180 T-Stat

[Sabrewings]

I guess maybe I am not explaining myself well enough. I in no way think that coolant will cycle through the engine or radiator with the t-stat closed. I realize that it won't go through a closed t-stat. But, the coolant in the engine, during warm up, does not just sit there. It moves in the engine. Take a glass of warm water, put in ice. The water looks like it is sitting still. But the molecules are moving inside the glass. As the ice adsorbs heat and the water cools off, it will sink to the bottom. And the warmer water will raise to the top. Same thing happens in your engine. The water is not "sitting" in your engine. There is no "wall" of water at your water pump. Even with the t-stat closed, the water inside your engine is moving. Yes, not moving to the radiator. But by no means is it sitting there.

I am not disagreeing that a drilled t-stat may not be beneficial. I am sure it is. I personally don't have an opinion on that. But this entire thread is about the need to 180° stat, which I don't see one.

As for running without a t-stat, it has been proven that running without a t-stat will increase the surface temperature of your heads. The coolant is flowing too fast to transfer sufficient amount of heat from the heat, causing a substantial increase in cylinder head temperature. Your cooling system needs to be regulated to slow down the flow of coolant to increase the time the coolant is in contact with the cylinder head. This allows enough time for the heat to be transferred from the head to the coolant. Otherwise, the coolant is moving too fast for heat transfer to take place.

Again, I know there is no flow to the radiator when the t-stat is closed. But like I explained above, the coolant by no means sits in the engine. There is movement of the coolant due to the heating. And substantial movement inside the engine. But no, it doesn't flow to the radiator.

I see what you're saying, though I don't feel that's what will be happening in the engine. If it was one big tank, maybe, but it has crevices and turns that without the pump actually being able to create flow it won't do much good.

I think we're on the same page about the rest of it. :th_winking:

 

[TDCRacing]

And I want to appoligize if i was offensive in any way to you zeff. Nothing wrong with a little debate.

 

[SofaKingCdn]

My main complaint with the stock tstat setup is this. It heat soaks and absolutely saturates the heads until it opens up. With the tstat closed, there is precious little coolant flow through the block and heads (only the heater core is getting flow, really). Your coolant sensor is right beside the tstat on the LIM.

While the tstat and ECT sensor are seeing about 190* (just before opening of the stock tstat), the coolant that is just sitting still in the heads and block around the cylinders could be reaching 250+. It's just stopped soaking up heat and letting the heads get super hot. If you're viewing the temp on a digital gauge (since the dash gauge is sluggish to react), you can see at the point of the tstat opening the coolant temp spikes as all this super hot coolant comes out towards the radiator. Now, what's worse is in winter after all that super hot coolant is gone it's replaced with super cold coolant from the radiator. This alone can crack parts.

The bottom line of all this... get a drilled tstat, even if it is only stock temp. This will keep coolant from just sitting still. Yes, the car will take longer to heat up (about 50% longer, as I am realizing after installing a drilled Saturday) to full temp. But, to me it's worth it to keep sudden shocks to the system minimal. Can you imagine what it must be like for your engine to have some parts with coolant sitting at over 250*F then suddenly get jammed with -15*F coolant?

Wow. never really thought about that before. Did you drill your own?

 

[Zef_66]

And I want to appoligize if i was offensive in any way to you zeff. Nothing wrong with a little debate.

Oh, no offense taken in anyway. I am a very easy guy to get along with. And I like a good debate as much as the next guy. :th_peaceout:

 

[TDCRacing]

Cool!

 

[YoungGTP]

yes you can drill your own tstat. wish i would have but i wanted a lil colder so i went with a drilled 180 from zzp. just drill 1 or 2 holes in the tstat its self. i cant tell you the size but dont go larger then a pen tip size. if you feel uneasy about doing this just go out and buy one and a new gasket for 30 bucks