Thermostats?
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: May 2004
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From: And make no mistake, there's women who just wait for the man and machine with the best time
St. Jude Donor '08
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Thermostats?
Does anyone know if all SBC thermostats are generally interchangeable? I have a FastBurn 385 crate motor and it has a fairly specific part number for a thermostat, which is a 180 degree unit. I'd like to replace that with a 170 degree unit, and I found one that is for early Camaros--any reason not to believe that it will work?
My BeCool electric fan has a temperature sender in the head--turns the fan on at 195 and turns it off at 175. However, with a 180 degree thermostat in the car, once the fan turns on, it will never turn off--the engine never gets down to 175 because the thermostat is regulating it to be 180 and the radiator (especially with the fan going) can really pull out the heat! Kind of silly and I don't imagine that the fan is designed to run all of the time.... Putting the 170 stat in there should let the engine stabilize at a lower temp than that required to shut off the fan.
Thanks!
My BeCool electric fan has a temperature sender in the head--turns the fan on at 195 and turns it off at 175. However, with a 180 degree thermostat in the car, once the fan turns on, it will never turn off--the engine never gets down to 175 because the thermostat is regulating it to be 180 and the radiator (especially with the fan going) can really pull out the heat! Kind of silly and I don't imagine that the fan is designed to run all of the time.... Putting the 170 stat in there should let the engine stabilize at a lower temp than that required to shut off the fan.
Thanks!
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: NC,USA
Be certain that you test the thermostat before installing it. You need to have a thermometer that will read the 180-200 range and a pot that your significant other might not care about.
Be aware that GM stuff is normally fairly accurate while the others are not, I've seen a 15-20 degree spread between the same temperature rated thermostats!
Be aware that GM stuff is normally fairly accurate while the others are not, I've seen a 15-20 degree spread between the same temperature rated thermostats!
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 513
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From: And make no mistake, there's women who just wait for the man and machine with the best time
St. Jude Donor '08
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Thanks, gentlemen. ZD75blue, I agree that it would make sense to test the 'stat in a pot of water, however, since I didn't do the same test to the BeCool sender, being armed with one set of data won't do me much good, I'm afraid? I might have a "blueprinted" thermostat, but without a "blueprinted" temp sensor for the fan, I won't know if I have a good system.
Unfortunately, BeCool doesn't offer a higher temp sensor, only a lower one...
Thanks again.
Unfortunately, BeCool doesn't offer a higher temp sensor, only a lower one...
Thanks again.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 16,416
Likes: 1
From: NC,USA
Not exactly...
Your temp gauge in the car is worthless except as a guide. Once you get to know the car, it will come up to temp on the gauge. If you dont know what the thermostat setting is, you dont know what the gauge is trying to say.
Your temp gauge in the car is worthless except as a guide. Once you get to know the car, it will come up to temp on the gauge. If you dont know what the thermostat setting is, you dont know what the gauge is trying to say.
