160 degree thermostat on jegs.

[nyny69]

Originally Posted by Anthony @ LG Motorsports

Depends on the car, the use, the climate.....

If it is mostly a stock car with headers and a cold air kit and you live in Michigan......I would say don't worry about it.

If your in Texas and your going to be road racing the car on weekends during the summer, then yes it is very worth while to do it. Again like they said above this is just the point at which the water starts to flow, it doesn't mean it is going to stay at that. Fans don't even begin to turn on until 192 degree's anyway.

Ideal temps for our race cars would be water between 185 and 220 and oil temps between 230-260. Running those temps the car should be able to do the 24hrs of Le Mans......well at least the temps wouldn't be what killed it.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I was responding to someone's comments that it causes premature wear of the motor.

[TheBandit18]

I live in Oklahoma where last summer is was in the 100s most of the time. And my car is cammed

[Slowhawk]

The 2nd thermastat is the one you want. It is slightly different than the first one.

As for beat up engine- absolutely does not.
Either have a tuner run your fans all the time to get down to 190-194 or run the t-stat and use the fans for what they are for. To modulate/not be on all the time to keep the temp where you want. 180-186 is normal for a 160 stat. Even in 0 degree weather I see 172 cruising down the highway. My 140k mile truck has had one all it's life.

[angie7]

I just put headers on my SS this past Friday and the shop doing my tune recommended I change to a SLP 160* thermostat. He said when he does the tune he will program the fans to come on sooner to keep the engine cooler. I'm by no means an expert but I'm definately going to trust a reliable shop that tunes everything from twin turbo Camaros to Ferrari's.

[Camarojt]

Originally Posted by Slowhawk

As for beat up engine- absolutely does not.
Either have a tuner run your fans all the time to get down to 190-194 or run the t-stat and use the fans for what they are for. To modulate/not be on all the time to keep the temp where you want. 180-186 is normal for a 160 stat. Even in 0 degree weather I see 172 cruising down the highway. My 140k mile truck has had one all it's life.

^^ Exactly!!

[62nalide]

Originally Posted by Spartan01

Looks like one of them is specifically for the Camaro, even though the first will fit.
Ted jannetty posted a great thread on here about why not to get a 160 degree thermostat- basically the LS3 is designed to reach a certain operating temp, if it does not it is out of spec and wears out prematurely.

1st I've ever heard of that I've been doing this for 10yrs lol
Be careful who you trust man

[Camarojt]

Originally Posted by justa25thTA

I don't have a dog in this fight, so forgive me.

Are these the same shops that are making money on rebuilding engines? VS the manufacturer who loses money on rebuilding engines? The manufacturer wants durability and longevity. The performance shops want...

If you are asking, "Do shops intentionally recommend a 160 stat so that they then feel that they will gain an engine rebuild in the future?" Absolutely NOT!

GM's goals vs a performance shops goals, while they both have similar interests, they aren't even close to the same. GM isn't trying to make your car out perform other cars at the track. They are just trying to set a high level of performance as a factory vehicle compared to other factory vehicles.

To the people that burst out "Premature wear"....this term is funny! Hell putting your foot on the accelerator hard on a bone stock car could cause "premature wear!!" So please...never throttle your car at all!
Do not add 1 single mod to you car, bc you could get "premature wear!" That goes for CAI's, LT's, TB's, cams, blowers, turbos, nitrous, or even cold weather!
In fact don't even drive it .......
bc combustion causes "premature wear!"

To whoever started this Grand Ole myth of "premature wear" maybe they can explain how they arrived at such a misguided conclusion on such an minor change to dig their heels in on this subject?
I hope they also feel the same way about all the above mods and dig their heels in on them too! Otherwise it's utter hipocrysy
!
Back to shops that are making money on failing engines. There ought to be more emphasis on shops that are doing things that are truly causing engine failures. If a shop does something that causes a failure that even a rudimentary shop knows better than to do, let that be what we watch out for and not this debate over a 160 stat.

Bottom line is a 160 stat helps aid in keeping temps where they need to be in the right conditions. ITS A PERFORMANCE MOD

[vroomapunk]

Lots of good advice above (and some bad advice). The second one is the one you want.

[Pro Stock John]

Even with tuning I don't think I've seen my temps get under 194F, how about you guys.

Like it was said, just because you run a 160 stat, you WON'T see that temp. But in hot climates and forced induction combos it's a useful modification.

[nyny69]

Originally Posted by Camarojt

If you are asking, "Do shops intentionally recommend a 160 stat so that they then feel that they will gain an engine rebuild in the future?" Absolutely NOT!

GM's goals vs a performance shops goals, while they both have similar interests, they aren't even close to the same. GM isn't trying to make your car out perform other cars at the track. They are just trying to set a high level of performance as a factory vehicle compared to other factory vehicles.

To the people that burst out "Premature wear"....this term is funny! Hell putting your foot on the accelerator hard on a bone stock car could cause "premature wear!!" So please...never throttle your car at all!
Do not add 1 single mod to you car, bc you could get "premature wear!" That goes for CAI's, LT's, TB's, cams, blowers, turbos, nitrous, or even cold weather!
In fact don't even drive it .......
bc combustion causes "premature wear!"

To whoever started this Grand Ole myth of "premature wear" maybe they can explain how they arrived at such a misguided conclusion on such an minor change to dig their heels in on this subject?
I hope they also feel the same way about all the above mods and dig their heels in on them too! Otherwise it's utter hipocrysy
!
Back to shops that are making money on failing engines. There ought to be more emphasis on shops that are doing things that are truly causing engine failures. If a shop does something that causes a failure that even a rudimentary shop knows better than to do, let that be what we watch out for and not this debate over a 160 stat.

Bottom line is a 160 stat helps aid in keeping temps where they need to be in the right conditions. ITS A PERFORMANCE MOD

Well said.

Originally Posted by Pro Stock John

Even with tuning I don't think I've seen my temps get under 194F, how about you guys.

Like it was said, just because you run a 160 stat, you WON'T see that temp. But in hot climates and forced induction combos it's a useful modification.

John, I've seen my temp run at 186 in the bitter cold. The one nice day we did have it was between 186-190

[Frans96ss]

Originally Posted by Spartan01

Looks like one of them is specifically for the Camaro, even though the first will fit.
Ted jannetty posted a great thread on here about why not to get a 160 degree thermostat- basically the LS3 is designed to reach a certain operating temp, if it does not it is out of spec and wears out prematurely.

Wow

http://youtu.be/5hfYJsQAhl0

[1989GTA]

How does having an engine run at say 180 degrees increase performance in comparison to an engine running at 195 degrees?

[Cuda7050]

Originally Posted by 1989GTA

How does having an engine run at say 180 degrees increase performance in comparison to an engine running at 195 degrees?

Engine knock causes the timing to be retarded. Additionally, hotter air entering the combustion chamber is less dense. Less air density equals less power. A few years ago, there was a big thread on engine tempurature. One tuner said there is a loss of aproximatey 4 hp per 10 degrees after 165 degrees. I don't recall which tuner made the claim.

When I had my car on the dyno, we made three runs back to back to back. The engine was about 170 on the first pull and made 388 HP. As the engine got warmer with each of the next two pulls, it dropped off to 376 and 373 HP.

[1989GTA]

Originally Posted by Cuda7050

Engine knock causes the timing to be retarded. Additionally, hotter air entering the combustion chamber is less dense. Less air density equals less power. A few years ago, there was a big thread on engine tempurature. One tuner said there is a loss of aproximatey 4 hp per 10 degrees after 165 degrees. I don't recall which tuner made the claim.

When I had my car on the dyno, we made three runs back to back to back. The engine was about 170 on the first pull and made 388 HP. As the engine got warmer with each of the next two pulls, it dropped off to 376 and 373 HP.

Regarding the cold air part, would that not be a function of the cold air intake or how well it is designed? If the air coming into the MAF where the temperature is measured is only a couple of degrees or so warmer than the outside air I don't see where that would be a problem. Either with a 160 degree thermostat or a 192 degree thermostat.

I will say the oil will be a little warmer and should flow a tad more freely with the hotter temperature. As to the knock retard, GM designed the motor to run at the warmer temperature. Maybe in Phoenix I can see going to a lower degree thermostat. Depends on how well it cools. Just my thoughts on the matter.