maybe its the wrong time of year to ask this, but what if any benefits would i gain from dropping temps in the oe thermostat. an uncle of mine mentioned v6 tend to run best with 160 but most of his experience was with drag cars, but i figured i would anyways. i figured stock temp was either 180 or 195 so im wondering if anyone has changed it and what effects its had? thanks in advance.

 

Well, I would guess that cooler is better from an efficiency stand point. However, I'd guess that there is some optimum temperature at which lower is not better.

 

All swapping to a lower temp thermostat does is allow the engine water/coolant to begin to circulate through the radiator sooner. Instead of the thermostat opening at 180-degrees F it opens at 160-degrees and the coolant can then travel out of the engine to the radiator to cool.

I don't believe a mild hp NA engine would benefit from running cooler. Built engines that run VERY hot and have trouble overheating under slower speeds will benefit from swapping the thermostat.

I'm no expert though.

Another thing people do is change to a higher pressure radiator cap or add Redline Watter Wetter. These just causes the boiling temp of the water/coolant to increase, since boiling water decreases the cooling efficiancy.

 

i havent tried a higher pressure cap like one off a 300zxtt but i have already done the water wetter and was just curious if a lower temp stat would make a difference, but i see your point that since its na and not built up that it wouldnt impact much. thanks for the thoughts.