Adjusting bin for lower temp thermostat

[trippyjoey]

So living on the southernmost tip of Texas with high humidity it gets pretty hot. My datalogs show my operating temp at 194-197 but it spikes up to 205 under heavy load conditions. I tend to be the guy that always gets called to tow friends or family so I would like to drop the temps a lil more. I already have a HD rated fan clutch and I will probably upgrade to efans in a few months with my engine swap. For now I'm thinking of just a simple 160*F thermostat. Besides adjusting the temperature based scalars by, I'm guessing, 30*F cooler would I have to do the same with all the temperature dependent tables, or would I just leave it alone since I'm tuning the VE tables this weekend too?

[uhlhazard]

If you tow don't take that fan clutch off. The efans can't even remotely match the flow of a mech fan with the O.E. shroud. If you want colder ac add a fan or two, makes it colder faster. Towing is fine @ 210 the engine loves it. A 160* tstat will only make your emissions ridiculous and your economy tank. If you have cooling inadequacies the tstat will make no difference.

Cheap way is to borrow a coolant pressure tester from Oreilly/autozone/advance/etc run her to 16psi and let it sit. If she holds AWESOME, now test that cap. If shes good to her rated spec (16psi) make sure the overflow is topped off and you don't have stupid crap blocking access to your grille.

Obviously towing in the heat we get in south texas will be hard on your vehicle, if you have an auto she will be getting her ass handed to her without a cooler.

[Fast355]

If you tow don't take that fan clutch off. The efans can't even remotely match the flow of a mech fan with the O.E. shroud. If you want colder ac add a fan or two, makes it colder faster. Towing is fine @ 210 the engine loves it. A 160* tstat will only make your emissions ridiculous and your economy tank. If you have cooling inadequacies the tstat will make no difference.

Cheap way is to borrow a coolant pressure tester from Oreilly/autozone/advance/etc run her to 16psi and let it sit. If she holds AWESOME, now test that cap. If shes good to her rated spec (16psi) make sure the overflow is topped off and you don't have stupid crap blocking access to your grille.

Obviously towing in the heat we get in south texas will be hard on your vehicle, if you have an auto she will be getting her ass handed to her without a cooler.

I have a pair of Tahoe fans on a 454 express radiator, running a 170*F Marine thermostat. 18-19 mpg unloaded on the highway and about 14-15 mpg with 7k in tow. Never runs hotter than 185*. Running 210-220*F with the mechanical fan she was a DOG and only got 14-15 mpg unloaded. However I do suggest a nice big secondary trans cooler plumbed in series after the stock cooler and a thermostatically controlled pusher fan on the trans cooler sensing the fluid temp returning the trans.

The cooler thermostat helps tremendously. It helps prevent the engine from heat soaking to start with and it will run cooler all around.