What exactly is this and is it worth it?

 

The thermostat controls the flow of coolant to the radiator. Basically, once the correct temperature is reached, it opens allowing coolant to go to the radiator. Otherwise, it stays closed allowing the engine to warm up faster. A 180° termostat just opens at 180° vs. the stock 195° allowing the engine to run cooler and to make more power. However, it may not be worth it since some EFI systems can only run properly when the engine is at a certain temperature.

 

I have one on my car. To be honest you wont feel anything different really it's more of one of those mods you should do to help your engine. But for under $20 to install its not a bad thing to do. Pretty simple too.

 

Do you know how to install t?

 

I sure do.

1) Let the car cool completely. Then drain about 1 gallon of coolant from the radiator (Theres a coolant drain plug on the passenger side of the radiator you can get to from the bottom). That will lower the coolant level below the thermostat and allow you to disconnect the upper radiator hose from the thermostat housing without any spillage.

2.)Remove the two bolts that hold the thermostat housing to the intake, and pull the thermostat out of the housing. Be careful there is a o-ring gasket you can reuse it if it's not in bad shape if it's in bad shape get a new one it's a couple bucks.

3) On mine I made sure that the way my old thermostat came out was the same way my new one was going to go in. Making sure the new one went spring in and the alignment was the same.

4.)Now bolt it back up refill your coolent with the amount that you took out and start your car up to make sure theres no leaks.

 

The main benifit and reason i did this is because when you run alot more power HEAT is bad and can ause preignition. Something i dont want with nitrous thats why i run a 180* one. Also its because the back driveside piston doesnt get cooled well and this helps fix that *some*.

 

i have a 160*

 

i took mine out

 

The only reason I got a 180 is because I have a tuner and Hypertech strongly recommends having a 180 with it.

 

What happens if you run with a 160?

 

160* is to cold and at that temp you will have greater internal engine wear as internal conbustion engines have a "sweet-spot" as far as coolant temps go and it's right around 185*

also a thermo thats too cold, like a 160* will keep the car in open-loop longer and run way to rich, foul-out sparkplugs and cause a whole lot more problems. if you have a 160*, get rid of it and get a 180* thermo, try and stay away from the aftermark ones and go wth an OEM one, Ford's part # is XL3Z-8575-AA and sells for @$10.00 wholesale for the Modulars

 

^ whut hee sed.

 

i've had a 160 in mine for 2 years

 

yeah... but your car is totally unusual. Turbo 6 pushing over 400bhp in the florida heat... I'd have even put a 160 on yours but I'd have tuned it for that too so it'd stay out of start-up mode.

 

It is tuned for it

Nothing like pushing 15psi through 2 turbos that are squished in between my radiator and engine on a 95* day with 90% humidity!

 

well, first off this IS 2V tech, not V6 tech and secondly, in your case I would NOT run a thermostat at all, just a restrictor plate, which you can get a kit of 3 different hole sizes from Moroso

 

Randy, so you would or would not reccomend a 180* thermostat for a Daily driver stang in Georgia.

Btw, Do you have all parts instock to switch my plastic intake manifold over to my metal one ( its all PI)?

 

no, I DO recommend a 180* theremostat for everyone, everywhere all the time. I was telling the guy wth the twin turbo V6 that HE should just run a flow restrictor and NOT a thermostat in his car. in his case wth the turbos, a thermostat can stick and cause a massive over-heat which is not good on the V6 engines and in his case he would be much better-off and safer wth the water restrictor

yes we try and keep all the intake swap parts in stock at all times