lowering engine temps

[majorreno]

just wondered how effective hood louvers are in reducing engine temps especially for desert climates for corvettes which are notorious for running hot.
anyone know?

[Sneaks]

The best thing you can do to wer temps is chagne your thermostat to a 160*, and you a wetting agent, like water wetter. Louvers will let heat out, but not enough to affect anything. You want the stat to open earlier to get the coolant flowing through the engine, and radiator. More water moving means more heat dissipation. That's how you get heat out of the engine. 👍

[motclark]

My buddy has a 160-degree thermostat and a Hyper-tech power programmer.

[jmg2]

lower t-stat will not lower temps.
All it does it open the tstat earlier, and will slow the motor from heating up to operating temperatures. a lower 160 degree tstat doesn't mean the motor will run at 160 degrees, just that it will open at 160... the operating temps depend on a number of things, including efficiency of the rads, fans, water pump, etc.

Water wetter -- some guys swear by it, I think it's snake oil. I don't think it can hurt.

The only sure way of lowering temps without impacting engine performance is a higher quality rad or better fans.

[jmg2]

jeeze, just realized how old this thread was, didn't expect something on the first page here to be from the the ice age...

[Goodtogo32]

I've heard that if you put a cross over line from the back steam ports (which are blocked OEM) to the front and tie it to the rad that seems to help. They sell a kit for it. Fits right under the manifold. Seems the problem is the heads can't get the water flowing because of steam pressure in the heads. I've tried water wetter and found it didn't make much of a diff.

[Over140mph]

Does the car have the lower plastic air dam installed? It's a must for hotter climates.