FT-86 low temp THERMOSTAT

[ft86-UAE]

HELLO,

did any one chcek'd yet the thermostat for the FA20. and how it looks like and is there any aftermarket ones.

i think lowering the temp will increase the power and cooler AC

Thanks,

[arghx7]

...or increase friction and reduce fuel economy

[uspspro]

The engine is designed to operate most efficiently at the temperature regulated by the thermostat. Call this the "design temperature."

A lower temp, as said above, will reduce economy and most likely power as well.

Now, If your cooling system if having trouble keeping the engine at or below the design temperature (which could be true in Dubai), then upgrading the radiator would be the appropriate thing to do. That would allow more cooling capacity without decreasing the design temperature. Leave the thermostat stock.

You should really log the temperature numbers before making any changes anyway.

[ft86-UAE]

most of our cars we run the lowest stats available that in summer the temp goes to 120F and more.

that way i am saying we will be making more HP with a cooler thermostat

[the_3d_man]

It's not a lower temp thermostat that you need. You can't make it dissipate heat better by lowering the temp that the thermostat opens at. You can only do that by increasing the size of the radiator (or increasing the temp that the thermostat opens, but that would be stupid)

[eindio]

I live in the palm springs area my car hasn'tseen below 100 since i got it even in 115 it apeared to me that the temp was still at 1/3 of full for temp. The Di should help keep the car cool eve climbing mountainswith ac on in 115 the temp stayed at 1/3

[ahausheer]

Cool fact:

Koenigsegg sells a lot of their cars in ''hot markets'' like yours and they calculated how big a radiator they would need for such conditions. They also realized that their competitors did the same thing but that some of their competitors still had issues dealing with the heat. So Koenigsegg said screw it, and literally put in the biggest radiator that could fit which was far bigger than what they calculated they would need. They apparently have not had heat related issues.


My point is you might want to consider getting a bigger radiator, not a cooler thermostat.

[jamal]

That.

A cooler thermostat does nothing to improve the cooling capacity. All it does is make the coolant 10-20 degrees cooler than it needs to be under light load and cruising. If it is hot and you want extra headroom a bigger and better radiator would be the solution. And I suppose you could put a different pulley on the water pump.

[Element Tuning]

Originally Posted by the_3d_man

It's not a lower temp thermostat that you need. You can't make it dissipate heat better by lowering the temp that the thermostat opens at. You can only do that by increasing the size of the radiator (or increasing the temp that the thermostat opens, but that would be stupid)

Our cars are equipped with a cross flow radiator and I doubt at NA power levels it will need to be upgraded.

[wcbjr]

It's much easier and cheaper to just run straight water with an additive (maybe water wetter). Then go to actual anti-freeze if you get near freezing temps.

[Matt Andrews]

As jamal mentioned, the other option beyond adding the weight of a radiator with more volume would be to increase the velocity which the fluid moves through the engine. Keep the delta between the engine and fluid as high as possible for largest efficiency...

[the_3d_man]

Originally Posted by wcbjr

It's much easier and cheaper to just run straight water with an additive (maybe water wetter). Then go to actual anti-freeze if you get near freezing temps.

Antifreeze isn't just used to keep the coolant from freezing. It also raises the boiling point of the coolant which may be important in Dubai. Also, there's additives in the antifreeze that help protect and lubricate the water pump and prevent erosion.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by the_3d_man

Antifreeze isn't just used to keep the coolant from freezing. It also raises the boiling point of the coolant which may be important in Dubai. Also, there's additives in the antifreeze that help protect and lubricate the water pump and prevent erosion.

I don't know how important the boiling point elevation of antifreeze is, but if the coolant is supposed to be at say no more than 110C (with pressure cap of course), then if you're going above that it's not a coolant issue, but a radiator capacity issue. If there's no radiator capacity issue then you don't need to be utilizing the boiling point elevation right? Straight water has greater thermal capacity and much greater thermal conductivity too, so it's not like the increased maximum coolant temperature is necessarily a good thing.

[jamal]

Right. Even though coolant has higher boiling point, you are better off using straight water from a thermal capacity standpoint. The most important reason for coolant is to lower the freezing point, lubricate the water pump, and prevent corrosion.

I actually looked up some numbers and made charts and wrote about it awhile back:

http://hellafunctional.com/?p=629

The boiling point of a 50/50 mix only goes up by about 7C, but the cooling capacity goes down about 15%.