[ddipaola]

Greetings everyone. New to the platform. I was looking at doing a few modifications to the ZL1 come Spring. In talking with a local tuner he recommended a few simple mods (per my request for simplicity, as the car is one of my daily drivers). Full Exhaust, Pulley, Flex Fuel, and Thermostat.

I am comfortable doing the install while I'm bored this Winter, but I was curious if installing the Thermostat DOES require a tune? Thanks!

Also, any brand recommendation?

[Gunkk]

Whatever you do, don't get a m!sh!m0t0 thermostat. Those things are garbage.

[arpad_m]

Hey ddipaola, to the forums

In all honesty, I don't understand the need for a new thermostat, especially for a daily driver that doesn't stand a chance of even temporary overheating. Happy to be schooled on this, but it just doesn't make sense to me to have a thermostat with a lower opening temp for the street.

Also, a larger lower pulley (= more boost) plus flex fuel means much higher fuel requirements depending on E content, are you doing nothing about it? Ultimately, what are your goals with these mods?

[ddipaola]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

In all honesty, I don't understand the need for a new thermostat, especially for a daily driver that doesn't stand a chance of even temporary overheating. Happy to be schooled on this, but it just doesn't make sense to me to have a thermostat with a lower opening temp for the street.

Also, a larger lower pulley (= more boost) plus flex fuel means much higher fuel requirements, are you doing nothing about it? Ultimately, what are your goals with these mods?

Thank you for your input I never ran a thermostat on my Focus RS, and I drove that thing hard. I'd heard of overheating or heatsoaking on trackdays, but at that point everyone turned to oil coolers... not once did I hear the word "thermostat".

My goal is 650-700WHP without going crazy on mods. Lingenfelter's pulley kit yielded 720crank (~620WHP) on pump gas. I'm thinking that Flex Fuel should get me to 650 easily. I've read that E50 is about the max the stock fuel system can handle. Not sure how upgrading the pulley changes that limit.

[ddipaola]

Originally Posted by Gunkk

Whatever you do, don't get a m!sh!m0t0 thermostat. Those things are garbage.

I will never buy ANYTHING from that company. It's like a name brand eBay part in my brain haha!

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

In all honesty, I don't understand the need for a new thermostat, especially for a daily driver that doesn't stand a chance of even temporary overheating. Happy to be schooled on this, but it just doesn't make sense to me to have a thermostat with a lower opening temp for the street.

I don't exactly get it either. If you boost induction, lower cylinder temp would allow you to pack a denser mixture into the cylinder I suppose.
If the stock thermostat had significant flow restriction, I could also see where a different design might prevent overheating in extreme conditions.
I would suggest doing the mods and then just watching the temp gauge to see if this is really needed.

[Joshinator99]

Katech is the ONLY tstat you want. Run the 174 if you’re not planning on tuning the car. I run the 160 which definitely needs a tune. Just because you have a 160, that does not mean the car runs at that temp! Your fan programming will dictate that. FWIW, my car generally runs 174-178 under normal driving and be as high as 190 if I’m racing on a hot day. I feel that works perfect for me.

[ddipaola]

Thanks for the help everyone Since I don't have any plans (right now) to track the car, this is a mod that I will pass for now. If I decide to track this is always an easy mod to install on the fly.

[6spdhyperblue]

Katech 174* tuned or not for me. It will be better with a tune so you can revise the fan switching.

I think the idea is any heat you can keep out of it will help with timing. During a run you will increase in temp throughout the run so starting at a lower temp is helpful.

[BlaqWhole]

That's a Mustang thing.