Hi, I bought a 94 LT-1 a couple of months back, I have a K&N air filter, MSD wires went I had it tuned up. I recently picked up a Hypertech power programer and 160 degree thermostat. What setting should I use and what kind of gains can I exspect? Any advise is apreciated Thanks Brian

 

I wouldnt expect any gains.

1)Set the fans to come on at 160 degrees
2)assuming you have an automatic, set shifts to "firm"
3)you might chose to play with shift point... set 1-2 shift at +2 and 3-4 shift at +1
4)bump rev limiter up to 6000 0r 6200....( your stock valves will float before you get into trouble anyway)
5)set you top sreed to 255mph..(just makes ya feel better), but set it to 110 mph whenever you let someone borrow the car :lol:

you might want to try there engine programming, but I would recommend leaving the stock settings in. I tried thier modified settings, and saw no improvements.(no losses either)

 

If you are gojng to run the 160 thermostat where you live in wintertime I would set the fans to the 180 degree thermo setting in the programmer-- that will kick them on at approx. 211 F and kick them off at 197F. Which is still way earlier than stock fans on temp (230 F). But in winter cold air you'll only see 211 F if you are stopped idling for a pretty long time. I'm in Indiana and have the 160 thermo, Power Programmer plus, and once the weather got cool I switched the fan programming from 160 tstat programming to 180, the car runs 174 - 178 coolant temp in cold air here and rarely gets above 192 idling. Oil temp should be paid attention to also, you want it to reach at least 180 F to get the moisture evaporated out of the crankcase efficiently. Mine takes a bit to get oil to 180 in winter. Summer is a whole 'nother story.

The car will run better using the stock engine tuning than it will using the "engine power tuning" option. This is pretty well established from guys' experiences with the programmer. Mine seems to like stock tuning better. All i use my programmer for is to program the fans for the thermostat and I also use the "increase shift firmness" option because it reduces wear and tear on the clutches, and isn't enough extra psi to effect the converter pump at all.

Sometime I'd like toi step up to an AKM cable and LT1EDIT software on my laptop and mess around with it-- MUCH more flexibility to adjust and fine tune different settings (and probably to screw up the way it runs if you don't know what you're doing...)

:steering: :chevy


[Modified by Lone Ranger, 5:01 PM 1/10/2003]

 

why not get a dynotune for that much?

how about http://www.pcmforless.com
that buy is AMAZING
$100 and you ACTUALLY get gains, and can do 10x more than that hypercrap.

 

He can't. Don't appear to be made for 'Vettes, only mentions all those lesser cars on their site :p:

 

Expect no performance gains, but if your auto, you will LOVE the firmer shifting!! :yesnod:

 

he does
tellem trey sent ya ;)
he can tune vettes
hes probobly the best tuner around. I know of people that fly him into vegas from PA to tune their cars.
He is amazing

edit:
the wear rate for the metal used in the rings is 3x greater when using a 160 stat. It also cools the cylander= less heat= less pressure which is not something good for the LT1
aluminuim heads + reverse cooling = it can handle LOTS of pressure and it likes lots of compression. The 160* stat is more effective on iron head cars and conventionally cooled heads (more the iron).

This is the same reason why the CC306 is not a great cam choice for the LT1
it bleeds off too much compression where as something like the Xe series ramps up quicker and bleeds less off. this is why Xe makes more hp, more tq using less durration. The LT1 LOVES compression. Someone is running 13:1 on pump gas on the camaro forum :eek:
wish i would have gone 12:5 at least on my car :banghead:
Ohh well, its my first motor. i didn't know what i was doing. I still dont know what i'm doing :nonod:


[Modified by TreyZ28, 9:22 PM 1/10/2003]

 

Tell me more about this and how this is known, not calling bs, just trying to understand how approx. 12 - 15 degrees cooler operation can increase ring wear three fold. I can always be talked into reinstalling my 180 (on the shelf) if the theory appears solid. :yesnod:

 

here are a few ways to look at it
1. my personal opinion (worth crap)
Why would GM have the fans come on at 232 (222?). It costs NO MORE to make them come on at 190 where you still have full heat! Engins are ENGINEERED, not thrown together. The materials used are designed to work best under certain conditions. The engineer(s) i'm sure tested the engine under different temps. Emissions you may say? nah, they can program the EGR to come on earlier/later and all kinds of other crap that would be much easier/effective. they dont need all the supposed wear and tear everyone claims.

in short-
overheating is bad!
so is underheating! 222* may sound hot to you, but thats where it works best! to a penguin, 72* sounds damn hot too.

like brakes-
they work best when in a cetain opperating range. not too hot, not too cold. (and brakes like to be very hot!)
2. what i've read (worth a bit more than crap, but what i've read and 4 quarters will get you a dollar anywhere)
Someones father was involved in the design of the LT1. They said that the wear rate on the metal is least using the thermo/fans provided.


3. An experiment someone did (wothless, but somewhat meaningfull to a select few?)
someone on camaroz28.com did a test or was involved in one. 160* vs 222* (or 232*) -please note, thats a HUGE differance 60-70*!
he ran the engine for x amount of time. after that he found that the 160 stat wore 3x as much. Whats his accuracy? his method? I dont know. but it was a pretty level playing field for both motors (run outside of a car i believe)

I honestly CANT SEE how this yeilds any performance gains worth doing. coolant doesn't go through the intake manifold or the air box. the block and heads. Once the air is in the heads, its not going expand/lose charge that much anyway... not enough to warrant losing heat and wearing on the motor.

its only going to de-compress, if you will, the compression...

 

I'm not sure where you are getting the 222 degree figure. Or the 160. Niether applies to the avg coolant temps seen with either the stock 180 degree tstat in the LT1 or the 160 after market tstats. Summer time (gets 90 -95 here on avg) with my 180 and stock fan activation programming I would see avg coolant temp of 194 on interstate, 200 - 205 around town. At stop lights yes it would climb to over 220 if stopped very long occasionally to 230 when the fans would kick on @ the stock setting. Then when rolling again she will cool down to the 200 - 205 figure. If anything I would think that the 20 - 25 degrees up and down cooling and reheating in summer city driving would be undesirable with a bimetal engine (iron block, aluminum heads cooling/expanding/contracting at different rates). With the 160 tstat and fans programmed to activate at FAN 1 speed (low speed) @ 185 and FAN 2 speed (high speed) @ 193 coolant temps would remain relatively constant usually climbing no higher than 193 stopped in traffic and dropping no lower than 180-- about half the flux as with the stock setting. Also *significant* is oil temps. I noticed no significant change in oil temps 160 tstat vs. 180 once the car was up to full operating temp and the engine compartment heat soaked-- maybe 10 degrees or so, certainly not enough of a difference that it would effect lubricity or viscosity of the oil or any other qualities, at least not with a high tech oil like the factory recommended Mobil One (synthetic). I should note that the new formula "super syn" Mobil One seemed to drop oil temps by about 5 - 8 degrees on avg for me. I run 5W-30 year round.

 

thats when the fans go on

and i wouldn't worry, the temp changes far too slowly for it to cause a problem- and i dont really see what problem it would cause. they are seperated by a gasket.

maybe if they were bolted on top of each other :confused:

 

Okay. FWIW, the Hypertech PP Plus doesn't actually program the fans to come on right at 160, it turns them (both) on low speed (quiet) setting at 185, and high speed (fans sort of roar a little) at 193 if you select the 160 tstat setting. I only use that programming in summer. A compromise is to use the Hypertech's 180 tstat programming with a 160 tstat. The Hyper's 180 programming turns them on low speed setting at 211, but don't know when it kicks them to high speed because when I used that setting in summer the temp wouldn't go much past about 212... it then shuts fans off once the temp drops to 197 and below. Using the 180 fan programming with a 160 tstat is a good way to keep the engine at the stock range for operating temp (194 - 212 range where it usually is when moving down the road when still under the factory setup tstat and fans), but to keep it from heating up to 220+ in traffic. Keeps it nice and constant and at the factory heat range. :yesnod:

Basically running a 160 tstat and having a Hypertech (with 94 - 96 cars) gives you a lot of flexibility to control how you want your engine temps to behave:

1. If you want factory default temps with the in-traffic super heating, just don't program the fans and it will tend to operate in that range.

2. If you want temps held to the factory default rolling-down-the-road temps (about 194 - 212 for most 'Vettes in hot weather) but no in-traffic super heating, just program the fans for the 180 tstat while leaving the 160 tstat installed.

3. If you want the temps held down about 15 degrees (on avg.) from the rolling-down-the-road and don't mind the fans running all the time (in hot weather), use the 160 tstat programming.

:D

 

Thanks for the advise, The feeling I got was to scrap it. I did'nt install either yet. I'm just a chiropractor and not too mechanical, what mods should I consider, if any. I was'nt going to go to crazy, but the guy's in the club around me are alway's going to English town or Atco in NJ and I thought I might check it out, this summer. Brian :skep:

 

Go ahead and program your car with the Hypertech to increase shift firmness (reduced wear and tear on the clutches) and program it to sync the fans to a 180 tstat. Leave the tstat itself alone. :yesnod:

Might want to cut the baffles out of the air cleaner lid though, but no need to buy a K&N air filter, when clean the stock paper ones flow close enough to a K&N that the difference probably isn't noticeable on a stock motor.

 

I programed my vett with hypertech the fans the rev top speed. I used the hypertech performance program and noticed a gain.I have a 6speed so that could be the reason Im not sure.But I would try that program you can always go back to stock.I think it has to with the mods you have to, thats just me. Good luck.

 

Thanks again, should I leave the themostat or put in the 160, I was unsure what you said.

 

Leave the 180 in, put the 160 on the shelf for now. You can always put it in later, in the summer if you feel the car is running too hot. Its an easy job, slightly messy but easy. :chevy :yesnod:

 

I agree... I use the HPP+ but only for the fan temps and the data logging feature (ODBII scan cartrige)... Otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my money...

I have the 180 thermo in but have the HPP+ fan settings for the 160 installed... My fans come on at about 180F when the stock thermo opens so I always have the same temps after I warm up... I don't understand the engineering behind the hot/cold temp swing that's built into the vehicles... I never felt comfortable watching the temps contsantly going between 190F and 240F while in traffic... I understand that the heads and block are separated by a gasket but I have to wonder what the constant 50F temp swing on those two parts does over time with both having different expansion properties...

But with the fan settings as they are, even in the summer time my temps never climb above 190F on the digital display unless it's under heavy load where I've hit 207F... Even running around on level gournd with or without the A/C running I lock right in at 190F and stay there... Maybe it's nothing but it does give me a little peace of mind...

 

i'm sure GM took temp varriations into conciderations when deciding when to turn on and off fans :chevy

I'm sure its all within spec

 

Thanks for your info there Jim. I was wondering what the HPP would do for my 96 on temps. I hate watching my temp climb in summer traffic. I think I will save my pennies and get one this spring.


[Modified by Corvette1996LT1, 6:25 PM 1/13/2003]