Ok guys I have been wanting to do this mod for a while but had seen a post a while back about it not being good for the engine...causing it to run rich? As I recall the member had a few C5s and the motor went......anyone else see that post? I couldnt find it in search!

So bottom line....is it harmful in the long run? I can not see why it would not help...increase the longevity of the engine!!!!

 

You may burn a little more fuel because of the delay in coming up to temperature. I have tried a 180 degree stat, which lowered the temperature 6 degrees or so. Not enough bang for the buck so I went with a 160 degree stat, I ran a little cool high 160's to mid 170's on the freeway so I went with a 170 stat that keeps in the 180's which is where you want to be without having to adjust your fan settings. To use a 160 degree stat, you should bring your fans on earlier thatn 220 degrees. When you turn on the air conditioner, the fan comes on so you can do it manually if you prefer.

The engine will last longer running cooler and picking up some pony's is a possibility. Personally, I would like to extend the life of the engine. Emissions is often cited as the reason our engines are designed to run so hot.

:steering:

 

I put in a 160 degree thermo and the temp didn't change at all. I'm not sure about it hurting your engine. Personally I think the 160 is a waste of money, who knows maybe I just got a bad thermostat. :sad:

 

I live in Dallas where it is hot hot hot. I put the 160 therm in and the coolant temp rarely gets above 185 now. If I'm really getting on it, I have seen it get up to 195. I have had LS1 Edit done where they jacked around with my fan settings, though.

--dc.

 

I put in a 160 a couple weeks ago, and now run consistantly at 171° on the highway, but without changing my fan on/off still run around 200° in and around town. Mileage has stayed the same, if not a bit better on the highway. I ran a relocated/recalibrated MAT sensor for a week and noticed a BIG drop in mileage and ran REALLY rich when I had it on the dyno afterwards. Actually caused a drop in HP. Thermostat - OK. Thermostat with new MAT sensor - rotten.

 

I live in Florida, so I put on a 160 and it works great. The car usually now runs between 170-185 and I haven't adjusted the fan settings yet. Cooler temps mean more power and longer engine life. They use a 195 from the factory because a hotter running engine supposedly burns off more emissions, but does nothing for performance.

 

Gentlemen:

A 160 thermostat in itself will NOT make the engine run cooler. The operating temp of your engine(with on open thermostat) is determined by the load on the enging and the heat removal capacity of the radiator. So, under severe power use, such as driving up a long steep hill or track driving on ahot day, the operating temperature of the engine will level off at a temperature determined by how much heat the radiator can remove, and the opening temperature of the thermostat will have no bearing on this temperature, because that themperature will most be in excess of 200 degrees. If you're pottsing around at very low power loads, especially on a cool day, then the radiator doesn't have much heat to remove and you will register operating temps of about 5 to 10 degrees above the thermostat's opening temp rating.

Under most summer driving conditions you probably will not notice a difference in "normal" operating temperatures regardless of the opening temp of your thermostat.

If you really want lower operating temperatures, install a 170 thermostat, install a big racing radiator, and reprogram your fans to come on at 180. Your operating temps will probably never go above 185 and never lower than about 172 on a very cold day. But if you forget the thermostat and go only with the large radiator and the 190 fan settings, then your temps will run between 190 and 195 all the time, which , by the way is the optimum running temperatures for the LS1 and LS6 engines.

Except for track use, a lower opening thermostat is a complete waste of money and time. :D

 

Jim,

Well I agree with some of what you have said, but not all. I have not changed my stock fan settings, and with just the 160 my temps consistently run 15-20 degrees cooler than it used to. I used to run in the 200's, but now it usually runs in the 170-185 range. The reason for this, is that the thermostate opens sooner, and your engine does not have to reach 195 before it opens, so the water gets cooled earlier before it has had a chance to reach the temp of the stock thermostate. Therefore it is cooler to start with and stays that way. That is my theory anyway. All I know is that it runs much cooler, even at the drag strip! True, you will never be running down at 160 because it is only at that temp long enough to open the thermostate, but it is still running cooler. Believe me, I did this on my '89 and on my '00, and it worked for both. Last week to and from, and at the drags, my friend's C5s without 160's all ran in the 200+ range while I was down in the 185 range. If you have a better theory I would love to hear it, but all I know is that it works...PFM I guess :lol: :cheers:

 

heat exchange is caused by the amount of cool air passing over the radiator fins... cooling the heated water with in... having the fans come on earlier is similar to driving faster to have cool air pass over the fins... a nd remove the heat..
if your driving 30 MPH and the ground temp on a back top road roas on a 90 + day can reach 160 F/// at 30 mph 160 F air will not remove much heat...having the fans come on earlier and causing that same 160 F air to eachange at a rate of 100 MPG due to the famsbeing on will remove some heAT.. bbut the trick to keeping the tempos lowe in the summer is Not letting them get too high... its muck easier to remove heat at 180 F .. than it is to remove heat at 220 F....
if you open the thermo at 170 F and have the fansd come on at 180 instad of 218 you are ahead of the game.. of course a larger capacity radiator would help//also cols air screens help push engine compartment heat out the back end of the engine compartment.. not only do cold air screens help with you intake air , they also help to keep the engine cooler..

 

put in a 160 degree thermo and the temp didn't change at all. I'm not sure about it hurting your engine. Personally I think the 160 is a waste of money, who knows maybe I just got a bad thermostat.
I bought three 160 stats before I got one that worked right... I tested them all with a meat thermometer and some bring to a boil water..
the first two stats opened at 195... same as the stock gm.. then I bought a german made hypertech 160.. and it oped at 160..

 

I live in Dallas where it is hot hot hot. I put the 160 therm in and the coolant temp rarely gets above 185 now. If I'm really getting on it, I have seen it get up to 195. I have had LS1 Edit done where they jacked around with my fan settings, though.
--dc.

Dallas gets to be 105 + on days... black top temps in texas can approach 170F. you can not get much cooling from those kind of temps...

 

I would think before I jumped. I used a 160 on two of my Corvettes in my signature. One was the 85 and the other the 88 both wound up with scored cylinder walls and started burning oil, the 85 at 67,000 miles and the 88 at 75,000 miles. Years ago I had a 70 camaro with a 850 holley which ran rich and scored the cylinders with that one also. Was explained as cylinder wash on startup do to residual fuel from to rich a run condition. who knows for sure but 3 times is enough for me.

 

Thats the post I remembered!!!! Thanks for posting.........so would you still shy away from say a 170 degree thermostat and getting some pc tuning to avoid the rich conditions????????

 

176 or 178 I believe is supposed to be the perfect thermostat.

 

I tried the 160 thermostat, car ran way cooler. Didn't feel any stronger, but I could smell gas fumes in the garage on occasion.(Not Good) I already had the fans reprogrammed by Ed Wright to come on earlier,( I think at 200/205) Anyways with sthe stock 192 thermostat my car never goes above 210 and Ed Wright recommends against them, claims the LS 1 runs better between 190-200 degrees, unlike the LT 1 which responds well to a 160 change. Just my 2 cents but I would leave the stock one in and reprogram the fans to come on earlier, works for me. :rant:

 

I left in the stock thermostat and brought down the fan temps to go on at 205, off at 201. I don't know what these folks oil temps are, but the oil should be in the 205-215 range.

 

sounds like a plan

 

:withstupid:

 

:iagree:

The BIG one seven 0 is the way to go! :thumbs:

 

There is nothing wrong with putting in a 160 tstat, but you should probably have the tune slightly tweaked. Lower coolant temps allow you to run a little more timing and lean out the AFR mixture a little, producing more power. :D