Thread: Newbie question

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Thanks for all the info everyone. As it is Snowing now here, some areas getting 45 cm of snow, Im only supposed to get 10. I'll be putting the car away till spring within the next few weeks as soon as all this melts. Once the snow stops I'll toy around with all your info and see what I can do. I like Dr_bowtie's H.O. Info. I do infact have the aluminum hood and that.. I will have to try and find some literature on that. I'll keep everyone updated. Today I found 3 vacuum lines in front of the carb that there was virtually no contact with the inner wall of the tubing to the carb so I'll change that first. I guess while it snows I'll spend some time at the parts store. Anyone have a rough idea of what a new EGR costs?>?

Seeing FMX's truck reminds me of my first car, a 1950 GMC p/u, No corner windows.. got it RUNNING original, 40,000 mi. Drove it home. needed resto.. perfect body and all complete except for signals and door panels. 400 bucks... Had to sell due to financial difficulties.. dont ask what I let it go for... I hate reminding myself!!!

Haha. Well good thing about winter is it makes you put up your stuff and makes you work on em. Good luck man!

a good tune and the RIGHT amount of emission controls is the key to good mileage...Coolant temp plays and important role....

OH Yea...those 38in tall tires make it act like a 3.73 ratio....

I also have a 1 ton van now that gets the same mileage but....also has 425hp and a bigger engine 365cu in....

It a 2004 express 6.0liter.....It run 200 coolant temp.....If I could locate a 160 thermostat for it I bet I could coax those numbers a bit power and mpg....

I also see the article but I disagree with it....materials move , expand and contract....the colder they are and the hotter you get them the more they move.... from 0-160 vs. 0-190 the more it moves the more it wears....period.....

A factory 305? In a Cutlass? that strikes me as odd. You may want to make sure that it is a 305 and not a 307 olds. If you have a 307, chances are that you have too little timing to start with.Easiest way to tell is to look @ the distributor/intake relationship. If you have to remove the distributor to remove the intake, its a 305. If the distributor is seperate and the intake clears it without having a hole drilled through for the dist, its an olds motor. If its a 307, i can help you out there. If its a chevy, listen to everyone else

Denny...

well I guess we can agree to disagree...you have your opinion I have mine.... It's all good

i actually ran a 160 stat once. heh!!! the damn thing over heated. i didnt get it. then for some reason i put the 190 stat in the motor and didnt over heat. the only thing i could think is that the water got hot enuf that the sat wouldnt close to allow the water to sit in the radiator long enuf to actually cool down.

There is only a few motors on the road that the temp will stay at 160 degrees anyway, and once it gets above that you don't need a thermostat no way. I don't know what it is, but I would guess a car with 75,000 miles on it (rad.1/2 stopped up) with no thermostat with a Manuel fan will stabilize around 190 degrees. a car with an elec. fan on it proves that. most run a 195 thermostat and the fan keeps it at 210 to 225, and you take the thermostat out it would do the same thing. a car with an elec. fan about all the thermostat does is make it heat up quicker.

dr_bowtie, a cold thermostate will do the same thing to a motor that short trips will do.... screw it up.

I am not entirely convinced....

I have always ran a cold stat...160....I do city driving and long hauls.....never have had any problem with sludge or carbon....atleast no more and no less than anyone else...

Everyone drives differently so no 2 results will be the same....

I think it's a good idea to have differences of opinion....Afterall if you base you beliefs on what you read then you are no smarter than the person who wrote it....!

We all have personal experiences that we learn from... what works or does not work for you may or may not work for me either...

But any how Good Debate....!

looks like no one really addressed the oil pressure :

20 idle, 40 at speed = good numbers.

I've always just plugged off my EGRs. If you are pinging without it, you likely have another problem. Couldn't hurt to play with the timing. The Exhaust Gas Reciruclating valve is for emissions, not performance ( it hurts power )

Temperature: recent article in Hot Rod Magazine, says that for pump gas engines cooler = more power ( period ). However, the 180 degrees being necessary for internal tolerances makes sense.

Wow guys. I feel special... As a newbie I figured I might get 1 or 2 responses... so far in under a week I got 3 pages of debate. I love this site.
In case I didn't mention.. the pinging isnt really noticable untill after it gets past 160. I was thinking of going to a 160 or 180 stat just because I only drive it in the summer months where the temp outdoors is around 90-105. so at operating temp 20 Psi is ok? the car has 106,000 Miles. when I pulled the intake it was carbon city. and I have bad valve guide seals on the left head.
i was thinking of ditching the qjet for a edelbrock carb. funny.. with all the little problems and stuff I can still get 16 MPG in the city. What is a good safe grade oil to use in a car like mine?

the carbon is your spark knock probably, but i would really like to know, why you are going with the 160 thermostat?

If you are pinging as engine temp gets hotter it's because you are leaning out and/or using more timing....The ECM if you have one will bump up the timing as engine gets warmer...

If it was because of carbon it would ping at or below 160 ....But as posted it's best to make sure you clean the carbon out....

You can rev the engine to 3,000rpm and trick water down the carb....this will pop it loose and out the exhaust....Not too much...not a hose or any thing.....Use a 24 ounce pop bottle and trickle it down....the engine rpm will go down just keep it running......

Marvel mistery oil works the same and you can add it to the gas....not to mention safer to do....

Originally posted by tymebomb
Wow guys. I feel special... As a newbie I figured I might get 1 or 2 responses... so far in under a week I got 3 pages of debate. I love this site.
In case I didn't mention.. the pinging isnt really noticable untill after it gets past 160. I was thinking of going to a 160 or 180 stat just because I only drive it in the summer months where the temp outdoors is around 90-105. so at operating temp 20 Psi is ok? the car has 106,000 Miles. when I pulled the intake it was carbon city. and I have bad valve guide seals on the left head.
i was thinking of ditching the qjet for a edelbrock carb. funny.. with all the little problems and stuff I can still get 16 MPG in the city. What is a good safe grade oil to use in a car like mine?