What did you do to your Gen3 today?

Tray Burge · Jul 30, 2015

I just completed grafting a Vararam Air Grabber to my 03 and made a snorkel ram air for it. :superhack:

HeavyD · Jul 30, 2015

Got my Jet thermostat in the mail today & picked up some more exhaust clamps.

derekp · Jul 30, 2015

Bed lined my tool box and rod rack.

usaf2006 · Jul 30, 2015

What liner are you using

Tray Burge · Jul 30, 2015

HeavyD said:
Got my Jet thermostat in the mail today & picked up some more exhaust clamps.

did you buy the standard or balanced thermostat, big difference?

HeavyD · Jul 30, 2015

Tray Burge said:
did you buy the standard or balanced thermostat, big difference?

Jet only makes 1 - 180deg stat for the 4.7l

derekp · Jul 30, 2015

usaf2006 said:
What liner are you using

I've been using ameraguard. Same stuff as rhino but wayyy easier to spray.

A couple more pics in the sun.

sylver91 · Jul 30, 2015

Oil change, balanced and rotated tires. The RR rim has a slight bend in it but nothing that causes any significant wobbling. Would have done a brake service but it was hot in the shop and I just wanted to go home and have some beer. Also my new tie rod seems to have lost the grease fitting, so had to put in a new one before it filled with crud.

Bullitt5339 · Jul 31, 2015

Went and had the front end aligned, bought some window tint to do the rear window and debadged the tailgate.

rocket · Jul 31, 2015

Loaded her up with **** to sell....earlier she had 1,000 lbs of concrete and stone.

Tray Burge · Aug 1, 2015

HeavyD said:
Jet only makes 1 - 180deg stat for the 4.7l

Yes, but there are others that make balanced. No big deal. I've heard your supposed to (with a tuner) reprogram the running speeds of your fans after the install or you could burn them up. Do you or anybody else know anything about this?
I wanna do the same mod, but was concerned when I read this because I don't have a tuner.

Tray Burge · Aug 1, 2015

HeavyD said:
Got my Jet thermostat in the mail today & picked up some more exhaust clamps.

Post a close up of that hood scoop, please, that's my next mod.

Bullitt5339 · Aug 1, 2015

There is absolutely no reason to run a lower temperature thermostat in a modern engine. They worked in older vehicles, but the ECU's in modern vehicles are designed to allow the engine to operate most efficiently in their standard range. When you change that range, the computer doesn't think that the engine is ever at operating temperature and it can actually do more harm than good.

Seraphim38 · Aug 1, 2015

I am going to agree to disagree with Bullitt5339, not because of crap I found on the internet but because of personal experience.

For the original poster, what Bullitt is probably trying to caution against is that a thermostat at 180 degrees with start flowing water once the engine gets up to that temp, but the engine's computer will still turn the fan on at 210 degrees. If your engine has enough load through normal driving to bring it up to 210, the 180 degree thermostat isn't going to do anything to preven it from getting to 210, and it isn't going to do anything to reduce temperatures once it gets to 210. In order to do that, you need to use an ECU tuner to reduce the temperature that the fan comes on at. Once you change the thermostat to 180 and reduce the temp the fan comes on at, your engine will definitively run cooler overall. Beyond that, you can install an oil cooler, higher performance fans and/or a higher performance radiator. But likely, none of those extras are remotely necessary.

To the prior poster, if you tell an electric motor to turn at a faster speed you can damage it, as it may end up running at a higher voltage than it is designed for. I don't know how a tuner could push an ECU to drive a fan beyond it's designed operating voltage range, but nevertheless. The standard thing to do I would believe would be to reduce the temperature that the fan turns on at. I can't imagine how that would burn up a fan, though it could result in your fan being operated more frequently, which could in turn reduce its overall life of service (spanning years and tens or hundreds of thousands of miles).

Separately, the concept that running an engine at 180 degrees instead of 210 degrees is going to damage it is plain silly. Yes, there is a concern if you run an engine's oil at too low of a temperature because engine oil that is too cold doesn't lubricate critical engine parts as well. We are talking about running your engine oil at 100 degrees all the time, not 180 vs. 210. The coolant itself isn't in direct contact with pistons or valves and such, so being 180 degrees or 210 degrees in coolant doesn't make a speck of difference in itself: it is the temp of the oil that actually contacts the engine parts that makes the difference. In my race car, I have a 160 degree thermostat, just like all the other cars in my class, and they run massive amounts of horsepower for extended periods of time without the coolant ever getting above 185 and oil getting close to that. I also have an oil cooler that maintains engine oil temperature, and it also has a proper thermostat. Our race engines do just fine with 160 degree thermostats.

JPT · Aug 1, 2015

Seraphim,

My $0.02. When you run the temperature lower than designed, especially in winter climates, the engine will run richer to compensate. This is to extend the life of your catalytic converters, and reduce emissions by quickly getting to operating temp. In the summer, I'm sure a cooler thermostat will do nothing to affect this, but in the winter, especially on those 30-40 degree days it will. You are right, it isn't going to result in a catastrophic failure, but we are in the days of computers instantly adjusting timing and every other aspect to run optimal, by changing the thermostat, you are altering the playing field, without changing the plays.

If the system is operating properly, a 180* thermostat is uselss. If you are having overheating problems it is because something in the system is not right (air in the system/clogged heater core/clogged radiator/ineffective fluid/leak in the system/bad cap/thermostat stuck closed) not because of the factory rated thermostat.

Bullitt5339 · Aug 1, 2015

Seraphim38 said:
I am going to agree to disagree with Bullitt5339, not because of crap I found on the internet but because of personal experience.

For the original poster, what Bullitt is probably trying to caution against is that a thermostat at 180 degrees with start flowing water once the engine gets up to that temp, but the engine's computer will still turn the fan on at 210 degrees. If your engine has enough load through normal driving to bring it up to 210, the 180 degree thermostat isn't going to do anything to preven it from getting to 210, and it isn't going to do anything to reduce temperatures once it gets to 210. In order to do that, you need to use an ECU tuner to reduce the temperature that the fan comes on at. Once you change the thermostat to 180 and reduce the temp the fan comes on at, your engine will definitively run cooler overall. Beyond that, you can install an oil cooler, higher performance fans and/or a higher performance radiator. But likely, none of those extras are remotely necessary.

To the prior poster, if you tell an electric motor to turn at a faster speed you can damage it, as it may end up running at a higher voltage than it is designed for. I don't know how a tuner could push an ECU to drive a fan beyond it's designed operating voltage range, but nevertheless. The standard thing to do I would believe would be to reduce the temperature that the fan turns on at. I can't imagine how that would burn up a fan, though it could result in your fan being operated more frequently, which could in turn reduce its overall life of service (spanning years and tens or hundreds of thousands of miles).

Separately, the concept that running an engine at 180 degrees instead of 210 degrees is going to damage it is plain silly. Yes, there is a concern if you run an engine's oil at too low of a temperature because engine oil that is too cold doesn't lubricate critical engine parts as well. We are talking about running your engine oil at 100 degrees all the time, not 180 vs. 210. The coolant itself isn't in direct contact with pistons or valves and such, so being 180 degrees or 210 degrees in coolant doesn't make a speck of difference in itself: it is the temp of the oil that actually contacts the engine parts that makes the difference. In my race car, I have a 160 degree thermostat, just like all the other cars in my class, and they run massive amounts of horsepower for extended periods of time without the coolant ever getting above 185 and oil getting close to that. I also have an oil cooler that maintains engine oil temperature, and it also has a proper thermostat. Our race engines do just fine with 160 degree thermostats.

You can disagree with me all you want, I know what the PCM in the vehicle sees and at what times and what it affects. I know what every line in the fuel trims does and what affects it. Everyone talks about changing the fan turn-on temps, but that is nothing and really doesn't do anything for you in the long run, it may actually make the situation worse. There is simply no way to argue what delaying the vehicle from reaching operating temperature does inside the PCM.

The PCM looks at water temperature and adjusts the injector bandwidth and pulse to add fuel at lower water temperatures, since it assumes that the engine is not at full operating temperature. It acts as a choke that we would have on an older vehicle, less air, more fuel. The engine cannot burn all of this additional fuel, so it ends up getting dumped out of the exhaust until you reach operating temperature which is fairly quickly with the stock 195 degree thermostat, which actually starts opening around 180.

The problem is that on old vehicles, that extra fuel getting dumped out of the exhaust was not an issue but there is an issue with modern cars: O2 sensors and catalytic converters. The extra fuel wreaks havoc on them over time. So why would you want to keep your car in this environment for any longer than necessary? The engine is still going to get up to operating temperature, but it is going to take longer.

Aside from the emissions stand-point, there's simply no reason to do it. It's snake-oil on a newer PCM controlled engine. It doesn't add power, it doesn't allow you to run more aggressive timing curves, it does absolutely nothing but make it take longer for the car to reach operating temperature where the PCM starts using the O2 sensors to adjust the air-fuel mixture on it's own. Modern engines are designed to operate between 195 and 225 and are most efficient in between those temperatures and delaying it from reaching those temperatures is going to do nothing good.

HeavyD · Aug 1, 2015

Tray Burge said:
Yes, but there are others that make balanced. No big deal. I've heard your supposed to (with a tuner) reprogram the running speeds of your fans after the install or you could burn them up. Do you or anybody else know anything about this?
I wanna do the same mod, but was concerned when I read this because I don't have a tuner.

My 4.7L had a clutch fan - I installed a electric fan with an adjustable thermostat.

HeavyD · Aug 1, 2015

Tray Burge said:
Post a close up of that hood scoop, please, that's my next mod.

April%201%202015%20Air%20scoop%20ready%2010_zpsvuwauuce.jpg

April%201%202015%20Air%20scoop%20ready%207_zpsv03di6z5.jpg

April%202%202015%20Hood%20scoop%20intsalledab%201_zpsglk0emmo.jpg

HeavyD · Aug 1, 2015

JPT said:
Seraphim,

My $0.02. When you run the temperature lower than designed, especially in winter climates, the engine will run richer to compensate. This is to extend the life of your catalytic converters, and reduce emissions by quickly getting to operating temp. In the summer, I'm sure a cooler thermostat will do nothing to affect this, but in the winter, especially on those 30-40 degree days it will. You are right, it isn't going to result in a catastrophic failure, but we are in the days of computers instantly adjusting timing and every other aspect to run optimal, by changing the thermostat, you are altering the playing field, without changing the plays.

If the system is operating properly, a 180* thermostat is uselss. If you are having overheating problems it is because something in the system is not right (air in the system/clogged heater core/clogged radiator/ineffective fluid/leak in the system/bad cap/thermostat stuck closed) not because of the factory rated thermostat.

I have no overheating, just got rid of the clutch fan.
& I have always put lower temp thermostats in my vehicles.

woody31 · Aug 2, 2015

Steps

Installed a set of Carr step bars, got them at a local n pull for $15.00

What did you do to your Gen3 today?

Senior Member

Attachments

Senior Member

Senior Member

Attachments

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Attachments

Senior Member

Senior Member

Licensed Dynacologist

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Similar threads

Forum statistics

Share this page