So I just finished swapping a 5.0 into my sn95. The motor came out of a 89gt so I figured I'd post this here. I have a aftermarket Sr performance radiator in the car and an edlebrock Victor water pump on the car. I don't daily the car anymore and always let the car warm up long enough before driving it any. Due to this I don't have a thermostat in the car. I know I'm going to get a lot of people saying the car is going to run too cold which is where my first question comes in, how much of a difference does it make? I know people run without them but just want to make sure there's no problems. I'd rather have the car run a little cooler than too hot. I know that when everything is working correctly that isn't a problem but I seem to have had bad luck with thermostats in the past. If it is super important to run one in there can anyone recommend a good one?
My other question is that I seem to be getting quite a bit of pressure in the upper radiator hose but not all the time. I've read this is normal but it seems like it would be more consistent when it has pressure and when it doesn't. I've burped the system and I don't think there's hardly a drop of air in it. The head gaskets are also brand new so there's no problem with those making it build pressure. The car doesn't get hot and everything heats up evenly as verified with a temp gun but I haven't really drove the car hard. Anyway back to the question part of that section, would a lower pressure cap help me out any? I read that if you run a lower temp thermostat and lower fan turn on temp it's better to drop down to a 13psi cap. I have the cap that came with the radiator it says 1.1 on it which I assume is 1.1bar which is 16psi which is correct for the stock system. Should I drop down to a 13psi cap? If so what is the best cap?
Just trying to make sure everything is good to go on this before I start putting some more miles on it of hard driving. Thanks for the help in advance.
My other question is that I seem to be getting quite a bit of pressure in the upper radiator hose but not all the time. I've read this is normal but it seems like it would be more consistent when it has pressure and when it doesn't. I've burped the system and I don't think there's hardly a drop of air in it. The head gaskets are also brand new so there's no problem with those making it build pressure. The car doesn't get hot and everything heats up evenly as verified with a temp gun but I haven't really drove the car hard. Anyway back to the question part of that section, would a lower pressure cap help me out any? I read that if you run a lower temp thermostat and lower fan turn on temp it's better to drop down to a 13psi cap. I have the cap that came with the radiator it says 1.1 on it which I assume is 1.1bar which is 16psi which is correct for the stock system. Should I drop down to a 13psi cap? If so what is the best cap?
Just trying to make sure everything is good to go on this before I start putting some more miles on it of hard driving. Thanks for the help in advance.