installin a 160 stat

timeless2

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May 22, 2006

#21

• May 22, 2006

• #21

Wow, despite your setup and environment (climate), I still think a 160 is not a great idea.

 

HISSIN50

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#22

• May 22, 2006

• #22

Tim's right, but when the system isnt up to par, you do what you can to help it out (as little as it might help).

Do grab a pressure tester (some parts stores rent/load them out). Each PSI raises the effective boiling point about 3*F. 16 PSI = 48*F - a substantial difference if running mostly water with a boiling pt in the neighborhood of 212*.

If you were or are in Tucson, you can borrow my tester..........

Good luck.

 

lxwants12's

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#23

• May 22, 2006

• #23

yea i will check it.....i havea pressure tester...i will try that....and again i know the 160 isnt a good idea and i would normally be totally against it....but im gettin desperate here....and it hasnt reach peak temps yet.....we will see 115 and 118allloot here in phoenix.....and it sucx cause there aboly no cool air...driving or idling!!

 

timeless2

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May 22, 2006

#24

• May 22, 2006

• #24

lx, have you replaced the cap? As crazy as it sounds, it could be a contributing factor.

 

HISSIN50

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#25

• May 22, 2006

• #25

Another question: it was a LOT cooler down here today - if it was cooler up north, did the car run cooler?

 

302RollinHard

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#26

• May 23, 2006

• #26

+1 for the radiator cap. (of course after the pressure test

 

Modular2v

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#27

• May 23, 2006

• #27

i had the same problem until i switched to a 160

 

91lxttrim

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#28

• May 23, 2006

• #28

mine did. I haven't used the a/c either though. I did get an Autometer water temp gauge too so I will see where the temp REALLY is. Tuesday will be hot so we'll see what happens...

 

lxwants12's

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#29

• May 23, 2006

• #29

4u2nv.....no i havent replaced the cap....but will do so today.........hissin....yes since the temps have been hotter the car does run hotter, which was my whole point that i dont think anything is really wrong with my cooling combo i just think its too hot out here....maybe with the high compressin and aluminum heads it might just be too hot for the parts store 180.....i dont drive it everyday so i couldnt tell you how it wouldhave run yesterday since it was only like 85* out...but i have driven it all year and never had any problems till we hit the high 90's and 100's*.......i have done a pressure test on it and it holds...pressurized it to 17psi, left it on and went and made a turket sammich, ate it and came back....so i figured 5 to 10 minutes....and it was still at 17........i will change the cap....but i am leaning towards the 160* still....
modular...hows your car run with the 160*....and which one of your cars did you put it in?....why did you use the 160*...and do u think it would help me?
lxttrim...keep me posted on your situation and if you hear of any upcoming crusies

by the way guys thanx for all the advise......

 

lxwants12's

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#30

• May 23, 2006

• #30

bump

 

lxwants12's

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#31

• Jun 1, 2006

• #31

update...i had tried the 180* stat and the temps only dropped about 5*....from the 195* stat....i also had replaced the rad. cap.....so what i did as buy and autometer temp gauge and i went ahead and installed the 160*...now before you guys kill me i just want you to know it works great on MY car.....i drove it to and from work today and temps were between 104 and 110 all day depending on the area your in.....the car ran consistant in the 190* to 198* range city and highway.........when i put the a/c on it went up to the highes 210*...so i must say i am happy because before the temps would climb to the 210*- 215* range with no a/c.....i guess the 160 and my combo work great and i truly believe that it runs this hot b/c of the climate im at..theres no relief from heat around here...the pavment is boiling the air is dry and hot...and when you drive and roll your window down theres a good chance of getting windburn...so all in all i am ok with it running the way it is......thanx for all your advise


Modular......thanx alot i think you were the only one i seen that said you went the 160 route and had good luck so it kinda made me say ****it...lill just give it a shot...

 

HISSIN50

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#32

• Jun 1, 2006

• #32

One Thing comes to mind - your old stat wasnt quite up to par. The 160 just shifts the opening pt, which can give you a few extra minutes before things heat up like they would with a 180*F stat.

Come winter, you might run a little cool - that was the concern from some folks. I do agree that in this rediculous heat, the 160 wont hurt one bit.

Good call with the gauge- did you have it before the 160 stat install?

Good luck with it staying cool.

 

vristang

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#33

• Jun 2, 2006

• #33

While I am a little confused why human beings think that living in a place that gets to 110F is a good idea...
I am glad you sorted things out.

It isn't so much what T-stat you use, but what temp your coolant is at.

It's good to see that you are using a quality gauge to check the temps.

As JT said, you may want to change to a higher stat when the temps drop.

congrats on getting things working better

jason

 

lxwants12's

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#34

• Jun 2, 2006

• #34

thanx alot guys...when winter comes....its still 70 - 75 here and at night i havent seen it colder then 60...ill see what happens i might get away without swapping back to a 180 maybe i can just not use the electric fan and it will stay above 185*.... i forgot to mention to you guys that the car does have aluminum heads its a 347 with 10.5:1 compression...probly another reason for the running hot

 

HISSIN50

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#35

• Jun 2, 2006

• #35

I do agree that your combo might create some heat. Me-thinks you get a little cooler up there than 60* (we drop into the 20's a few times a winter. You very well may never venture out in the stang when it's below 60*F though).

For the limited amount of time it's cooler and that you drive the car, I honestly dont think you'll see an issue with the 160. You could shroud part of the radiator during these times if you cant get heat out of the car.

Jason can actually provide his experience from tuning and datalogging, but it seems to me that one needs to see about 178*F at the ECT to reach full CL fuel trim.

It's all about compromise and I think you made a good one, given how long it's hot here.

A bigger radiator (if yours isnt new and big) might be an idea down the line.

Good luck.

 

P

Pennywise2

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#36

• Jun 2, 2006

• #36

I wouldn't go with a colder thermostat than a 180*.

 

lxwants12's

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#37

• Jun 3, 2006

• #37

well hissin i was thinkin bout a new radiator myself...i have had the car now for about 3 years and it has the same one that i bought it with..it is a griffen 3 core aluminum so i never changed it just figured it was good enough.......i looked at the car today and i noticed that the water pump pulley itself looks very large in diameter....so i took it upon myself to measure it and it was 6 inches...so i guess thats not too big or anything......so radiator down the line as well as a different water pump i am running one by the name of flow cooler from the summit mag tons of people say they never heard of it so i will be switching to an edelbrock just to ease my mind.....other then that just keepin my fingers crossed

 

vristang

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#38

• Jun 4, 2006

• #38

lxwants12's said:

well hissin i was thinkin bout a new radiator myself...i have had the car now for about 3 years and it has the same one that i bought it with..it is a griffen 3 core aluminum so i never changed it just figured it was good enough.......i looked at the car today and i noticed that the water pump pulley itself looks very large in diameter....so i took it upon myself to measure it and it was 6 inches...so i guess thats not too big or anything......so radiator down the line as well as a different water pump i am running one by the name of flow cooler from the summit mag tons of people say they never heard of it so i will be switching to an edelbrock just to ease my mind.....other then that just keepin my fingers crossed

Click to expand...

I have heard of FlowCooler.
I have been using their wp for about 5-7yrs (I can't remember when I bought it).

It may be worth the time to walk through a junk yard and find a smaller wp pulley?
It may help a little.

jason

 

HISSIN50

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#39

• Jun 4, 2006

• #39

I agree with Jason. I'm not sure what the critical speed with water pumps is - but it sounds like a pulley swap might be good (helping with idle atleast).

I've read folks who say that high flow water pumps dont do much extra and some that say they do. I think my next one might be a high flow unit - then I know for myself. In our heat, it cant hurt (what a scorcher today). That said, Jason has good tastes - it sounds like your pump is a good one.

I didnt realize you had a big-daddy radiator already - if it doesnt have a lot of scale build up, you might be hard pressed to improve upon it.

I like to play advocate a little bit - it sucks to renew parts and not see a big difference (though new cooling system parts often do perform better than older stuff).

Regarding the thermostat stuff from before....... I like to look at the temps that someone runs, not the stat rating so much. One guy can run a 195* stat and run at 195* all day long. Another guy runs a 160* and runs at 195* most of the time. We probably arent going to tell guy #2 to run a 195. We know #2 has some deficiencies, but a lot of folks dont have the cash to renew entire systems, so we do what we can. Point is that the temps that the car runs at (see specs that Jason posted) are more important than running a given rated thermostat.

Good luck.