I installed the Hypertech 160 stat last night! I rated the install at a wrench and a half in difficulty. Quality unit besides not including a .50 cent o-ring with it. This stat has a longer throw to it than stock. Now the gauge runs at the top of the thermometer symbol instead of half way. I refilled the system with 1 bottle water wetter and one gallon of distilled water to dilute the glycol mix. Man I love this mod it will be great durring the summer. The motor feels stronger all the time. A chip will be next if PSP ever responds to my Email! I know with the old Chevy you could run more timing with lower temps. It also reduces load on the intercooler air temps.

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01' Silver Bullet
Bought 03/31/01
Tire shredding truck
Prototype ram air 5/03 testing...
Retrax cover 5/5/01

 

Sal and Spiro left for WFC in St.Louis i would try again early next week!

Matt

 

I've been running a 160 stat for about 9 months. It sure hasn't hurt my times and the truck seems to cool down quicker, too.

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Later,
Chuck
Black 00
Chuck's Lightning Page

 

It also benefits other fluids cooled by the radiator side tanks like tranny fluid and engine oil. I almost forgot about those pluses.

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01' Silver Bullet
Bought 03/31/01
Tire shredding truck
Prototype ram air 5/03 testing...
Retrax cover 5/5/01

 

Your t-stat will not affect the intercooler fluid temp, or the tranny cooling.

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Regards,
Gordon

'99 Red Lightning
Johnny Lightning Superchip
Johnny Lighting Ram Air Kit
Century Tonneau
Best 1/4 mi. ET: 13.249 secs

 

BadDog
Last time I looked the majority of the trans cooling is done with engine coolant and so is the engine oil. Drop the engine temp 20 degrees and the oil temps drop too. And since the intake manifold has a large cooling passage along the front of it, then you can assume that at least the manifold will be running a tad cooler and since the intercooler is attached to the manifold, well I think you get the idea.
Dale

 

You should run slighty richer also...the stock tranny cooler is terrible...get your self a nice six row a thermostatic fan switch.

 

Good post L. They are afffected by coolant temps and it will not run richer because the O2 sensors maintain the programmed A/F ratio as long as it is in open loop.

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01' Silver Bullet
Bought 03/31/01
Tire shredding truck
Prototype ram air 5/03 testing...
Retrax cover 5/5/01

 

Listen to the man from Auburn! He knows what he is talking about. He had me to put one in my truck. It helped with some of my pinging. By the way Sal my truck is still pinging. I'm going to try one of Jim's chips now. I'l send this chip back for alittle more fuel. Slight ping at tip in. Ping at WFO.

Herb

 

Bad as L,

How are you dropping the engine temp by 20 degrees? You are not doing it with a thermostat.

Only thing the thermostat does is control what temp it allows circulation to begin.
It has NO effect on the operating temp of the engine after it opens.

Even if you left the thermostat completely out, (effectively a 0 degree thermostat) the engine will still obtain its normal operating temp.

 

What pvteye says sounds intuitively correct, am I missing something? Although many years back up here in the cold country I kinda remember having a "stuck open" thermostat and not having any heat in the winter time.MMMM!

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01L,Lowered, Black,F1 Hood,Downey SST,Straight Pipes,Chipped........ Toy: 91 Heritage Softtail Classic/Lowered
...... ......

 

pvteye is absolutely correct, Once the thermostat is open, the engine is going to run the temp it wants to based on conditions and load. Changing it will only control what temp the thermostat starts opening. A 160 degree thermostat isn't probly all the way open till 170 to 175 degrees.

cabraco,
During the winter with the cold, the thermostat may never even open fully due to the cold air flowing over the block. That is enough to cool the engine without ever circulating the coolant through the radiator.
That is why if you ran without a thermostat during winter the engine wouldn't build enough heat to warm the heater core. When I am referring to winter I mean the cold like we get up in the north.
Brian

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99 red lightning, bassani complete system #1610 of 4000
2001 Lightning, SVO throttle body
2000 super duty v10
Cobra "R" #131 of 300
Moderator
www.svtperformance.com
My vehicles http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4293160925
Cobra R At Road America
Cobra R Leaving Pit Road

 

Well in some ways you are corrrect but you are also dead wrong.You might not be able to tell by the factory gauge but I installed one and my truck used to run 180 ALL the time unless under heavy load for an extended amount of time.After the install it was way way cooler at about 160-165 tops!!!This is on a AUTOMETR GAUGE which dont lie And if it does bring the truck hot enough for a loop,It does increase perf. and no pinging.

 

Im also pretty confident that the factory gives you some temp variances to play with considering the open loop concept.Hypertech would not be selling these if they brought them down so cold that the truck would not run a open loop Think about it i heard 170 degrees?? I dont think so.probally like 140-150 or so

 

Man this is hard to explain. With no thermostat you can overheat a motor since water flow is so high it cannot transfer heat fast enough to get it to the radiator. Though that is most common in high RPM race situations. On a street motor with no stat it may never heat up to open loop temp esually to 140-145 and can cause the trans to fail and converter to go out since it never locks up. Even in our race motors we run a washer or restrictor of some kind. Your stat has everything to do with operating temp. A 195 like in chevy's for clean emissions holds water in the engine until it reaches 200+ degrees operating temp before sending it to the radiator. If you replace that with a 160 then it will only hold water in the motor until 165+/- and send it to the radiator to cool down and start again. Trust me guys it makes a difference.The purpose of the stat is to slow or stop the flow of water to maintain the desired operating temperature be it 160, 180, 210... I hope that clears it up.

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01' Silver Bullet
Bought 03/31/01
Tire shredding truck
Prototype ram air 5/03 testing...
Retrax cover 5/5/01

[This message has been edited by L8 APEX (edited 05-16-2001).]