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#1
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What thermostat to use, 180 or 195 ?
What temperature thermostat is every using in their 1960's and 1970's street driven Pontiacs ?
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#2
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I use a 180 in the 37 in my signature.
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37 Pontiac Sedan 455 700r4 94 Firehawk Supercharged 5.7 LT1 6spd. 77 Grand Prix base model, 350 pontiac 97 F250 7.3 turbo diesel 85 CJ7 Laredo 65 Impala SS 396, 4 spd, A/C. |
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#3
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I use a 160°. Works for me. I dont overheat up at Dreamcruise
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🧩 Burds Parts, Finding those Hard to Find PCs, no Fisher Price Toys Here Just Say No To 8 Flakes F ire B irds 🇮🇱 |
#4
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180. Whatever you decide test in a pot of go water first to learn where it opens- some open 10-15 degrees past the rating
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Will Rivera '69 Firebird 400/461, 290+ E D-Ports, HR 230/236, 4l80E, 8.5 Rear, 3.55 gears 66 Lemans, 455, KRE D-Ports, TH350, 12 bolt 3.90 gears '69 LeMans Vert, 350, #47 heads: work in progress |
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#5
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With real gas, a 180. With the e10 piss, a 160. Lots of issues down here about fuel boiling out of the vent tubes. So, I try to keep the engine, under hood air, carb as cool as possible.
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#6
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IMO, a 195 is too hot for an engine with a carburetor, especially running E10. 160-180, Trial and error. A really good radiator and fan will keep a 160 thermostat engine running around 170. About 190 with a 180 thermostat. If the engine runs good with a 180 thermostat you will get slightly better gas mileage and keep the spark plugs cleaner at long idle/low speed driving.
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#7
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160° thermo was part of the Royal Treatment.
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🧩 Burds Parts, Finding those Hard to Find PCs, no Fisher Price Toys Here Just Say No To 8 Flakes F ire B irds 🇮🇱 |
#8
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160
If I be were driving my car daily in cold climate winters, I might use a 180-195
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71 GTO, 463, KRE 295 cfm heads ported by SD Performance, RPM intake, Qjet, Dougs Headers, Comp cams HR 246/252 ...11 to 1 , 3.55 cogs, 3985lbs.....day three- 11.04 at 120mph ....1.53 60', 6.98 1/8 mile |
#9
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180 and a good cooling system has worked for me (clutch fan, 4 core copper or 2 Core alluminum radiator and proper tune.)
195 you'll probably fight Detonation.
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1979 Firebird Trans Am 301/4spd (Now 428) 1977 Firebird Formula 400/Auto 2007 Grand Prix GXP 5.3L |
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#10
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I use a 160 in everything. Which means typically they'll run in the 170 range on a really hot day, which helps to keep me out of detonation and away from vapor lock issues with todays gas.
On a cooler day, say 70 degrees or below, I generally see it operate closer to the thermostat rating. |
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#11
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I run a 160 in everything, and drill a small hole in the base of them to help bleed air/prevent air pockets.
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
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#12
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195° F, 10w30 mineral engine oil and 50/50 glykol/water, just what the service manual calls for. Not an issue in 25+ years.
Note: Too low engine operating temperature increases wear and looses power. FWIW |
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#13
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I haven't found that last statement to be true......with my stuff anyway.
I've been running these 160 stats in several of the classics here for going on 35-40 years. I've never had any excessive wear problems. In fact 2 of them are daily drivers that have seen over 100k miles combined in the last 5-6 years and they still perform perfectly At the track we've found our best ET and MPH when the car is cooled to about 150 to start the run and generally is around 165-170 when finished. Hotter just slows the cars down so I don't see the loss of power with the cooler temps either. |
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#14
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Quote:
If ones car is strictly a street driven car and for some reason the owner likes to drive it in cold winter conditions then I would put in a 180 so the heater would work better. |
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#15
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Quote:
I've run my bird the most there, and in early rounds with enough cool down time I can run right on my dial where the car has run it's best time, but once we get down to the last 6 or 8 cars and time shortens between rounds I have to dial it back from 13.10's to 13.30's because it just won't run the number when the engine gets that hot. If you use the typical drag strip slide rule for HP, that's a significant drop when the engine heats up. I always have very similar results with the other cars as well. |
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#16
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Quote:
Mostly, you will get to where you`re going. Coming back? That`s another story. [Hot soak] |
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#17
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160 degree thermostat for years.
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466 Mike Voycey shortblock, 310cfm SD KRE heads, SD "OF 2.0 cam", torker 2 373 gears 3200 Continental Convertor best et 10.679/127.5/1.533 60ft 308 gears best et 10.76/125.64/1.5471 |
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#18
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160 in all my Pontiacs for the past 45 years. No problems.
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Jeff |
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#19
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I use Brad Penn 20W50 in mine. Any idea what other oils with same viscosity have similar pour ratings?
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Will Rivera '69 Firebird 400/461, 290+ E D-Ports, HR 230/236, 4l80E, 8.5 Rear, 3.55 gears 66 Lemans, 455, KRE D-Ports, TH350, 12 bolt 3.90 gears '69 LeMans Vert, 350, #47 heads: work in progress |
#20
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Let me see if I can find the chart and I'll post it. There are quite a few that have good pour ratings.
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