160deg thermostat stock in 1LE?

[robsbandit]

Someone told me the 1LE comes with a 160deg thermostat stock. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[vinman]

my buddy told me I should get one

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by robsbandit

Someone told me the 1LE comes with a 160deg thermostat stock. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

No, it doesn't.

[BigBlock69RS]

Originally Posted by vinman

my buddy told me I should get one

You would t want one, at best it's a kludge for cooling issues.

It also increases the wear on the motor as it causes the motor to take longer to come up to temp, since you are flowing coolant from the radiator much sooner. When a motor is cold is were your tolerances in the engine are all off and is where most of the wear is typically seen.

But I'm sure your buddy told you it makes more hp, but in truth makes less since the tolerances being off cost you more than you gained by running cooler.

[PwrCrusr]

An engine that takes longer to warm up and doesn't get hot enough, also doesn't steam off moisture built up in the oil from combustion and condensation when it's cold.
Modern engines also have much tighter tolerances. The oil needs to get hot to thin out and coat the surfaces properly. I saw a chart back in the day, when I was in Auto Tech, of parts wear vs. temp and with natural (dino) oils the least wear was in the 235-250 degree range. I only see that on the track...

[robsbandit]

I didn't think it came with a 160° thermostat. I am running a Magnuson Heartbeat and keeping the heat under contro at the track is a concern. It seems like all the shops doing power level mods, put in 160° thermostats. I talked to my tuner and he said if I put one in, he would just change the fan on and off temps a bit and the only drawback is it may not come up to temp in cold weather. I don't drive it in the winter. So, no issue there.

[tarebacke]

The oil needs to get hot to thin out and coat the surfaces properly.

[vinman]

Ok, good info and yeah he said more hp, but he's old school

[Balue]

Once your at temp on the track weather it opened at 160 or 180 wont matter. As stated before making sure you up to temp in grid and on the go out lap is key before you take the green.

Now if you are having heat issues on track you need to add cooling, bigger radiator, oil cooler etc. not a thermostat.

[robsbandit]

Thanks for your help guys.

[Camaro Dude]

Here is a question, and no it's not a loaded question.

What is the entire purpose of the lower temp 160 thermostat?

[PwrCrusr]

And be sure to take the heat extractor's water tray off at the track if you haven't tried that already. It's not too difficult, but there is a fine line between too much force popping the plugs out and possibly breaking one.
I left my extractor in on my first track day because it was threatening rain. I want to take it out for my next one in a few weeks, so I went out in the driveway and played with it. It's not too difficult with two small screwdrivers - pull the center of each retainer down by prying with both screwdrivers until it pops down about 3/8 of an inch or so and pull the retainer out. There are two holes to put two of the plugs back in to hold the hood insulation up.

[PwrCrusr]

Originally Posted by Camaro Dude

Here is a question, and no it's not a loaded question.

What is the entire purpose of the lower temp 160 thermostat?

That's a good question - I'm not so sure there is a good reason to have one. (except maybe at the drag strip where the car doesn't run long enough to get really hot and you're trying for consistency) I think it's a misconception that it will prevent overheating. I ran one in my 71 Oldsmobile back in the late 80's early 90's. I had switched to an electric fan and the car would eventually overheat in traffic every time. Switched to a 160 and the car ran cooler (and poorer) all the time unless I was in traffic. Then - guess what - the damn thing would overheat anyway... It was an airflow problem, not an engine/heat problem.
Now a high flow thermostat might be a different animal. It the thermostat is a flow restriction, a higher flow one might help. But typically there is another problem if she's getting too hot. If your fans are cycling and bringing the temp down reliably each time the come on, you don't really have a problem.