Guys the Hypertech is $18.99 and the Autozone is $3.99. What is everyones experience and recommendation?

 

I bought one of each by accident and decided to just keep the autozone one in storage and use the hypertech. I don't recall it being so cheap from autozone though. What model vette are you using it on?

Also, are you going to change the fan settings? I recommend an automatic switch from mid-america or one of the other catalogs.

 

After a crummy experience with an autozone thermo for my girlfriend's truck I'll never buy another. The AZ one I bought for her truck didn't fit quite right. I assembled everything and had a coolant dribble coming from the thermostat housing. I removed the 'stat and then compared it to the OEM one I took out. The AZ one was something like 0.075" wider! It didn't seat right and that caused the leak. I went to Ford and bought another OEM one and things have been perfect ever since.

The tolerences on the AZ ones are just not up to snuff as they're probably made to fit 18,000 different vehicles. Get the hypertech one.

 

I don't trust anything from Autozone. I've even walked away from very good deals for the purchase of an automobile because of the use of Autozone parts. I have the Hypertech unit in my car... but the oil temp won't crest 120*... so I'm reinstalling the stock unit.

 

Summitt Racing has a very nice selection of thermostats. I bought mine there and the thermostat gasket also has alot to do with if it is going to leak or not. My gasket that I purchased at Summitt cost more than the thermostat. I bought a neoprene gasket, which is much better than paper.

 

Assuming it's for an L98, I can't imagine spending over $10.00 for a thermostat. The really cheap stats fail closed and will cause a boil over, or maybe worse, when they do. A good, high quality, stat fails open, with much less trauma. Expect to pay from between $5.00 and $10.00 for a quality, name brand, like Stant or Dole. If you ask, you can probably even get one at Auto Zone.

RACE ON!!!

 

What does your coolant go to?????

I have 160 Hypertech........oil temp ends up to about same temperature as coolant,just a little higher.......

I would be suspicious of your oil temp sensor.......

 

160* stat in my car and the coolant and oil are usualy within 15* of each other.

 

The Hypertech is only $18.99. Not a bad investment for something that will work.

 

out of curiousity, is it necessary to use the hypertech thermomaster chip w/a 160 degree stat? When I installed my NOS on my vette, i yanked the chip, as I knew for a fact it advanced timing big time and didn't want the detonation issues when I was spraying nitrous. I also yanked the 160 degree stat, which is just sitting on my shelf.

Will I run into any issues running a stock chip w/a 160 degree stat? Will the vehicle still drop into closed loop? The only reason I yanked the stat along with the chip is because I thought it was a 'matched set' sort of thing....

 

YEAH! Why buy something for $10.00 or less when you can find someone to take your $18.99??? What kind if a Corvette owner would THAT be? And exactly where does anyone think the "Corvette tax" comes from, anyhow? Does anyone actually believe that Hypertech manufactures thermostats??? The pretty box must make it worth it.

RACE ON!!!

 

On an LTX car there is no performance benefit of going with a 160 over a 180 unless you just happen to like having a crappy heater in the winter. Stick with the 180.

 

Load your Vette with a bunch of $3 parts, and I wouldn't want to be in it going down the road, even if it is less than 14 seconds. You get what you pay for.

 

In 30+ years of working on vehicles of most every type, I've never installed a defective Stant. I thought Dole made pineapples? Not real familiar with them but if CFI-EFI says they're okay, I'd trust them.

 

The LT1/LT4 engines take a special thermostat -- it has two parts compared to a standard thermostat.
I'm not aware of anyone except Hypertech that makes the 160 thermostat for the LT1/LT4.

When the coolant is above the thermostat setting of a LTx thermostat:
1) The first section opens to allow coolant flow to enter from the radiator.
2) The second section closes to block the coolant from re-circulating through the engine, like it does when it is bypassing the radiator.

Tom Piper

 

I agree that *in general*, you pay a little more for quality. But at some point, cost continues to increase while quality stays the same. An $18 thermostat is probably not going to make you $8 happier than a $10 thermostat. Like CFI-EFI said, stay with trusted, proven brand (read: not necessarily the most expensive you can find) and go with that.

 

No one w/ an LT1/4 should be using a 160 stat anyway, JMHO.

 

i was just doing research on engine and thermostat recommended temps last night.

it is said the corvette coolant temps run at or above 200 purely to create more heat to improve burning of hydrocarbons and reduce emissions. the consensus of people who seemed to know what they are talking about confirmed what i have read before: high coolant temps accelerate engine wear and rob power. you can also add another possible reason for the high coolant temps--planned obsolescence. that is chevy may want your engine to wear out so you have to buy a new engine or a new car. more used cars mean fewer new ones. don't think this is just a conspiracy theory. this concept is taught to engineering students. in small sales markets, wearout is needed to ensure continued production. was this calculated? maybe-maybe not. but remember these are the same people who calculate how many lawsuits they may get from a defect, and if the costs of the suits are cheaper they don't retool and make the change.

anyway, i digress. a 160 degree thermostat can cause performance issues in cold weather with the heater on. the computer will retard performance, and the engine will build sludge. it seems, and logically i agree, that the best all around temp for a thermostat is 170 degrees. it stops the cold problem, and puts the engine close to but not above the desired 175-180 degree maximum performance range. the 170 also works in the summer. if temps are going to climb above 170, then there really isn't going to be much difference between the 160 and the 170. another recommendation for the 170 is that honda uses it on the civic. now don't laugh. we're talking about a four cylinder car with dohc, shaft mounted rocker arms and hemi style heads that needs to push all the horsepower it can. the power to cubic inch ratio is way higher on *** engines than american ones. the above features are usually only found on race type american v8's.

it was also recommended to have the fan turn on at 177. but i thought about that one, and all things being equal it would be good on at 180 and off at 177. but there is a situation where this fan setup might cause a problem. i read that some thermostats may not open fully untill 15 degrees after the advertised temperature. if this were the case, on the above setup, the fan and the stat would be constantly fighting each other. one thermostat brand on summit was said to be within 2% of advertised temp.

there is one more factor. the stat and fan may be setup in the above manner and still run above 180. further adjustment may be needed to pull the temp one way or the other. when i get my vette on the road, i'm going to be watching the temp and thinking.

take this for what its worth.

btw: one nos and turbo engine builder wrote that he had used the stat 170 thermostat for years and had never had a premature failure. it was also recommended to drill 5-5/16 (not completely sure about the diameter) holes in the perimeter of the stat to maintain some constant flow to stop the stat from continually cycling on and off--which creates temp spikes.


frog

 

If you will pay attention and READ the posts, I advised AGAINST the $3.99 thermostat. "You get what you pay" for only goes so far. After that, you're voluntarily encouraging the "Corvette tax". If it were a Corvette, only, thermostat, $18.99 probably WOULD be what you'd have to pay.

Who brought up LT engines???

I tried to do a quick search on "Dole". Maybe they're out of business. I DID find reference to Dole thermostats from back to the 50's, but I wasn't buying thermostats back then.

RACE ON!!!

 

I've heard of Doles and have more likely than not installed them at some point. But they may very well not be in use anymore since I don't recall having seen them any time recently.
It's not coolant temps that I'm concerned with, although I believe that my LT1 is designed to operate most effiently at higher than average temps. Oil temperature is what I watch the most before any hard running. I will not run it too hard until my oil temp is near 200 and I'm most comfortable when it has exceeded my normal coolant temps which are 200-210 with stock thermostat, modified fan settings and my ultra-clean cooling system with a Meziere pump.