Thermostat for 460 Cobra

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by cycleguy55

I'm running a high flow 180°F thermostat in my 460, and yours sounds pretty consistent with that, though your cooling fan certainly runs longer than mine does. This may be more an issue of your cooling fan and its controller than it is of the thermostat. Where is the sensor for your cooling fan - intake manifold, upper radiator hose or lower (return) radiator hose? If you've got something like this one ( https://www.summitracing.com/int/par...6731/overview/ ) mounted in the outlet it will turn on when the thermostat opens and will continue running until your thermostat closes.

Mine is on the upper radiator hose and it's similar to this one: https://www.summitracing.com/int/par...6769/overview/ - it has a probe that's mounted outside the coolant flow in a metal sleeve through which the coolant flows. It seems to work fine, and the control module I have has a rheostat dial I can turn to adjust when the fans cut in and out (single control). Mine normally runs in the 190°-205°F range, but will climb to 220°-230°F in stop and go traffic on hot days. I have a fan switch on the dash I can use to override the controller, but I'll be adjusting it to cut in at a slightly lower temperature than it currently does.

FWIW, here's an excerpt from an article on low temperature thermostats ( Low Temp Thermostats: What’s the Advantage? | Tuner University ):

The bottom line however is that in a street car, you're increasing wear and getting no benefit. In a race car, it's a band-aid but not one that you should plan to rely on.

If you're having overheating problems, check the cooling system thoroughly and if all is well, upgrade the radiator, fans or even the water pump -- not the thermostat. If your coolant gauge never goes above normal then your cooling system is adequate for your use of the car.

If you're chasing more power, this isn't a place to look. Any power gain would be circumstantial (ie, only under certain conditions), incredibly negligible, and at the risk of accelerated wear on your expensive engine internals (especially in street cars).

Brian,
Thanks for your informative post. I'm a new guy here with a 460/514 bbf.
Only got about 50 miles of driving before winter hit us. Not sure that I will have any cooling issues (she was a Florida car) but was interested to know what your fan sensor and controller looked like.
The url links don't work, but can you tell me name and/or part number?
PS: I appreciated the tutorials you mentioned. Good stuff!

Bill