Thermostat Question
 

I ll see if I can explain this rite. When running the car in the daytime the temp( stock ) gauge stays on the second bar up from the 130 mark. At night it stays between the second bar and the half way mark on the gauge. The car seems to run better at nite time with this warmer reading. I also looked at a guys GT the other day and he had a much smaller radiator then mine. He said his was stock. I enclosed a pic of my radiator, that I assumed was stock until I seen his.

I am thinking about going back to a 190-192 deg thermostat when my intake comes in next week. The car seems to run better on the warmer side at night.. Theres a 180 deg thermo in it now. I was guessing that maybe it wasnt running in a closed loop during the daytime due to the larger radiator and 180 thermo in it now.

Is this the wrong way of thinking.

I don't know if that is the stock radiator or not, but before you go replacing the thermostat you may want an aftermarket gauge to let you know what your actual running temp is. Nothing against ford but thier stock gauges suck. I know when my temp gauge hits the halfway mark, I'm overheating. I would suggest getting the real temp before you make any changes. You could put in the 190 degrees stat and end up actually running really hot.

No Fan shroud, or did you take it off to show your radiator better?? Like agent said get a aftermarket gauge so you can see what your temp is instead of saying it's at such and such mark. might just be a new radiator. my car has new rad and i have an autometer gauge and it's always around 178-184 no matter what time of day or year once it's warmed up.

Replace your 180 w/ a 192 OEM t-stat from Ford. Trust me. Aftermarket t-stats (Stant in particular) are about as accurate as a 5 year old predicting the DOW average at the end of the year. Your engine was designed to run it's best around 210 degrees. With the mods you've made, you will still see optimum power at or above 200. You do go into closed loop w/ a 180, but not when you are supposed to, and the result is a richer mixture, which clogs cats and washes down cylinder walls. But you already knew that. :)

BTW, what the hell do you think you're doing driving that thing around without a quality set of gauges in it??? You know better than that! Bad boy! Go to your room and stay there until you think you can come back out and act responsibily!

:)

Take care,
~Chris

LOL the gauges are on the way. I will try a 192 OEM stat. The car didnt have a shroud on it when bought. Compared to that GT's radiator mine is twice as thick, leading me to believe its not stock. The fan shroud I bought from a junkyard wouldnt fit without some mods to it.. hahaha, I dont even want to show that. Prob didnt need the shroud except for working near the fan when the engine is running.

BTW junkyards are teaming with mustang parts up here.

I think I would trust my 5 year old more than some of the so called stock market experts out there.;)

Just feel like being difficult today, do you? ;)

Yeah, you're probably right. How about this then: Aftermarket t-stats (Stant in particular) are about as accurate as Government spending estimates.

Better?

:)

Take care,
~Chris

Well it did not like that one IODA..lol. Put a 192 in and it never went beyond half on the gauge, but had a surge and a ping. Adjusted timing from 8 to 14 and could get rid of the pinging or surging. Comp was cleared. Im sticking the 180 back in.

That surprises me. Where did you get the t-stat? Did you verify what temp it opens at? You got rid of pinging by advancing the timing???

What kind of coffee do you drink, and where can I get some?

Take care,
~Chris

lol.. got the t-stat from napa, didnt verify the opening and the pinging was still there even though timing was backed off to 8 deg min to 14 deg max.

Hell. Put the 180 back in, and just run it for 30 minutes before you race.

:D

Take care,
~Chris

Thats what I did. Dont know why it had the surging prob or the pinging under load. Maybe the morale of the story is, " if it aint broke dont fiddle screw with it". It was rather bizzar, but ill not it down. Thanks for the help