my lt1 one has a constant problem of overheating. tried all kinds of different, so called tricks, to get it cooler but in the summer its just to hot. heard drilling holes in thermostat would allow the water to flow better to keep engine cooler.... didnt work as planned..... also grounded one of the fans so it turns on as soon as the key is in the on position... that does help a lot... but i wish i could keep it cool without all the "tricks". eliminated the system that hooks up to my exhaust manifold and reuses the exhaust back in the heads to heat the car up sooner in the morning.... but still just today.. it gets a lil hot outside and my car stays above 220, reaches 250 then thermostat opens and goes back down to 220.. is that normal?

 

considering aluminum warps right around 250+ degrees...and you have aluminum heads...they dont sell a 250* thermostat for LT1's. so no...its not normal. your thermostat is 160 or 180 degree opening point.

you have air in your lines. you need to un ghetto rig all the crap you did, and bleed the system correctly and work from there. dont compound your problem with band aids.

 

what he said... lt1s are picky about how you fill them


also, sometimes i've seen older cars just need a new radiator from having some much build up shit keep it from cooling the water. i think shops can clean them for you but most of the time we would just throw a new auto parts store one in and it cooled just find.


also a new radiator cap is cheap and it may be as simple as that.

 

If you're going to take the stat out, just replace it. Who the fuck boils their thermostats?

 

my lines can have no air in them and still get to hot... i was thinking about getting the electric water pump soon. i know how to open the two air release valves so there is no air in the lines... my radiator cap is new... water pump is about a year old now.. and as far as i know the radiator itself has never been touched... the only ghetto i have rigged up now the fan turned on all the time which isnt any thing that can hurt the cooling of the engine. fan cld go bad sooner.. thats all. i didnt know thermostats were only about 50 bucks. i think ill go pick one up....

 

if you've done all that stuff correctly, go flush your cooling system...and just incase ya didnt know...DO NOT use dexcool.

 

i'm going to say just replace the radiator, or atleast take it to a radiator shop and have them clean it.


i've seen it work more than once.

 

when the thermostat for his car costs $50, I'd say it's worth a few minutes of my time

 

250 is high for it to ever reach, but remember that GM had those goddamn F-Bodies running so hot from the factory it makes people think they have an overheating problem when they in fact don't. If I recall some of the F-Bodies went up to ~235 before the fans kicked on and brought it back down.

 

the TPI's were like that, i wanna say my fan on the vette doesnt kick on till 225. cruising it stays right at 190-200, at a stop for a while itll fluctuate right at 220-230...but itll never go over 230.