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160 or 180 thermostat



Fem said:
Lol well even so. Opinion is invalid for replying like a 13yr old teeny bopper :p


Thermostat upgrades will benefit or hurt depending on your climate.

For example: if you live in the northern states I'd imagine that this mod would not be helpful really do to the temperatures.

-I've seen this mod reduce kr. I agree, do NOT depend on this mod alone to reduce yours. But if your car isn't prone to KR then I wouldn't worry about it.

In other words its very circumstantial. Scan your car first.

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if your coolant temperature is the reason why youre seeing detonation then your thermostat is broke. the motor runs best efficiency wise at about 210*, which the 195* thermostat allows readily. you will not make any noticeable power (unless you do a dyno pull, like flake said) and it's just a waste of gas to run anything lower. given that you are beating on the car constantly it might make sense to run a slightly lower thermostat (180*) so that you dont see coolant temperatures in the 230*+ range. in no way shape or form will it hurt being that 'high', but it makes for a healthier running motor if you don't attempt to overheat it.

never, EVER would i recommend anyone to run a 160* thermostat. even the 180* thermostat is overkill for literally 98% of people modding their car because unless you're throwing a ton of heat (see: boost) at the motor then you should have no issues making the power you are supposed to. the thermostat thing is a bandaid fix they used in 1998 since tuners and advanced modifications of the like were not available yet. the best you could do back then was race gas, a super low thermostat, and a dumb small pulley to make power. this is no longer the case and no one should attempt to take these routes when there are more clearly defined ends to the means.

this is why i have told nick time and time again to remove the thermostat crap from the 'modding your 3800' thread because it is useless, but he seems to think it is beneficial. everyone can do what they want, im just pointing out its useless to go lower and just increases wear on the motor and decreases gas mileage.
 
Why aren't you supposed to go beating on a car before it gets up to temp? Same reason.

Cold rotating assembly doesn't like to be hammered on.
 


M90 is especially known for heat seeing as the cars they were put on did not come factory with their own heat exchangers and intercoolers like the LSJ or LNF.

Any cooling mods that you can do, that wont over work your systems, is beneficial if you're looking to make more power.

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I agree with what everyone is saying. Unless you're running a supremely heavily modded car, I don't really see a reason to make your engine run any cooler. These cars have a 195 for a reason and unless you really know what you're doing I wouldn't mess around with engine temperature. Internals are made to run at that temp, no lower, and if they go higher, that's why we have cooling fans.
 


Fem said:
M90 is especially known for heat seeing as the cars they were put on did not come factory with their own heat exchangers and intercoolers like the LSJ or LNF.

Any cooling mods that you can do, that wont over work your systems, is beneficial if you're looking to make more power.

←Android→
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Lowered ECT as substitute for manifold intercooling? Where did you hear about this?
 
I don't believe I said Substitute for manifold intercooling did i?


*shrug* Arguing is moot. I refer to my second post. Do what you see is fit for YOUR car. I've seen a benefits in my own.

*done*
 


This has been covered many times but I agree that the 180* is better- If the fans are set correctly.

Some people will say you need the stock temp because you are not burning off the impurities in the oil at 180* but I think that is crap.

It's just like some of the other most basic mods for our cars. Will you see a large gain? No. Will it still help a little? Yes.
 
mechguy said:
Temperature inside the combustion chamber is the same, but water temp is lower, resulting in an increased thermal stress gradient.
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This is a very intelligent sounding post, but when you break it down and see it for what it really is... the whole idea seems a bit over stated.
Combustion temps can easily exceed 3000* F, and they vary greatly depending on just about everything. To say that a 15* temp difference is adding stress to the head is pretty far off base. You're talking about a piece of the engine that is just a piece of cast iron with some valves opening and shutting and how many valves have failed because of a colder thermostat? How many heads have cracked because of coolant that's 15* colder than stock?

You're talking about a temperature gradient difference of about .005%.

I like the big words though, Mech ;)

matt5112 said:
One of the "oil impurities" is water.

Which doesn't boil until 212* F.

Oil needs to reach that temperature.
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Like I said before, the temp of the oil will barely, if at all notice a 15* change in coolant temp.
 
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