I gutted my t-stat and just use it as a restrictor. My car is excellent at temperature control. I have seen cars with t-stats be more difficult to control the temp.

 

x2 on what Mark said.

 

I believe it's a good idea to run a thermostat whether it's a street car or strictly a race car. Engines need heat and water needs some restriction to cool properly, that's what they are for. It it's too hot, then there's some other issue.

 

I always ran a thermostat with some bleed holes drilled in the flange similar to this pic:

 

That's what I was going to do.

What size holes are they?

 

The 406 in my car runs cooler longer with out a thermastat.And it does not matter what kind of cooling system I have in there.

 

i just installed the Moroso restrictor plate and it seems to work awesome plus you never have the chance of a thermostat sticking. and they are cheap as hell from summit.

 

what is a restrictor plate?

 

it takes the place of the thermostat. check out the link.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=MOR-63440&autoview=sku

 

Just try the different ways. Each car may respond differently and it is cheap and easy to adjust. Try it with a stat and see what happens. My car runs around 175* on the highway and 190* in traffic to 200* or so without anything in there.

 

It really depends on what type water pump you have, & what the pump volume is. If you use a stock type belt driven pump, you probably want to "slow down" the water flow so it has time to cool. If you use an electric, you probably don't need a thermostat. I never use one in a race car, because I almost always use an electric pump. JMO.

 

Water doesn't need time to cool in the radiator, it needs to flow through the radiator as fast and as turbulent as possible, just like the air side. The hotter you get the radiator, the better it works.

 

Water doesn't need time to cool in the radiator, it needs to flow through the radiator as fast and as turbulent as possible, just like the air side. The hotter you get the radiator, the better it works.

Interesting theory.......and one that I've never encountered, not that that would be a surprise! I got my info years ago from one of the Moroso reps, at a siminar, and I understand that technology is ever changing, so.......... care to elaborate? :yes:

 

Newton discovered this principle many years ago, it's called Newton's law of cooling. The rate of heat exchange is directly proportional to the difference in temperature of the cooler and the coolee. The hotter you get the radiator, the more heat it will dissipate.

Most guys understand it from the air side, in winter your car runs cooler, in summer it runs hotter. This is because the difference in temperature between the air and the water is higher in winter.

 

so wouldnt you want a cool radiator for hot coolant and not a hot radiator for hot coolant?

 

I run a hollowed out thermostat as well and have no cooling issues even when its real hot and humid out.

 

I run a hollowed out thermostat as well and have no cooling issues even when its real hot and humid out.