460 usability?

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Bentheroofer

Aloha, I'm fighting an overheating problem right now with my 460BB Hunter Cobra. I'm baffled. I replaced the fan with twins, put in a 160 degree thermostat. Everything else seems fine. Ii am curious, what do you mean by a fuel delivery problem. Thanks, in advance. Ben

Check out the tech tips on pages 21-23 of this: https://stewartcomponents.com/wp/wp-...rt_catalog.pdf

BTW, an engine that's running too cold will suffer increased engine wear, deposits and emissions. It's not news that oil is also thicker when it's cool, so it needs to warm up to provide proper lubrication. Oil also needs to get hot enough to vapourize any moisture it collects. Here's a good article, including a chart of engine wear vs. temperature, that may have people yanking their 160 deg. thermostats in favour of 180 deg. ones: HOTRODSRJ’s COOLING TIPS Operating temperature vs power and longevity!

From the above article: "Years of research show use of 160 degree thermostats is way too low to be considered for performance or engine longevity. As the chart above illustrates, engine wear increased by DOUBLE at 160, than at 185 degrees."

If you're running EFI, you absolutely need to run the appropriate thermostat, or the temperature sensor(s) will read a cool engine and adjust the fuel/air mixture to compensate. It may even adjust timing - but I don't know.

Even if you're running a carburetor, the engine will take longer to get to proper operating temperature with a 160°F thermostat - if it gets there at all. Before I put the thermostat in mine (180°F high flow thermostat) I found the engine was slow to warm up. Worse, when the temperatures dipped the coolant temperature was peaking around 160-165°F on the highway.

Last year I installed an oil temperature gauge, and I can tell you the rise in oil temperature lags the coolant temperature by quite a bit. My coolant temperature is up to 180-190°F in a few minutes of driving, but it probably takes 15 minutes of driving before the oil temperature gets to 200°F, and 30 minutes in warm temperatures (e.g. 25°C / 77°F) before it gets to 220°F. It's a safe bet it would rarely hit 200°F with a 160°F thermostat.

I would HIGHLY recommend a high flow 180°F thermostat, if not higher.