...great video. I especially have immense respect for the humility involved and that you took the time to experiment for yourself. I'm considering a very tiny hole to prevent air and steam becoming trapped so I don't have to spend a bunch of time bleeding after coolant change. I'm talking pin hole, just enough to allow some air to escape and prevent a lock-up scenario (the thermostat is transverse mounted (sideways))... From your video I get that at RPM's there could be substantial flow even through a small hole like that. I wonder if it would affect the temperature very much though. I certainly donl't want the thermostat to no open when it should. I guess I'll have to take a queue from you and give it a try.
It won't hurt anything give it a try and see what happens I did find out that even a very small hole drastically alters how fast the engine comes up to temperature
454 7.4l dually towing thru Arizona/nevada desert. No thermostat is needed when ac is full blast. Daily driving 180° with 1/8 inch hole is fine in stop and go traffic ac full blast no tow. Cold weather in az is low 60s.
You only need one 3mm hole it's only for when you have a top feed radiator with a bottom stat it's too allow enough coolent just to warm the radiator so when the bottom stat opens the warmer water opens stat for a longer time this drilling only works on a botton engine entry stat not a top engine mounted stat
I wish I saw this comment this morning my 2.8 ford has a lower stat under the intake the old stat had a small hole in it with a little pin in it the new one didn't an was getting hot. Thanks
yeah, the holes are great in theory lol. My car wouldn't go above 180 while normal driving and took waaay too long to reach even that temperature. Winter is even worse lol. No heat, throws off emissions controls, and MPG was greatly affected. I used to get 400 miles per tank or more, but with the drilled stat its like 275!?! And this was with a single 1/8" hole.
If you live in " Cold Weather ", you will need your Heat. Basically they designed it for " On Demand " Heat, if you ask me. Here is what I do to our Trucks... I use 2 Thermostats. One, is the By-Pass. The other is " Normal ".... The By-Pass... We use it for Summer... Then we Switch it back to " Normal " in November each year. NOTE: If you do a By-Pass.... You can Drill the Hell out of the Thermostat, LOL. You will only need the " Rubber Ring " and the " Round " part of the Thermostat, so it can sit in the " Hole " safely and it won't " Leak " on you. Hope that will help People who is looking to do it.... Hmmmm, maybe I can make a Video of it, LOL
I live in Canada. I need my heater. If I drill ONE 1/16 hole in my thermostat..........what will it do to the temperature of the air from my heater? I want to prevent bursting anything from too much pressure, and keep air bled out of my system.....BUT I still need my heater/defrost. What should I do?
@@Lot_2023 - Sorry, I didn't get to see your post until now. UA-cam has been suppressing me for a long time, as you can see. Imagine, I can't see your reply and it's about 1 year ago. YES, it's very frustrated too that they do this to me and lots of other people.
@@Lot_2023 - As for the Thermostat Drilling. You can drill a 1/16" hole or even one-step up bigger. It will take longer for the Heat (Temperature) to come on in the Winter that is all. In the Summer, you will love it and can travel far too without worrying. *NOTE:* You will save your Head Gasket and prolong it and prolong your engine too.
Little trick most don't know. Tighten the bolt from the pump to the crossover and then the intake bolts to prevent leaks. I see a lot of people do that backwards.
I own a 1975 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. I've used a thermostat on my car, it cases so much overheating problems on the engine. So I've removed it and it runs normal temperature.
ChrisLycan I been driving without t-stat (cut the center out of it out so it maintains restriction) for a few years now in a 2010 impala with zero problems. Only takes a few more minutes to warm up. Also did this on older 350’s on the farm with zero overheating issues.
Sorry about your fluctuations, but I drive a 1983 Mercedes 300sd Turbo Diesel that had a similar Problem an I drilled an eighth inch hole (Not Four) at the twelve o'clock position of my Thermostat as a Bypass and it solved the Problem. Great Video though.
@@woodsandbarclay Gotcha, What year is your Bird?? I had a 71 Model that I sunk 10K into building it from the ground up and then like a fool I sold it for $200.00 because my Wife said she leave me and take the kids if I didn't. I'll NEVER screw myself like that EVER again. Take care
Here is what I found out during my Horsepower Gain Journey. There are 2 Kinds and by drilling 1/ 2 small Hole this Video is 100% CORRECT !!! It's called a " Burping Hole ". If you buy a good Thermostat and not after market, they have the " Burping Hole " in them already.
180. That is what they came with from the factory. However if you're building a race car or track car you can experiment with different thermostats. Just keep in mind that the engines were designed to run most efficiently at the 180° Mark so if you're running cold they're not going to be as efficient.
The engine temp fluctuates any Way because when the stat opens it moves all that cooler water out the rad to your engine the secret is to drill a hole big enough to all the rad to pss small amounts of engine temp water through all the time so when it open there isn't as much tempreture difference and check ur fan clutch is not in aeroplane mode stuck permently cooling rad all time some one mentioned 3mm that's perfect just take wigit out and you all ready got a starter hole
That is incorrect the engine temperature does not have huge fluctuations it might move 5 or 10 degrees in a normal operating system but to have 30° fluctuations is not normal and that's what I was referring to sorry I wasn't more specific.
Hi, I have a question. I have a Stewart aluminum high flow water pump on my 77 corvette sbc350. Can I run a regular thermostat in it? Right now it has a Stewart / Robert Shaw thermostat which has thos holes pre made and claims to be for high flow water pumps. I haven't seen why. Thoughts?
Mikhael Rammstein I really don't know the answer to your question however if you have a high flow water pump but your thermostat is normal then I guess the thermostat would be the Restriction point. If you drill more holes in the thermostat or remove the thermostat then your high flow water pump would flow more water quicker. Not sure if that answers your question but thanks for the comments
Oh yeah you can run a normal thermostat just play around with a couple of different types of thermostats and poking holes in them and running them stock you'll get lots of different results. But to be honest with you I've always found that plugging in 160 or 180° thermostat or whatever the stock temperature is works best. I tinkered around with all different types of restrictors and thermostats and regular old factory thermostat works the best.
I have some kre high port heads and I can not use the bypass because the heads are about an inch taller and they don't line up the water cross over with the timing chain cover. Is there a problem with running a 195 with no bypass and no holes drilled?
In my country I really want it to run cooler because the ambient temperature is about 35 to 42 Celsius by your recommendation may I know which one runs the coolest?
You don't want to run below normal temps. It needs to heat up or you'll wear it out due to increased friction. The moving parts are engineered to tolerances at the OEM temp.
Hi im in Northern California it gets well above 100 degrees at times would a water restrictor be better then a thermostat in this case❓ its a 70’s gm 455 thanks ✌️
I read that it wasn't about temp but about water pump cavitation. I'll c if i can locate it. Written by an EE that designed cold water systems. I've heard all kinds of cannon fodder for the stock hole
@@woodsandbarclay I've had hell w/overheating on an 83 500sl. The problem was design fault by engineers. So bad they weren't imported to the US that year so I've spent some time fighting heat. Is the jiggle hole to bleed air or release pressure? Is it the same? Why do some have them some don't. One thing I'm reasonably certain of is a car equipped w/any kind of bypass back to the block will run hotter w/o a stat. Mercedes answer to my prob after all these years is to add a 3rd core to the rad . Wish that idiot hadn't t-boned my pristine 421 c.i. 2+2 years ago. Had bad luck w/Pontiac and Olds
I hate thermostats w/a passion. Not much will lunch a motor faster and I've had one and a family member has had one stuck shut recently My bride drove my 70 442 until the plug boots melted like candle wax. Just bought an 03 Ford lightning w/3300 miles on it. First short trip went ok. Yesterday it started overheating idling b4 it's first big outing. I replaced the stock 180 w/170 and it ran 181 in 86 degree heat between 80-120mph for many miles. Enjoy your forum. The rules about the lunatic fringe put forth by the creators of the www. said if your input doesn't educate, enlighten or entertain ....stfu nobody cares about your opinion. So bye
...great video. I especially have immense respect for the humility involved and that you took the time to experiment for yourself. I'm considering a very tiny hole to prevent air and steam becoming trapped so I don't have to spend a bunch of time bleeding after coolant change. I'm talking pin hole, just enough to allow some air to escape and prevent a lock-up scenario (the thermostat is transverse mounted (sideways))... From your video I get that at RPM's there could be substantial flow even through a small hole like that. I wonder if it would affect the temperature very much though. I certainly donl't want the thermostat to no open when it should. I guess I'll have to take a queue from you and give it a try.
Yeah man give it a shot!
It won't hurt anything give it a try and see what happens I did find out that even a very small hole drastically alters how fast the engine comes up to temperature
454 7.4l dually towing thru Arizona/nevada desert. No thermostat is needed when ac is full blast. Daily driving 180° with 1/8 inch hole is fine in stop and go traffic ac full blast no tow. Cold weather in az is low 60s.
Good info thank you for posting
You only need one 3mm hole it's only for when you have a top feed radiator with a bottom stat it's too allow enough coolent just to warm the radiator so when the bottom stat opens the warmer water opens stat for a longer time this drilling only works on a botton engine entry stat not a top engine mounted stat
Great info!
I wish I saw this comment this morning my 2.8 ford has a lower stat under the intake the old stat had a small hole in it with a little pin in it the new one didn't an was getting hot. Thanks
seems like if you had no bypass and no holes drilled then pressure would build up and something would pop off, like one of the hoses.
The Pontiac motor actually has a bypass built in on the intake manifold.
yeah, the holes are great in theory lol. My car wouldn't go above 180 while normal driving and took waaay too long to reach even that temperature. Winter is even worse lol. No heat, throws off emissions controls, and MPG was greatly affected. I used to get 400 miles per tank or more, but with the drilled stat its like 275!?! And this was with a single 1/8" hole.
Ha yeah
If you live in " Cold Weather ", you will need your Heat. Basically they designed it for " On Demand " Heat, if you ask me. Here is what I do to our Trucks... I use 2 Thermostats. One, is the By-Pass. The other is " Normal ".... The By-Pass... We use it for Summer... Then we Switch it back to " Normal " in November each year. NOTE: If you do a By-Pass.... You can Drill the Hell out of the Thermostat, LOL. You will only need the " Rubber Ring " and the " Round " part of the Thermostat, so it can sit in the " Hole " safely and it won't " Leak " on you. Hope that will help People who is looking to do it.... Hmmmm, maybe I can make a Video of it, LOL
I live in Canada. I need my heater. If I drill ONE 1/16 hole in my thermostat..........what will it do to the temperature of the air from my heater? I want to prevent bursting anything from too much pressure, and keep air bled out of my system.....BUT I still need my heater/defrost. What should I do?
Great comment thank you
@@Lot_2023 - Sorry, I didn't get to see your post until now. UA-cam has been suppressing me for a long time, as you can see. Imagine, I can't see your reply and it's about 1 year ago. YES, it's very frustrated too that they do this to me and lots of other people.
@@Lot_2023 - As for the Thermostat Drilling. You can drill a 1/16" hole or even one-step up bigger. It will take longer for the Heat (Temperature) to come on in the Winter that is all. In the Summer, you will love it and can travel far too without worrying.
*NOTE:* You will save your Head Gasket and prolong it and prolong your engine too.
@@woodsandbarclay - You are welcome!
Nice car! I had a '70 Pontiac Firebird Esprit, 350, metallic blue. Factory tach on the hood. I should have kept it.
Thank you
@@woodsandbarclay ua-cam.com/video/SnzyAbsj8_A/v-deo.html
👊😎👍
Little trick most don't know. Tighten the bolt from the pump to the crossover and then the intake bolts to prevent leaks. I see a lot of people do that backwards.
That's a good trick thank you for posting that comment
I own a 1975 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. I've used a thermostat on my car, it cases so much overheating problems on the engine. So I've removed it and it runs normal temperature.
ChrisLycan I been driving without t-stat (cut the center out of it out so it maintains restriction) for a few years now in a 2010 impala with zero problems.
Only takes a few more minutes to warm up.
Also did this on older 350’s on the farm with zero overheating issues.
Interesting sounds like there may be an issue with your cooling system or your radiator
Sorry about your fluctuations, but I drive a 1983 Mercedes 300sd Turbo Diesel that had a similar Problem an I drilled an eighth inch hole (Not Four) at the twelve o'clock position of my Thermostat as a Bypass and it solved the Problem. Great Video though.
Glad you liked the video Louis. I was just experimenting on a race engine.
@@woodsandbarclay Gotcha, What year is your Bird?? I had a 71 Model that I sunk 10K into building it from the ground up and then like a fool I sold it for $200.00 because my Wife said she leave me and take the kids if I didn't. I'll NEVER screw myself like that EVER again. Take care
@@louisbennett7709 mine was a 1970 1/2 model.
@@woodsandbarclay I guessed as mush. I recognized the Nose. Happy Trails ^_^
Here is what I found out during my Horsepower Gain Journey. There are 2 Kinds and by drilling 1/ 2 small Hole this Video is 100% CORRECT !!! It's called a " Burping Hole ". If you buy a good Thermostat and not after market, they have the " Burping Hole " in them already.
Update Video about the By-Pass + Drilled Hole / Burp Hole: ua-cam.com/video/MPvAu9M4t0A/v-deo.html
Thank you for the Post!
On a SBC 350 carb.. 160 or 180 degree thermostat better?
180. That is what they came with from the factory. However if you're building a race car or track car you can experiment with different thermostats. Just keep in mind that the engines were designed to run most efficiently at the 180° Mark so if you're running cold they're not going to be as efficient.
The engine temp fluctuates any Way because when the stat opens it moves all that cooler water out the rad to your engine the secret is to drill a hole big enough to all the rad to pss small amounts of engine temp water through all the time so when it open there isn't as much tempreture difference and check ur fan clutch is not in aeroplane mode stuck permently cooling rad all time some one mentioned 3mm that's perfect just take wigit out and you all ready got a starter hole
That is incorrect the engine temperature does not have huge fluctuations it might move 5 or 10 degrees in a normal operating system but to have 30° fluctuations is not normal and that's what I was referring to sorry I wasn't more specific.
There's nothing wrong with this car and nothing wrong with the fan clutch. I was doing experiments with restrictors and drilling holes in thermostats.
Hi, I have a question. I have a Stewart aluminum high flow water pump on my 77 corvette sbc350. Can I run a regular thermostat in it? Right now it has a Stewart / Robert Shaw thermostat which has thos holes pre made and claims to be for high flow water pumps. I haven't seen why. Thoughts?
Mikhael Rammstein I really don't know the answer to your question however if you have a high flow water pump but your thermostat is normal then I guess the thermostat would be the Restriction point. If you drill more holes in the thermostat or remove the thermostat then your high flow water pump would flow more water quicker. Not sure if that answers your question but thanks for the comments
Oh yeah you can run a normal thermostat just play around with a couple of different types of thermostats and poking holes in them and running them stock you'll get lots of different results. But to be honest with you I've always found that plugging in 160 or 180° thermostat or whatever the stock temperature is works best. I tinkered around with all different types of restrictors and thermostats and regular old factory thermostat works the best.
I have some kre high port heads and I can not use the bypass because the heads are about an inch taller and they don't line up the water cross over with the timing chain cover. Is there a problem with running a 195 with no bypass and no holes drilled?
Not a problem. Bypass holes are not required.
In my country I really want it to run cooler because the ambient temperature is about 35 to 42 Celsius by your recommendation may I know which one runs the coolest?
Lim Ching Hong it's going to run cooler without the thermostat
It seems like mine overheated when I remove the thermostat thou
You don't want to run below normal temps. It needs to heat up or you'll wear it out due to increased friction. The moving parts are engineered to tolerances at the OEM temp.
Hi im in Northern California it gets well above 100 degrees at times would a water restrictor be better then a thermostat in this case❓ its a 70’s gm 455 thanks ✌️
To be honest with you I played around with these restrictors and a regular thermostat is the way to go.
I read that it wasn't about temp but about water pump cavitation. I'll c if i can locate it. Written by an EE that designed cold water systems. I've heard all kinds of cannon fodder for the stock hole
Interesting thanks for posting
@@woodsandbarclay I've had hell w/overheating on an 83 500sl. The problem was design fault by engineers. So bad they weren't imported to the US that year so I've spent some time fighting heat. Is the jiggle hole to bleed air or release pressure? Is it the same? Why do some have them some don't. One thing I'm reasonably certain of is a car equipped w/any kind of bypass back to the block will run hotter w/o a stat. Mercedes answer to my prob after all these years is to add a 3rd core to the rad . Wish that idiot hadn't t-boned my pristine 421 c.i. 2+2 years ago. Had bad luck w/Pontiac and Olds
thank you, help out
So glad you enjoyed the video
is it safe.to drive.with out thermostat
driving without a thermostat will not mechanically damage anything but your engine will not heat up or cool correctly.
Will.it.still over heat mindshare but I'm broke.and must get to.work.
Mine is stuck.closed
I don't know but it won't hurt to try it.
Alright thanks
I hate thermostats w/a passion. Not much will lunch a motor faster and I've had one and a family member has had one stuck shut recently My bride drove my 70 442 until the plug boots melted like candle wax. Just bought an 03 Ford lightning w/3300 miles on it. First short trip went ok. Yesterday it started overheating idling b4 it's first big outing. I replaced the stock 180 w/170 and it ran 181 in 86 degree heat between 80-120mph for many miles. Enjoy your forum. The rules about the lunatic fringe put forth by the creators of the www. said if your input doesn't educate, enlighten or entertain ....stfu nobody cares about your opinion. So bye
Thank you for the comment ;)