I have noticed that a lot of people in the forums have a 160 Thermostat. I told a friend of mine i was getting one, and he said he wouldnt because of a few things:

1)The car's computer is set at running at a certain temperature, and changing the thermostat will change the operating temperature, therefore throwing the computer off.
2)The car's temperature is about 80% water (180 out of the 205 is from the water) and the rest is gas...? (never heard that before) making less of the temperature water, would make the car burn more gas.

So, for those of you that have the mod, could you tell me some advantages of it, and is it worth doing, or should i not worry about it until mine actually breaks?

 

I put one in and noticed a difference only in the fall, winter and spring months. Summer here in N.C. is brutal on engines. Please note that if you put one in do not expect a change in the thermostat reading on your dash. That gauge is a POS and will not show the difference. I have a DIGI-Moto which can hook up to your laptop and give more accurate readings. Before the mod my engine ran around 205-210 on the highway being 40-50 degrees outside. After the mod I ran around 175-190 depending on the outside temp.

You will need to either get a manual switch for your fans to kick on earlier or the more recommended reprogram to program your fans to come on eariler. If you are ever in the durham area, Carolina Auto Masters (check sig) is the place to go.

 

Someone told me that he got a 160 thermo and then his car supposably overheated so he got the 180 and eventually went back to stock. Has anyone else had a problem with the 160 thermo without a tune on the car? Just wondering myself.

 

I've never heard of that happening. All the 160 t-stat does is open up to let coolant through sooner than the stock t-stat. They're advertised to make your engine "run cooler". I only got one cuz when I had a Hypertech Programmer it called for one.

 

I haven't had mine (or my car) very long, but I think my car is a little less temperamental than before the 160 t-stat. I did mine as I just ordered a tune from madz28. IMO, any N/A engine with 10.1:1 compression or higher with a fair amount of spark advance stock like LS1's should never run over 195 degrees. You're just asking for detonation and knock retard, especially those in California who are stuck with 91 octane and ethanol mixed in.

Jason

 

a cooler engine is a more efficient engine (within reason at least). this means more hp, or i should say less hp lost due to heat.

i have never noticed and disadvantages with the 160 stat, and the car definatley runs cooler. i can scan it and oon the highway or around town without much BAD traffic the car stays right around 175* and this is in florida.

anyone who says it will overheat after installing is only way i can see this happening is installer error not from the stat. on the LT1s you needed to bleed the air out of the coolant system, otherwise it WOULD overheat. but this isn't due to the stat...just the air in the coolant lines.

and yes the computer is designed for a certain temp, this is called the "operating temp" but the car still gets up to this temperature even with the lower stat.

check out www.installuniversity.com i think they have directions on how to turn your stock stat into a 160* for only a few bucks...cheaper than buying a $50 ls1 stat

 

the ls-1 engine is designed to dissipate heat on its own. It's really unnecessary to install any aftermarket thermostat. A diablo tuner, or a hypertech can lower your fan activation temp, that's really good enough.

 

Umm. Please pardon my ignorance. If I drop the fan activation temp below the thermostat, how would that help cool the engine?

 

IIRC ls1howto.com has instruction on how to make you stock t-stat open at a lower temp.

According to Ed @ Fast Chips, the LS1's make more power around 180-190*. This was in either the latest GMHTP or the issue before it.

 

one of the articles at University said the introduction of 160 thermo and and fans set at 160 degrees made the car hover around 194. So this sounds like it would be right at what the article said in the magazine

By the way, what method do ou guys use for bleeding out the air. I hear some say take off the throttle body hose and let it drain from there, and others ay just watch as it drains from the same hose inside of the radiator near the top, thus preventing any spills and its still the highest point. This seems to make sense for getting the air out since they didn't put bleed valves on the engine, like they did with the LT1. If you really needed to remove the hoses, then they probably would have included the bleed screws as well. Any comments or thoughts.

 

The coolant hose goes down after it leaves the head so I take it off, more for my own peace of mind in being able to see the coolant come out.

 

The thermo stat only controls the flow of water out of the motor and into the radiator. Now on a manual fan, old type car, the fan ran with the motor and thus cooled the radiator all the time making the coolant in the motor the hottest in the system.
Modern cars with electric fans control the temp of the water in the radiator by turning on one or more fans. Doesn't matter whether the coolant is let out of the motor at 160 or 180 or 190 if the cooling fans don't come on 'till 200 the coolant will eventually be 200 in every case. Thermo doesn't really control the water temp after warm up. The fans do. It does hold the water in 'till a minimum temp is reached, but the max temp is controlled by the fans.

 

160 Stat + Manual Fan Switch = A Comfortable LS1 that wants to kill people (other cars too!)

 

keep in mind with aluminum heads you don't want the heads TOO cool. You can actually lose combustion efficiency. Like mentioned above, 180-190 is a good range for the temps.

Oh, and those who have 2000 and newer cars, your gauge is not a gauge, it's an idiot light with a needle. As far as I've heard, it won't show ANY lower because it goes from zero to warm (middle) to hot with no variation in between by my understanding.

 

That's true. After I changed my thermostat the needle moved maybe an eighth of an inch.