem, not an actual one. 
Don't sweat it man....I totally "get it" and I'm psychologically with you. While I know that the car can run at 230 all day, I don't "like" it either, I agree with you that 230 doesn't leave much margin, and I'd prefer mine to run cooler, like you do. If I were in a constant stop/go situation, I'd probably re-program my fan-on setting in the ECM, but most of my driving is over 30 mph.
It's a funny thing, with the LT1; people cite the high end of the operating range as evidence (or "proof") that GM wants the engine hot for emissions reasons (people guess). We don't know but it could be a good guess. Could be.
Here is the weird thing, though: GM spec'd a 180 stat in the LT1, which means that at speed, and especially on a cool day, engine temps can get as low as 175 or so, depending on stat cycling and water temp in the radiator, and it won't get much higher than about 186. So we could say that under those conditions it mostly operates in the mid 180's. So, while on a "road trip", or whatever, is the car producing high emissions? When you're sitting in traffic in February idling at 225F, are you producing low emissions??
The car has a whopping 40-50* operating range and MY guess, is that it produces acceptable emissions throughout that entire range.
Don't sweat it man....I totally "get it" and I'm psychologically with you. While I know that the car can run at 230 all day, I don't "like" it either, I agree with you that 230 doesn't leave much margin, and I'd prefer mine to run cooler, like you do. If I were in a constant stop/go situation, I'd probably re-program my fan-on setting in the ECM, but most of my driving is over 30 mph.
It's a funny thing, with the LT1; people cite the high end of the operating range as evidence (or "proof") that GM wants the engine hot for emissions reasons (people guess). We don't know but it could be a good guess. Could be.
Here is the weird thing, though: GM spec'd a 180 stat in the LT1, which means that at speed, and especially on a cool day, engine temps can get as low as 175 or so, depending on stat cycling and water temp in the radiator, and it won't get much higher than about 186. So we could say that under those conditions it mostly operates in the mid 180's. So, while on a "road trip", or whatever, is the car producing high emissions? When you're sitting in traffic in February idling at 225F, are you producing low emissions??
The car has a whopping 40-50* operating range and MY guess, is that it produces acceptable emissions throughout that entire range.
