Question: Thermostat-your thoughts

GlenJ

GlenJ

Over conversation last night prior to todays racing, a few racers recommended not running the thermostat in to keep the car as cool as possible. They say the car runs a lot better when cold (everything is nice and tight). My argument was that surely an engine works at optimum temperature, but screwing the nuts of it in 2nd gear is prob going over opp temp (no guage to see)

Any thoughts
 
i would have thought hot = tight personally glen, there is probably an optimum temp for power tho (the stock thermostat is probably optimised for economy and engine life eh)
ambient air temp will factor if you run without a thermostat :)
 
cheers for the reply frank
im not to sure on this 1, with or without personally have there benefits with optimum temp giving maximum power but also engine life due to two of us using the car and in the 2nd heat i go out prob 10 mins after she comes in, car get pretty hot...

ambient air temp-what is this and what would it do frank?
 
the outside air temp mate (summer or winter sort of thing) i doubt if the open stat slows the coolant down tbh, removing it will just make the engine slower to warm up, and a bigger (k11 auto) rad will shed more heat eh :)
 
It would be wise to remove the stat. no flow restriction, whilst under major pressure. Back in the caribbean, we remove the stat on most vehicles:eek:, there old cars from jdm, the heating isn't used so people dont bother to replace them
 
I find my car comes up to temp andneedle never moves. I have afan override switch butnever need touse it anywhere other than auto solo on a hotday.
 
Yeah other grassers said they have never had a problem, not to sure if there is two of them using the car in the day tho, gonna remove the stat me thinks.....noticed today tho that the car cuts out when take up the revs and let off, just seems to die off and not holding on the idle, dont know if should make a new thread or have you guys got any ideas on what to check
 
I've seen discussion on this on a different subject and some people say that the slight restriction that the thermostat provides aids with keeping the coolant pressure up/slowing the flow down so that it can asorb more heat. Wherther or not that is true is debateable, but it does seem logical. There is also a school of thought that say you might not be able to get the coolant up to temperature as it is over cooled on startup.

As far as I can see, the only thing that the stat does is let the engine warm up quicker - if you want the car to run cooler then you are probably better off sorting some ducting to/from the rad to maximise pressure differential over the core?
 
the coldstart enrichment relies on the temp sensor too, if you could control the temps with a 70 deg stat, it might run richer eh ?
and the waterpump could probably do with re-gearing/underdriving too (they are known to cavitate @ high rpm and flow badly apparently)
 
n1waterpump.jpg


Anti cavitation plate anyone? either that or an EWP...
 
We were running a bad leak at the waterpump at the weekend. It took a really extreme run for 12 mins with very low water to even get the needle to rise above normal, and that was marginal! Ok, the engine let go afterwards, but that did not seem to be related. The temp gauge was fine just before.
 
My temp gauge needle hasnt been working for a while now and the engine gets quite hot that i can smell it while driving!
 
Cheers for the reply guys, Frank where would i manage to get a 70' stat and where do stock open up at near boiling point? losing me a little on this cavitation for the water pump not to sure what you guys mean....
 
GlenJ said:
Cheers for the reply guys, Frank where would i manage to get a 70' stat and where do stock open up at near boiling point? losing me a little on this cavitation for the water pump not to sure what you guys mean....
Click to expand...

Think the stock stat opens at 84'c Glen
 
Are the ebay ones cheap crap tho? also after reading other threads it looks like the replacements have there faults due having no bleed screw. Thinking now i will go for a stat that opens at a lower temp tho instead of running without.
also car sounding and running fine take up to revs and doesnt cut out (strange)

Again cheers for all the info guys......
 
Ok shopped around and most car spares seem to stock the 82 only, gonna browse ebay see if i can get one in the 70s (just hope they are decent)
Again cheers for the info and cheers for the link Craig......
 

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