High Flow therostat?
- Thread starter JeffG
- Start date
I did a bunch of research on this a while ago, and this is what I found.
Robert Shaw makes a high flow stat ( Robert Shaw/ Mr Gasket 330-160 thermostat) It can be cut down to fit the 86/87 motor.
Bad news. It may not work very well.
I spent this afternoon playing around, and ground down the lip on a old RS 330-180 stat to 1 3/4", to fit inside the manifold. It fits really well.
Here is the problem:
The body diameter (part that moves) of the stat is 1 9/16".
The ID of the inner step of the manifold bore is 1 11/16". The wall thickness of the manifold casting where the stat seats is 1/4".
The stroke of the stat is 3/8"
So since there is only 1/16 clearance between the stat body (part that moves) and the housing bore, not a lot of flow will happen untill the stat is almost fully open. And 1/4" of the initial opening is restricted. So that leaves 1/8" of unrestricted flow when the stat is fully open, kinda defeats the purpose.
Next was the Stant SuperStat. It seems to be the route to go. Sorry I don't knoiw the part #.
Or another option is to go to an auto parts supplier and look at all the 160 deg stats and see which one has the biggest internal bore and stroke that will fit in our housing. As far as outside diameter...a little creative use of tin snips and a file/grinder will make it fit perfectly.
I hope this helps.
I'm curious about your conversion to the NPG+... Is just changing to a high flow stat all that is required to use the Propylene Glycol, of is this the complicated setup with the vapour condensation tank etc.?
Paul
Robert Shaw makes a high flow stat ( Robert Shaw/ Mr Gasket 330-160 thermostat) It can be cut down to fit the 86/87 motor.
Bad news. It may not work very well.
I spent this afternoon playing around, and ground down the lip on a old RS 330-180 stat to 1 3/4", to fit inside the manifold. It fits really well.
Here is the problem:
The body diameter (part that moves) of the stat is 1 9/16".
The ID of the inner step of the manifold bore is 1 11/16". The wall thickness of the manifold casting where the stat seats is 1/4".
The stroke of the stat is 3/8"
So since there is only 1/16 clearance between the stat body (part that moves) and the housing bore, not a lot of flow will happen untill the stat is almost fully open. And 1/4" of the initial opening is restricted. So that leaves 1/8" of unrestricted flow when the stat is fully open, kinda defeats the purpose.
Next was the Stant SuperStat. It seems to be the route to go. Sorry I don't knoiw the part #.
Or another option is to go to an auto parts supplier and look at all the 160 deg stats and see which one has the biggest internal bore and stroke that will fit in our housing. As far as outside diameter...a little creative use of tin snips and a file/grinder will make it fit perfectly.
I hope this helps.
I'm curious about your conversion to the NPG+... Is just changing to a high flow stat all that is required to use the Propylene Glycol, of is this the complicated setup with the vapour condensation tank etc.?
Paul
thanks Paul.
I ended up making my own high flow stat. I too saw the same issues you pointed out. What I ended up doing was using the end of the housing as the seat and built a thernostat into the actual housing itself. Valve area is over double the factory size.
As far as the conversion.....their website states the removal of the stat altogether. Not a good idea IMO on a street car. I have run NPG+ with the stat before and it worked okay, but needed a bit more flow. Hence the custom stat set up I made.
Other mods I did was to block off the bypass for the water pump, put an air bleed line into the water pump, and put a small lines off the rear of the intake. Some of these things are probably not needed but I did them anyway.
thanks again,
I ended up making my own high flow stat. I too saw the same issues you pointed out. What I ended up doing was using the end of the housing as the seat and built a thernostat into the actual housing itself. Valve area is over double the factory size.
As far as the conversion.....their website states the removal of the stat altogether. Not a good idea IMO on a street car. I have run NPG+ with the stat before and it worked okay, but needed a bit more flow. Hence the custom stat set up I made.
Other mods I did was to block off the bypass for the water pump, put an air bleed line into the water pump, and put a small lines off the rear of the intake. Some of these things are probably not needed but I did them anyway.
thanks again,
No problem Jeff
I have a hybrid, and because of space limitations I have to run a small copper/brass rad, so I am always looking for ways to get better cooling. (I just had a rad built with a "High efficiency" core. [ 3 rows of 5/8 tubes on 3/8 centres] It seems to have dropped the temps by 15 deg.
)
I was curious about the NPG+, but after doing some reading.. I was concerned about the slightly higher (but stable) temps. Please post your findings /results temp wise with the NPG+.
Paul
I have a hybrid, and because of space limitations I have to run a small copper/brass rad, so I am always looking for ways to get better cooling. (I just had a rad built with a "High efficiency" core. [ 3 rows of 5/8 tubes on 3/8 centres] It seems to have dropped the temps by 15 deg.
) I was curious about the NPG+, but after doing some reading.. I was concerned about the slightly higher (but stable) temps. Please post your findings /results temp wise with the NPG+.
Paul
Paul,
After having some experience with the NPG+ and conversations with the guys at Evans, it seems with properly set up a car that ran 160* before NPG should run 160* after. The problem is the set up part. I think apples to apples, NPG will make your motor run hotter (at least read hotter on the gauge anyway) without any modification to the cooling system. I know my car ran hotter when I switched over. It got has hot as 220* on an 85* day with the AC on. I know many on this board will say that is not a problem and I agree, but my car never really got over 180 before adding NPG. The guys at Evans say it's no problem, but it's a little unnerving in my opinion. I hope the addition of a few little tricks will help bring it back down into the 160-180 range. I have a copper/brass rad with a CAS high efficiency core (4 core 5/8 tubes), but I wish I had gone with a 2 pass aluminum on 1+ inch tubes. Oh well.
After having some experience with the NPG+ and conversations with the guys at Evans, it seems with properly set up a car that ran 160* before NPG should run 160* after. The problem is the set up part. I think apples to apples, NPG will make your motor run hotter (at least read hotter on the gauge anyway) without any modification to the cooling system. I know my car ran hotter when I switched over. It got has hot as 220* on an 85* day with the AC on. I know many on this board will say that is not a problem and I agree, but my car never really got over 180 before adding NPG. The guys at Evans say it's no problem, but it's a little unnerving in my opinion. I hope the addition of a few little tricks will help bring it back down into the 160-180 range. I have a copper/brass rad with a CAS high efficiency core (4 core 5/8 tubes), but I wish I had gone with a 2 pass aluminum on 1+ inch tubes. Oh well.
cruzn57 said:
Sorry cruzn57
I could dig up a part #, but you will not be able to cross reference it to anything you can get. (It is from Canadian Tire)
Just call any Rad shop and ask for a "Stant" high flow stat for a Regal.
Jeff
Interesting findings... Hopefully you can get the temps to drop back down.
Paul
A thermostat does two things,
1) sets the min operating temperature for the engine.
2) forms a restriciton so that the coolant in the head/block at higher RPM are pressurized more, so as to raise the boiling temp, of the coolant in and around the exhaust valve seats/guides. If the coolant it allowed to flash to steam in those areas, there isn't any heat transfer across the steam pockets.
Using a *high flow* thermostat may cause unseen and more serious problems then expected.
Justa FWIW
1) sets the min operating temperature for the engine.
2) forms a restriciton so that the coolant in the head/block at higher RPM are pressurized more, so as to raise the boiling temp, of the coolant in and around the exhaust valve seats/guides. If the coolant it allowed to flash to steam in those areas, there isn't any heat transfer across the steam pockets.
Using a *high flow* thermostat may cause unseen and more serious problems then expected.
Justa FWIW
