Foosh

The thing is a stat alone doesn't lower temps. All it does is open at a specified temp and stays open, whether it's 160 or 190. It doesn't keep the coolant at that temp.

I live in a warm climate too. At cruise, I see about 194, and it gets there quickly because the stat stays closed until it sees that temp. In town, with lots of stoplights, I see up to 224, even with the stock stat.

At most you might get an extra few minutes of cooler temps at idle after startup, but if you're high-revving below 190, you aren't doing your engine any favors.

Dr Chill

After running for 2 minutes, track coolant temps will be no different with a 160 degree tstat than with a 200 degree tstat.

forhamilton

Dr. Chill and Foosh

Why do all the tuners recommend the 160 stat? Is it wasted money?

Foosh

I didn't know they did, but I have no clue why they'd recommend it. It makes no sense, and I believe it's totally wasted money.

Think about it. It's just a valve that stays closed until a rated temp (160, 180, 190, etc.), after which it stays open until the car is shut down and cools below the rated temp. If GM decided the engine was better off getting to 190 as quickly as possible for better lubrication purposes, I'd rather trust that. They're the ones paying the warranty bills.

Once the t-stat is open, it's open, and it makes no difference in the engine's operating temp. The engine's operating temp is a function of HP, compression, amount of fuel ignited, cam design, the radiator's capacity, amount of air flowing over the radiator, etc. The t-stat has nothing to do with any of that.

LS WON

The Z-06 runs hotter than the regular C-6? I get some warmth from the console ashtray and radio area but not hot.

EBSDallas

I'm no expert, but it's my understanding that the lower temp thermostat + adjusting the cooling fan turn-on temp allows more timing advance while warmer engine temps require less advance to reduce the tendency for detonation/knock.

I doubt that a lower temp thermostat would have any affect at all on the exhaust gas temp and would be of little use in dealing with the OP's issue.

Again, I'm no expert though.

EBS

Dr Chill

Ditto. Once the coolant is circulating through an open thermostat, the thermostat has no further effect on cooling. This happens by the end of the first lap on the track. Then the cooling capacity of the radiator comes in. That's why many of us who run hard on the track for longer than 15 minutes at a time have upgraded the radiator from the factory plastic POS to higher volume aluminum one. A 160 degree tstat and making the fans come on earlier will keep the temps down on the street, if that's what you want to do. I'll keep mine at 190.

Slim Shady

Cheack this out!

http://www.thermotec.com/products/full/16570/16570.html

Also call Turbo City in Orange, CA. They have a sister company that makes the tiles for the Space Shuttle. But they also make custom heat shield blankets? What if you just wrap the exhaust with a Thermo Shield blanket? If you keep in the exhaust this will do 2 things: 1) Keep all heat in exhaust not glove box/tunnel. 2) Add HP by helping the exhaust to be pulled out more effeciently. (Who knows the math on this?)
Turbo-City
Address: 1137 W Katella Ave, Orange, CA 92867
Phone: (714) 639-4933

AutoCutter

I installed the Thermo Tec Tunnel heat shield too, and it has been this best money spent so far, Summit has it for $230 http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku Way better than KoolMaster since it covers all of the tunnel, not just the top. The cabin is nice and cool as is the inside of the center console.

RoHo

When I put the LGLT's on my C5Z I also installed the 1/4 " aluminum heat treated Elite Tunnel plate at the same time, no heat issues in the cab what so ever, and it made the chassis stiffer. Killed two birds with one stone. I will do the same thing to my C6Z when it gets here.

Z-Jay

It seems that they only have it for C5 not C6 Z06's.

AutoCutter

It fits without any issues.

Z-Jay

That's great BTW what are the Flaps on the outside of the Eye Loops straight line?

AutoCutter

More of the blanket. What I did was zip tie it to exisiting holes in the metal shield so it didn't flap-the instructions did not call for this, but it bothered me that they were free to flap.

hapnermw

I spoke with Thermo-Tec and they say that their C5 Tunnel Mat does not fit the C6 and that they do not recommend cutting it.

Possibly their exhaust pipe heat shield might be a good alternative. It comes in a three foot length and looks like it could effectively shield the tunnel area from exhaust heat.

http://www.thermotec.com/products/full/11600/11600.html

RonnieC6Z

I completely agree!

AutoCutter

It does, indeed, fit the C6 with no issues that I could detect. All the holes line up and took it about 30 minutes to install as I didn't have any problem working around the exhaust pipes while they were place. I tried the 3 foot exhaust tube shields and they do work to a very lesser degree, but in no way does it compare to the full shield.

Z-Jay

AutoCutter you were able to install this without removing the Exhaust?
Please let us know if you ran into any problems. Thank you

hapnermw

It's great to hear that it does fit the C6Z. Evidently Thermo-Tec simply hasn't bothered to check out the fit. I suspect they will be getting an unexpected surge in tunnel heat shield business.

AutoCutter

I used the exhaust pipes as a clothes line to support the blanket as I worked. I used a 1/4" ratchet with a 6" extension. I only took x2 bolt's(L & R side) out at a time and worked zig zag front to back. The fit for some bolts towards the rear were taunt, but when I measured several of the eyelet placements and I found a few that were a bit offset which is something you get with hand made stuff. The instructions call for leaving the draping sides hang down by the frame rails, but the metal heat shielding had some pre-punched holes, so I used an awl to punch a hole big enough for a small zip tie to pass-I used a total of four of these. Finally, the front of blanket has to flaps that fit up between the frame and the cats. The instructions called for these to hang by the frame rails, but they where a little to close to the cats for my comfort so I used a glop of Black Hi Temp RTV adhesive to glue the flaps ends to the frame. I checked them last week and they are still holding okay; they can be removed if needed.

Of some note many of those bolts were not tighten properly-fact is some were damn loose-anyway I tighten them all to about 25-28lbs and that seemed to stiffen up the frame. As an alternative to the blanket and very boring bolt work, I see the Hi Temp Dynomax type products working really great in this area. My next project is to use those old 3 foot exhaust tube shields and use them were the pipes go over the T'axle and almost touch the trunk area. GM put a cookie sheet shield up there, but the trunk area has enough heat to melt a couple of candy bars we had in our luggage(yuck, what a mess that made ) However, the bottom line is whether you use the plate, blanket, or tubes, don't let the heat get into the car; all inside(cabin) insulation does is to keep the heat that found its' way in trapped in the car!