Thermostat question

by oldstofty Wed May 25, 2011 9:06 am

Does any see a problem in not running a thermostat? First off let me tell you this a race car and only gets driven to the track which is less than 5 miles away. Took the car for its first drive since put together and it got up to 225 and climbing in about 5-10 mins. Last night I rewired the fan to pull air instead of push air and removed the thermostat completely. Went out for another drive about 10 -15 mins and pretty much stayed around 190

by The Dude Wed May 25, 2011 9:30 am

I've done it before with no problems. The main concern with that is not letting the car reach operating temperatures which can be harmful to engine life. Since your car hit 190 without a T-stat, you have nothing to worry about IMHO.

by pila Wed May 25, 2011 10:04 am

Some engines wont cool with no thermostat. Even when a thermostat is open, there is some restriction to flow, which slows coolant flow enough to give the radiator enough time to cool the coolant. In other words, if the coolant flows too fast, the heat doesn't have enough time to dissipate from the radiator core, since it's going back in the engine too quick.
You seem to be OK with normal street driving. 190 degrees would be OK for a passenger car, but it's too hot for getting the best power from your engine. A 160 degree coolant temp will have more power, and usually enough to feel it.

It should be interesting to see how it cools when doing a run down the track.

by The Dude Wed May 25, 2011 10:10 am

Hmmm.... I had always heard removing the T-stat will lower temps because the coolant isn't sitting in the block long enough to heat up since it's constantly flowing. Neat to hear a different school of thought on this subject.

by oldstofty Wed May 25, 2011 10:11 am

160 is impossible out of an olds engine they run hot. Wouldnt the Coolant have resistance as soon as it dumps into the radiator and has to go thru the cores and out the bottom?

by pila Wed May 25, 2011 10:32 am

Since I'm a geezer, I remember the days when flat head Fords were being run on circle tracks. The guys used to remove two fins from the water pump impellers, to slow the coolant flow down. The impellers had four fins, so they removed two opposite fins. There were two pumps on the flat head, one on each cylinder bank, but the impellers were small in diameter compared to a Chevy, for example.

by ant7377 Wed May 25, 2011 4:08 pm

Gut the thermostat just use the open plate with no spring .You need resistance or it could run too cool which isnt good.

by oldstofty Wed May 25, 2011 4:45 pm

It heats up to 190 in about 5-10 mins it really was about the same with the thermostat in there

by bigredlaguna Thu May 26, 2011 1:38 am

You may need to step up to a bigger or more efficient radiator. Is it just the stocker in there now?

by oldstofty Thu May 26, 2011 8:24 am

Yea Its a 3 core. Would love to go Aluminum but thats alot of $$

by JB2wheeler Thu May 26, 2011 1:20 pm

I am running an aftermarket 4 row copper radiator instead of an expensive aluminum radiator, which a lot of people have problems with, and I have no heating problems. Some cheap, and not so cheap, aluminum radiators are just glued together and with all that heat going thru there it is a big job to expect from a little dap of glue. JB

by oldstofty Thu May 26, 2011 1:41 pm

I thought they were welded?

by JB2wheeler Thu May 26, 2011 1:46 pm

Notice the word "some" in my post. Actually most are glued. I know of NO copper radiators that are glued. JB

by Pdawgie Thu May 26, 2011 1:57 pm

I bought an 3 row welded aluminum radiator off evilbay, and it was only a hair over $200 if I remember right. It is supposed to cool to 850 hp. The fit was really nice and didn't have to modify anything. Mine doesn't budge off 180 now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/65-1987-1988-1989-1990-Buick-LeSabre-Aluminum-Radiator-/110693281426?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ALaguna&hash=item19c5d56e92 (fits Laguna)

by oldstofty Thu May 26, 2011 2:08 pm

Thanks for the link Pdawgie

by pila Thu May 26, 2011 2:14 pm

I bought one of those Champion radiators also, for my El Camino project. It came to $229 bucks shipped. It was model C-161, and it just fit the core support. It's a 3-row. Very well made, all TIG welded together.

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