170 Thermostat?

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Well crap. It looks like they don’t make the 170 any more. I’ll have to pull mine and see if they still make them.

In fact, I will call them and ask about it. It will be dumb if they don’t make it.
 
yellow rose said:
LOL...not sub freezing all year! We do have winter though and I drive my junk. The 160 wouldn’t defrost the windows so I put the 170 in there.

I drive an iron headed 340. Nothing exotic. Since my cooling system WILL keep the engine temp at 170 even on 100 degree days, I use it. My system is pretty efficient, but it could be better.

I also run more compression on pump gas than most guys do, so the cooler engine temps reduce detonation.
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Where did you get the 170 thermostat?
 
yellow rose said:
Well crap. It looks like they don’t make the 170 any more. I’ll have to pull mine and see if they still make them.

In fact, I will call them and ask about it. It will be dumb if they don’t make it.
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You're dumb anyway so hush up. lol
 
yellow rose said:
Well crap. It looks like they don’t make the 170 any more. I’ll have to pull mine and see if they still make them.

In fact, I will call them and ask about it. It will be dumb if they don’t make it.
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I see some 170s for Hellcat motors and V6s but none for our traditional V8s.
 
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"...Years of research show use of 160 degree thermostats is way too low to be considered for performance or engine longevity. As the chart above illustrates, engine wear increased by DOUBLE at 160, (~30% @ 170?) than at 185 degrees. The 160's were invented for and commonly used in older, open loop cooling systems where only 6 pound radiator caps were used, and low 212 degree boiling points were the limit. We know better now.

Many early hot rodders found the 160's to be a smiggin better (~5%?) performing than the 190's, however the in between 180 appears to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. The correct water temperature and thus resulting metal operating temperatures required for the cylinders to achieve a minimum specific temperature in order to allow a fully mixed Air/Fuel charge to combust efficiently is a minimum of 180 degrees coincidentally. If you use 160s be aware that this can have a degrading effect over a time on your engine.."
HOTRODSRJ’s COOLING TIPS Operating temperature vs power and longevity!

The term efficiently means complete combustion, ie. without loss. Hard to find a graph that actually shows the power difference in HP instead of the Delta of 12.6 (p) and 14.7 (e). These graphs that are published would make more sense if the data points were available too.
 
You can use another relay to operate the 24.5A fans (probably double that for start up inrush), just put it inline with the fan so the controlled voltage operates the larger relay that actually turns on the fans. Same way the headlight relay upgrade works: use the original switching voltage (your 25A controller) to operate a 60A relay that can switch a larger current supply.
 
yellow rose said:
Read this to my wife, and she says you are a genius for pointing that out.

Now I have my wife AND you who know I’m a dumbass!!! Pretty soon everyone will know!!!
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Well at least you're in good company.
 
pishta said:
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"...Years of research show use of 160 degree thermostats is way too low to be considered for performance or engine longevity. As the chart above illustrates, engine wear increased by DOUBLE at 160, (~30% @ 170?) than at 185 degrees. The 160's were invented for and commonly used in older, open loop cooling systems where only 6 pound radiator caps were used, and low 212 degree boiling points were the limit. We know better now.

Many early hot rodders found the 160's to be a smiggin better (~5%?) performing than the 190's, however the in between 180 appears to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. The correct water temperature and thus resulting metal operating temperatures required for the cylinders to achieve a minimum specific temperature in order to allow a fully mixed Air/Fuel charge to combust efficiently is a minimum of 180 degrees coincidentally. If you use 160s be aware that this can have a degrading effect over a time on your engine.."
HOTRODSRJ’s COOLING TIPS Operating temperature vs power and longevity!

The term efficiently means complete combustion, ie. without loss. Hard to find a graph that actually shows the power difference in HP instead of the Delta of 12.6 (p) and 14.7 (e). These graphs that are published would make more sense if the data points were available too.
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What year was the test? What engine oil was used?

I don’t use cheap oil, and I keep my tune up in shape. I don’t have any wear. Looks like everything else, and I can tell you cool temps are worth more than any 5%.
 
you know that test is old, look at the graph! Data courtesy Continental Motors and it as referenced in a Ford rebuild book dated 1989, but the test data graph has been around since at least a 1986 book and its probably older than that...mid 70's with same era motor oil? You wonder why these Magnums still have hatch marks in the cylinders at 120k? They ran hotter than 170 for sure, ~190? My Silverado has a working temp range up to (red) 260
 
70DusterBob said:
Basically, I heard that the hottest you want an engine to run is 200 degrees.
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I heard there's three million dollars in 1943 steel pennies hidden behind the ice cube trays in my freezer. Unfortunately for me, that story is just as much horsepuckey as the one you heard about the (imaginary) maximum or "red line" of 200°.

A 170° thermstat is probably not optimal. You might want to read this.
 
slantsixdan said:
I heard there's three million dollars in 1943 steel pennies hidden behind the ice cube trays in my freezer. Unfortunately for me, that story is just as much horsepuckey as the one you heard about the (imaginary) maximum or "red line" of 200°.

A 170° thermstat is probably not optimal. You might want to read this.
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That was written by Daniel Stern. Who da hell is he and what da hell does he know?
:rofl:
 
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I use a 170 in mine switched from the 160 early morning runs or at night it wouldn’t go over 165 so I made the switch . They do make them here in oz but a a hair smaller circumference and needed to put a small amount of foil around the edge to seat it properly but it works well . It’s a Trident high flow. The reason i run this is so I could control the temp with the thermo fan, as I have my fan kicking in at 185 shuts off 180 and On open roads it don’t even kick on have found the car runs really well in that 170-180 range . Before changing the radiator out for a custom one It used to run in that 190-210 range and the car ran sluggish .
 
"..Running the engine at 180 degrees will drop the overall horsepower by 2%-3%. For max power the cooling temp should be at least 200 degrees..." Wa wa waaaah...
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My 367 ran hot, at under 30mph from day-one. So hot that if I shut it off. it would lock up, and I would have to wait ~30 minutes with the hood open, before attempting a restart. It killed a couple of starters. I tried everything to fix it. Finally I took it out and honed the cylinders out .001, and regapped the top rings to a .032 to .034.... IIRC
Problem solved,
So much so, that I increased the minimum coolant temp to 195, and adjusted the Thermostatic clutch to a lil hotter. I got the idea to run hotter from Smokey's book. So now it runs at 207 rock-steady.

IDK if my car would be any faster with a lower stat, but I do know that it went 93 in the Eighth @3457 pounds, at 950 or so feet, with a 230*@.050 cam, at 207*F , on a hot July afternoon. I think my car likes 207; anyway, it's been there since about 2001. The timed run didn't come until 2004 IIRC. Or maybe it was 2007,I forget.
Edit; OOTB Edelbrock heads @10.95 Scr.
 
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slantsixdan said:
I heard there's three million dollars in 1943 steel pennies hidden behind the ice cube trays in my freezer. Unfortunately for me, that story is just as much horsepuckey as the one you heard about the (imaginary) maximum or "red line" of 200°.

A 170° thermstat is probably not optimal. You might want to read this.
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I read some of that, and it’s just not true that higher coolant temps make more power.

Again, if you want to control the wear, keep the oil clean and all that, you have to correct the tune up. Every engine I tune with lower coolant temps makes more power and they don’t wear out, and, as a general rule they take a LEANER tune up.

Most guys run their stuff too rich to begin with, and then the lower the coolant temp. Now it’s even fatter than it was before.

The other thing about lowering coolant temps is you can run more compression, especially on pump gas.

I’m hoping to fire a true 12:1 pump gas engine tomorrow, with a tunnel ram. It’s mostly for street use. This will be the highest CR on pump gas I’ve done. I was going to build my engine first to make sure I can do it, but the guy trusts that I can do it (probably not a good idea to trust me, but God hates a coward and he is on board with it) so we will see if it can be done.

I damn sure know it won’t happen with 190 or higher coolant temps.
 
yellow rose said:
I read some of that, and it’s just not true that higher coolant temps make more power.
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You come to a dirt track in middle Georgia and say that stupid **** and you won't make it out alive. Tell some of them boys they caint tune an engine or hot motors don't make more power. You're delusional sometimes.
 
yellow rose said:
I read some of that, and it’s just not true that higher coolant temps make more power.
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…says the guy who thinks he heard that there's a 200° maximum red limit line and stuff, and just took that as gospel truth.

Of course I'm just joshin' ya; I fully realise that whatever opinion you want to make up and hold obviously beats the smelly ol' laws of physics and thermodyamics and other egghead stuff cool kids don't care about. Hey, has anyone ever tried a negative 170° thermostat? Who's to say it wouldn't work? With it opening way below zero like that, why, just think how far from the maximum red limit line you'd be, and how many more extra horsepowers you'd make that way!
 
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You may be able to use a relay with your fan controller and the run whatever amperage the relay can handle. This only works for on/off fan control, no variable speed.
 
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