What thermostat rating/ brand have you guys used with sucess? I just returned to the US to find temperatures reaching 110 degrees and my car running a bit hot. Would any of you know what a stock 69 GS California came with? Any recomendations on ratings or brands?
i use only a 180 thermostat in the 72 gs 350 stock engine . this thermostat , once opened at 180 degrees , the has no affect on how hot the engine gets beyond 180 . this is determined by the quality of the anti-freeze, the radiator (# of rows ) , cleanliness on the engine's water jackets & ports , the fan shroud , type of fan + fins , waterpump . a number of things determine the effective cooling of your engine .
a 180 degree thermostat is not fully open until 200* A 160 is fully open at 180* In really hot weather, I'd go with the 160, it will give your cooling system a head start.
So that's how it works? I thought that the 180 etc degree ratings were the full open temp. MY car runs too cold (in cooler weather) with the 160 degree. I wish that I had used a 180
Hi, I just changed from 180 to 160 for the summer. Also using about 75% water 25% anti-freeze and a bottle of Red Line water wetter as recommended by Larry. My car has not run over 160 since, everything under the hood is cooler and the car just runs better. Stay cool, Mark
I just picked up a new 1 for my car. I just told them to give me a stock thermostat, and didn't look at it until I was home. They gave me a 195 :eek2: I'm not sure if I should run 1 that high in it. It's not winter time, do I need that much heat in the motoro No: Dan:3gears:
Let me know if I am mistaken, but don't car manufacturers set up a stock car to run at higher than ideal temps (for emissions purposes)? I've been under the impression for quit some time that lowering your operating temp would help performance. I think I read something on this board that gave me that impression. My T-Stat is stock at the moment (hopefully not 195) and I wanted to go with a 180. After hearing that a 180 doesn't fully open til 200 though I think I'll go with a 160 for the summer. Any brand recomendations? I've heard that the posted numbers are very inacurrate.
I like Stant T-stats. Yes Our 70-72 GS's came with a stock 190* T-stat. The engines would typically run at 200* +, which is where Buick intended them to run. There is some power to be gained running a cooler engine temperature. 170-180 is optimum in most cases. My car runs at 170-175 in 70-90* temps.
I hate to say it but - my Skylark runs better (and faster) at 200 degrees than at 170 degrees. I have heard many times that hot engines produce more power as long as the intake mixture is kept cool.
