What's the benefit of a 180 thermostat?

[GLWBEAR]

I installed a nice set of AUTOMETER gauges and found that the motor runs about 210-220 without the A/C and almost 230 with the A/C on on a HOT day. That seems a little too HOT for me and sure doesn't give you very much room for error if your running hard on a HOT day with the A/C on. I'm considering installing a 180 thermostat. has anyone done this and what did it do for them? Did the engine still have the power? What about smog and warranty issues? I just can't see running the motor that hot. All my other high horsepower motors all ran 180-190 and the outside air temp or A/C made NO difference in the overall operating temp. It sure seems like these SVT Cobras come with a marginal cooling system. I'm reading where a lot of the Racing teams have been plagued with cooling problems. Has anyone changed to a bigger and better radiator? I need some comments and tech information. Do the California emisions motors run hotter for smog?

Thanks
GLWBEAR

 

[Evan5469]

That's a lot of questions there, but i may be able to asnwer a fwe of them for you, or at least I'll try my best. The reason to install a 180 thermostat is so coolant will begin to flow through the engine sooner than the stock one which is around 195. Ford did this so the engine would get a little hotter and would be better for emissions. I have an aftermarket radiator which keeps my temps between the O and the R in the stock guage. Another good mod to do to help cooling of the 4.6 Cobra motors is the apten head cooling mod. Go to http://www.apten-us.com/performance/03cobra/coolant.asp. This mod is supposed to help cool the engine and while I don't have it on my car a lot of guys are and have no complaints. Another thing to consider would be a manual fan switch so you can control when you want to turn the fan on and off. Hope I was helpful. Good luck with the issue.

 

[pvteye]

all else being equal, the engine will still reach the same temps with just a thermostat change. yes it will open earlier than a 195, but at the rate the engine builds heat, you are only buying a few seconds of lower temp.

 

[ChaosStarter]

actually pvt, if you're sitting in stop and go traffic, this is true. but if you're on the highway, or at least driving at 45mph or faster for a while, you're car will run cooler because of the air going through the radiator becoming cooler than with your stock 195* thermo. Or, like on my car, get a manual fan switch so you can control it and turn it on during stop and go to keep you're engine cool.